“Lebanon Debate”
The scene of disagreement over the presence of dogs in Lebanese streets is no longer just a passing discussion between supporters and opponents. Recently, it has turned into a space that reveals a lot about our relationship with animals, the limits of difference, and abnormal behaviors that sometimes exceed the limits of logic and humanity.
The latest of these incidents is a video that spread on social media and was drawn up by the Baskinta Municipality, documenting a shocking incident that journalist Joseph Medawar was exposed to while he was passing through the town with his dog.
In the video, an elderly woman appears on the balcony of her house holding a rifle and pointing it at Medawar and his dog, demanding that they leave the place, and threatening to shoot if they do not move away. While Medawar was documenting what was happening, he heard her voice screaming: “Get it from here, it’s better for you, go to the grave, come on.” Then he responded to her, asking her to put away the weapon: “I’m filming you, take this away.”
The scene, with its threat and the use of weapons against a person and his dog, sparked a wide wave of interaction. Among the sarcastic and sympathetic comments, voices also emerged that treat killing or poisoning dogs as if it were a natural solution to the problem of their presence in neighborhoods and streets.
The most prominent question that arises here is not only related to the presence of the dog or the dispute over it, but rather how things reached the point of drawing a gun and threatening passersby with it.
How could a woman keep a weapon and use it to threaten people passing by her house? What is the municipality’s role in controlling such cases? Where are the security services in an incident of this magnitude, especially when the dispute turns from mere objection or annoyance to a direct threat with weapons?
