Aoun: Corrupt System Controls Lebanon

President Michel Aoun meets with a youth delegation at the Baabda palace on Sunday. (NNA)
President Michel Aoun meets with a youth delegation at the Baabda palace on Sunday. (NNA)
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Aoun: Corrupt System Controls Lebanon

President Michel Aoun meets with a youth delegation at the Baabda palace on Sunday. (NNA)
President Michel Aoun meets with a youth delegation at the Baabda palace on Sunday. (NNA)

Lebanese President Michel Aoun continued on Sunday his verbal campaign against what he calls the corrupt system, which he said controls the country and fears accountability.

“Failure of every plan for financial and economic recovery means one thing, which is that the corrupt system that still controls the country and the people fears accountability,” he said during a meeting with a youth delegation at the Baabda Palace.

Aoun explained that a recovery plan stems from three main pillars: identifying losses, defining responsibilities and accountability, and determining treatment methods.

He added that the failure to determine the financial losses and their distribution between the central bank, banks and the state led to two serious matters: First, ignoring those responsible for the financial ruin of the country and second, holding the Lebanese people solely responsible for the financial collapse, and depleting their deposits.

“The people must know who is humiliating them on a daily basis as they try to obtain their most basic rights and who is preventing them from freely accessing their money at banks,” Aoun said.

He added that every popular revolution must aim to identify and distribute losses, define responsibilities, hold officials accountable, and find solutions and identify those who caused the financial disaster.

The people alone should not be held responsible for the crisis, he urged.



Israel Vows to Prevent an Aid Boat Carrying Greta Thunberg, Activists from Reaching Gaza

Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)
Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)
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Israel Vows to Prevent an Aid Boat Carrying Greta Thunberg, Activists from Reaching Gaza

Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)
Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

Israel’s defense minister has vowed to prevent an aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists from reaching the Gaza Strip.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday that Israel wouldn't allow anyone to break its naval blockade of the Palestinian territory, which he said was aimed at preventing Hamas from importing arms.

Thunberg, a climate campaigner is among 12 activists aboard the Madleen, which is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. The vessel departed Sicily last Sunday on a mission that aims to break the sea blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid, while raising awareness over the growing humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave, The AP news reported.

The activists had said they planned to reach Gaza’s territorial waters as early as Sunday.

Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament who is of Palestinian descent, is among the others onboard. She has been barred from entering Israel because of her opposition to Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.

After a three-month total blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel started allowing some basic aid into Gaza last month, but humanitarian workers have warned of famine unless the blockade and the war end.

An attempt last month by Freedom Flotilla to reach Gaza by sea failed after another of the group’s vessels was attacked by two drones while sailing in international waters off Malta. The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the front section of the ship.