Lebanese dispute over the adoption of daylight saving time

The Lebanese Minister of Education, Abbas Halabi, announced on Sunday that the educational sector will adhere to the summer time , despite the Lebanese government’s announcement to delay the start of this time until the end of Ramadan.

Lebanon adheres annually to the universal daylight saving time, which began this year on Sunday, but the Lebanese cabinet decided to extend the winter time "exceptionally" until the night of April 20-21. The decision sparked widespread controversy in the multi-sectarian and multi-religious country, and took a sectarian turn with several institutions, including the Maronite Church, declaring their refusal to abide by it. Lebanon's horizons today are divided into two times.

The Minister of Education wrote a series of tweets on his Twitter account, in which he said, "The summer time in schools, vocational schools, and universities remains approved (...). It is not permissible for us to leave educational, vocational, and university institutions at a loss, and parents are unaware of the direction of which hour to turn to." their children to school."

The General Secretariat of Catholic Private Schools announced that it would not abide by the government's decision to maintain winter time, but would adopt summer time.

The resigned government, which is satisfied with a caretaker job in light of a vacuum in the presidency of the Republic in Lebanon that has been going on for nearly five months and an acute political and economic crisis, did not mention the reason for its decision, but it was clear from a newly taken videotape between Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Nabih Berri, and it was leaked through websites. Social communication, that the goal is to shorten the fasting time for Muslims in Ramadan.

Abbas Halabi, who belongs to the Druze sect, said, "In light of the great dangers that the country is going through, (...) I call on all the Lebanese to reduce the intensity of the media conflict and to avoid any new decisions, such as the decision that was taken recently about not changing the clock as usual, and it was he who He inflamed sectarian rhetoric in the country, and we were and still are indispensable for an additional issue of division.”
It seemed as if he wished that the Council of Ministers would reverse its decision, in what was considered a mediation by the Druze community to accommodate the tension that had taken place.

The Maronite Patriarchate announced that it would not implement the government decision, and that it would adhere to Universal Daylight Saving Time.

In a statement, her media office criticized the decision-making "without consultation with the rest of the Lebanese components, and without any regard for international standards, and for the confusion and damage at home and abroad."

Several television channels also announced the adoption of daylight savings time, including the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBC), which indicated that non-compliance with the global clock "will affect our business."

The Lebanese Forces Party and the Christian Free Patriotic Movement also rejected the government decision.

And Middle East Airlines announced, "Presenting the departure times for all flights departing from Rafic Hariri International Airport by one hour," after it had issued its travel cards according to the World Summer Time timings.

Commentators on social media mocked the exaggerated controversy and its sectarian turn, considering it unjustified, especially in a country exhausted by crises, and witnessing an economic collapse that has made 80 percent of its population below the poverty line.

One of them wrote, "Apart from the insignificance of the summer time decision, we see an exaggerated reaction and an excuse for sectarian exhaustion."

Another mocked, saying, "Do you see that tomorrow when our children study history (they will find) that the civil war broke out in Lebanon in 2023 because the clock was not brought forward?"