Religious groups unite at vigil for Aleppo
Gathering calls attention to civilians in Syrian city
“I want to dare mention three words — Holocaust, Srebrenica and Rwanda.”
“... Now, let me mention the words, Aleppo, Syria. Does it resonate? What’s our excuse?”
The crowd sat quietly as Mufaddal Hamadeh, the Syrian American Medical Society Midwest chapter president, spoke about the massacre of civilians in Aleppo.
“These events helped shape the conscience of the world, the conscience of humanity,” Hamadeh said. “They are synonymous with shame, synonymous with our collective failure — not only because of the people who committed the crimes against humanity, but our collective failure to do anything about it.”
About 250 community members and religious leaders packed the gymnasium at the Islamic Society of Milwaukee on Sunday night for an interfaith vigil for the people trapped in Aleppo. People lighted candles, said prayers and listened solemnly to speeches about the situation.
While the evacuation of rebels and civilians from Syria’s war-battered eastern Aleppo neighborhoods was in jeopardy Sunday, Milwaukee religious groups hoped to call attention to the cause.
Since the Syrian civil war began five years ago, 4.8 million Syrians have fled the country, 6.3 million Syrians have been internally displaced and an estimated 450,000 Syrians have been killed, Hamadeh said.
In 2016, the Syrian American Medical Society treated more than 2.7 million refugees in Syria and in refugee camps in Lebanon, Turkey, Greece and Jordan.
The government is specifically targeting hospitals and medical centers, and the organization’s underground hospital in Aleppo was targeted by bombing nearly 80 times before it was officially shut down three weeks ago. There are no longer any hospitals left in the city, Hamadeh said.
“This is surpassing any other tragedy in the 21st century, and there’s no end in sight,” Hamadeh said. “I can’t understand how someone can see a child being slaughtered or buried alive right in front of your eyes and not speak up and do anything.”
‘The killing is daily’
Amhad Abbas, a refugee from Daraa, Syria, and his wife and seven children recently found refuge in Milwaukee, but the journey was no easy task.
Abbas was arrested a little over three years ago during a protest against the government. He spent 20 days in prison and was repeatedly tortured and beaten.
When he arrived back home, he knew he had to make a choice — fight and most likely be killed or flee the country.
So, he, his wife and children decided to risk their lives and were smuggled across the border to Jordan. They spent three months in the Zaatari refugee camp and another three years outside the camp in Jordan before making it to the United States.
Seeing what is happening in his home country is devastating, Abbas said through a translator. “We, the Syrian people, marched the streets peacefully. We asked only for a couple things, just freedom and dignity, and then we were received with bullets from the government,” he said.
Most of his family members, including his parents, a brother and sister, are still in Syria. His parents are too old to try to escape, he said.
“It’s a devastating situation because today they might be alive but tomorrow they might be dead,” Abbas said through a translator. “We cannot rely on anyone but Allah, God, to save us. The whole universe is seeing what’s happening. The killing is daily and no one is moving a finger.”
Various Milwaukee religious leaders spoke at the vigil, including Bishop Richard Sklba, from the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Pardeep Kaleka, from the Sikh community, the Rev. Alexander Jacob from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Jodi Melamed from Jewish Voice for Peace.
The message at Sunday night’s vigil was clear: Do something. The side of the gymnasium was lined with photos of destruction and Syrian people suffering in Aleppo, and next to them were papers that listed contact information for politicians to voice concerns to.
“It’s not only world leaders that have failed us, but it’s the failure of every single one of us,” Hamadeh said. “It’s our responsibility.”