A group of Lebanese lawyers filed a complaint with the country's top prosecutor on Wednesday requesting an investigation into banker Antoun Sehnaoui over a dinner he allegedly co-hosted in Washington that was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Antoun Sehnaoui © LKT
A group of Lebanese lawyers filed a complaint with the country's top prosecutor on Wednesday requesting an investigation into banker Antoun Sehnaoui over a dinner he allegedly co-hosted in Washington that was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The document accused Sehnaoui of "communicating with the Israeli enemy", one of the complainants, lawyer Mohamad Amer Al Haj Hassan, told reporters.
The complaint reflects the heightened sensitivity in Lebanon over potential normalisation of ties with Israel, which still occupies a strip of land in southern Lebanon seized during months of fighting with Lebanese armed group Hezbollah earlier this year.
Lebanese law prohibits nationals from any transactions with Israeli citizens and institutions. Lebanon remains officially in a state of war with Israel despite a pledge by Beirut during recent U.S.-brokered talks to establish peaceful ties.
A statement by Netanyahu's office said the prime minister attended a July 27 dinner in honour of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a strong backer of Israel who died on July 11, without saying who organised it.
An Israeli official and a source briefed on the dinner said it had been organised by Sehnaoui and Morgan Ortagus, who previously served as U.S. President Donald Trump's deputy special envoy to the Middle East.
In a post on X, Lebanese lawmaker Halima Kaakour called Sehnaoui's meeting with Netanyahu a "major moral and national crisis" at a time when Israeli troops continue to occupy Lebanese land.
Sehnaoui, who resides in the United States, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The banker, who hails from a prominent banking family and is the chairman of Societe Generale de Banque au Liban, previously sparked controversy in Lebanon with a post on his X account in April, saying he had attended a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in Washington with Ortagus.
By Tala Ramadan
A Lebanese official denied on Thursday a Reuters report that Beirut had agreed with Israel to a shortlist of countries that could send troops to Lebanon to verify the disarmament of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and said it was following up on the issue with Washington.
Israel won't withdraw from southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed, the defence minister said on Thursday, qualifying remarks he made a day earlier that had suggested Israeli forces would occupy the territory indefinitely and drew U.S. criticism.
Israeli troops clashed with Jewish settlers on Wednesday while trying to disperse them from a West Bank outpost they set up directly in front of Palestinian homes, and later withdrew from the area after failing to clear the settlers, witnesses said.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.