Michigan families mourn relatives killed in Gaza: 'It's horrific'

Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press
·5 min read
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For Mahmoud Habeel, of Ann Arbor, the past few weeks have brought a stream of devastating news from Gaza, where he grew up.

The second day of the Israel-Hamas war, his cousin's home was bombed, Habeel, 56, said, "and every single member of that family was killed, about 12 of the family. The third day of the war, another cousin and two of his children were killed. Then a week ago, I had my nephew and his wife, they were desperate to get some food. So they had to go to their house that they evacuated from a week earlier ... got bombed and they were killed."

Mahmoud Habeel, of Ann Arbor, listens to other speakers after speaking of losing 50 family members in the Gaza war during the “From Gaza to Detroit” memorial service held at Greenfield Manor in Dearborn, Mich., for families grieving the loss of loved ones in Gaza on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. Habeel came to the United States from Gaza at 19 years old.

Habeel said that, overall, about 50 members of his extended family and his wife's family have been killed in Gaza, where Israel is launching military strikes after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. He spoke Wednesday night at Greenfield Manor to a crowd of about 75 people who gathered in a memorial service for local families who have lost loved ones in Gaza, organized by the Michigan Task Force for Palestine.

Habeel addressed the crowd at a podium wrapped in a Palestinian flag in front of two banners that read: "Palestinian Lives Matter," with photos of injured children.

More: Tears flow in Michigan synagogue as mourners call for Hamas to release Israeli hostages

For Habeel and others in metro Detroit's Palestinian American community, the war in Gaza is not an abstract issue, but one that is often deeply personal as they hear about family members and friends who have been displaced, injured or killed. Communication with Gaza is difficult, but Habeel said the family has been getting reports from Facebook, WhatsApp or through text messages from other relatives.

After weeks of getting reports about his side of the family, Habeel said, his wife on Wednesday received bad news about her family.

"Just today, my wife's aunt and her 10 children and her husband and her mother were killed in the house," Habeel said to the crowd. "My brother yesterday, his house was bombed. They were like 25 to 30 people in the house. And the house was not totally destroyed, and they survived all of them, but a lot of them got injured."

Other speakers told similar stories at the event, which featured talks by Islamic faith leaders with the Islamic Center of Detroit, Islamic Organization of North America in Warren, and the Islamic Cultural Association in Farmington Hills; the Rev. Ed Rowe, formerly the pastor at Central United Methodist Church, a historic congregation in Detroit near Comerica Park; a leader with Jewish Voices for Peace, a left-wing Jewish group critical of Israel; Emad Shehada, a Rochester Hills doctor who said he lost family in Gaza, and Huwaida Arraf, of Macomb Township, an attorney and Palestinian American activist.

Khalid Turaani, who leads the Michigan Task Force on Palestine, emceed the event.

The audience begins to cry when speakers recounted the loss of life in the Gaza war during the “From Gaza to Detroit” memorial service held at Greenfield Manor in Dearborn, Mich. for families grieving the loss of loved ones in Gaza on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023.
The audience begins to cry when speakers recounted the loss of life in the Gaza war during the “From Gaza to Detroit” memorial service held at Greenfield Manor in Dearborn, Mich. for families grieving the loss of loved ones in Gaza on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023.

"Palestinian lives are magnificent creations of the divine," Rowe said to the audience. "And when we devalue life ... we violate every sacred book that was ever written on anything, whether it is the scared scrolls of Judaism, or the Bible, or the Koran. There is no sacred scripture written that condones the mass of deaths of innocent people."

"Stop the killing," Rowe added. "Cease fire."

More: Michigan doctor says he's lost 20 family members in Gaza bombardment

In the audience, some held up signs that echoed those views, reading: "Cease Fire Now," "Stop the Ethnic Cleansing," and "I Stand Against Genocide."

The event Wednesday is one of a number of events that have taken place in Arab American and Jewish communities over the past month in reaction to the conflict that has resulted in thousands of people dead. On Thursday, a group of Muslim leaders spoke outside the McNamara federal building, saying they would not support President Joe Biden, who said Thursday there is "no possibility" of a cease-fire. Also on Thursday, Dearborn police hosted a group of interfaith leaders from diverse religions calling for for peace and unity. And on Tuesday night, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit hosted a vigil in a Farmington Hills synagogue to remember Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Dr. Emad Shehada, 47, a local pulmonologist, talks about the loss of 20 families members in what he calls the never-ending Gaza war between Hamas and Israel government during the “From Gaza to Detroit” memorial service at Greenfield Manor in Dearborn, Mich. on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. The service was organized to help families mourn the loss of loved ones. Shehada says they can’t be silent anymore. “We are their (deceased loved ones) advocates,” he says, “We have to make people listen to them. We have to be heard.”

There have been protests this week calling for a cease-fire outside the local offices of U.S. Reps. Haley Stevens, Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit, and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., according to posts on social media. Thursday afternoon, pro-Palestinian protesters temporarily blocked traffic on couple of lanes on Interstate 94 in Dearborn. The House censure of U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, was also discussed at the Dearborn vigil and among concerned Arab Americans, including Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, who expressed support for Tlaib.

"Dearborn will not forget this state-sanctioned oppression of our community. We stand with and wholeheartedly support our congresswoman and thank her for her courage," Hammoud said in a statement released by the city.

"It's been horrific," Habeel said of the past month. "It's been nothing but a nightmare."

Speaking afterward to the Free Press, Habeel said he has become almost numb to the news. He immigrated to the U.S. when he was 19.

"It's become, unfortunately, like it's normal," Habeel said of learning about deaths in his family. "I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not normal. But when you lose so many people, the sadness level is so, so bad that you unfortunately get used to it. ... No human being should feel that. But every day it could happen to any member of my family. I have my main family house, there are 150 in it right now. ... If that house gets bombed ... that's like a whole family is going to vanish. That could happen. You never know. I'm scared to death."

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com, Facebook.com/nwarikoo or X @nwarikoo.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dearborn memorial held for Palestinian family members killed in Gaza