Source: Canada.com, 14-8-2007
Lebanese community members wanted a way to honor people back home, Dabaja said and so they settled for a billboard depicting Hizbullah`s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Dabaja is one of the community members and leaders of organizations representing about 700 people who settled on the billboard plan.
He said they did it to honour their freedom-fighter families back home - and it`s their Canadian right to do so. "In Canada we want peace," said Lebanese-born Hussein Dabaja. "We`re not trying to offend anybody. We have freedom of speech. ... Every Lebanese in Canada has somebody that died in Lebanon, the freedom fighters. Who is Hizbullah? Our brothers, our family, our parents, our friends. We came to Canada and they stayed there to fight." The billboard went up Friday and quickly drew fire from the Windsor Jewish Community Centre, the Lebanese Christian political group Kataeb, and others. The Canadian government considers Hizbullah a (so-called) `terrorist` organization.
Emile Nabbout, president of the Windsor branch of Phalange Party, said he also thinks Hizbullah is a (so-called) `terror` group and feels the billboard creates a misconception of the views of Windsor`s Lebanese community.
"We really are not in support or in favor of that billboard and it should be removed ASAP," Nabbout said.