Lebanon's Rai Issues Elections Plea

Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai stressed the importance of the country holding legislative elections next year as he delivered his Christmas sermon. (NNA file photo)
Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai stressed the importance of the country holding legislative elections next year as he delivered his Christmas sermon. (NNA file photo)
TT
20

Lebanon's Rai Issues Elections Plea

Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai stressed the importance of the country holding legislative elections next year as he delivered his Christmas sermon. (NNA file photo)
Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai stressed the importance of the country holding legislative elections next year as he delivered his Christmas sermon. (NNA file photo)

Lebanon's Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai, stressed the importance of the country holding legislative elections next year as he delivered his Christmas sermon on Saturday.

Al-Rai also called for the government to convene, saying that failing to do so sets a precedent that may hinder the function of future governments.

Lebanon's cabinet, which is focused on restarting talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to unlock much-needed foreign aid, has not met since Oct. 12, due to a dispute over a probe into last year's deadly Beirut port blast.

"We support your commitment to holding the legislative elections," said Al-Rai, directing his speech to President Michel Aoun who was attending the sermon.

"The elections are the guarantee that presidential elections will be held on time and it is an opportunity for change."

Parliament had voted for the legislative election to take place on March 27 but Aoun has said he would only sign a decree for them to take place in May.

Al-Rai also offered his condolences to the families of the victims of the port blast which killed more than 200 people in August last year.

"Our thoughts today are with the families of the port blast victims who are in pain because the judiciary is hindered and the fate of investigation is uncertain," he said.

The explosion was caused by a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely for years with the knowledge of top officials, but more than a year on, no one has been held accountable.

Hezbollah and its allies have pushed to remove the lead investigator of the explosion, accusing him of political bias.



Borrell: Israel Committing ‘Genocide’ in Gaza

Former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell collects the Charles V European award (EPA)
Former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell collects the Charles V European award (EPA)
TT
20

Borrell: Israel Committing ‘Genocide’ in Gaza

Former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell collects the Charles V European award (EPA)
Former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell collects the Charles V European award (EPA)

The former EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has launched a blistering attack on Israel, accusing its government of committing genocide in Gaza and “carrying out the largest ethnic-cleansing operation since the end of the second world war in order to create a splendid holiday destination.”

According to The Guardian newspaper, Borrell also criticized the bloc’s failure to use all the means at its disposal to influence Israel, saying expressions of regret were simply not enough.

As he collected the Charles V European award in front of dignitaries including King Felipe in south-west Spain on Friday, the former EU chief said the horrors Israel had suffered in the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023 could not justify the horrors it had subsequently inflicted on Gaza.

“We’re facing the largest ethnic cleansing operation since the end of the second world war in order to create a splendid holiday destination once all the millions of tons of rubble have been cleared from Gaza and the Palestinians have died or gone away,” he said in a characteristically direct speech.

Last February, US President Donald Trump suggested that nearly two million Palestinians should be relocated from battle-leveled Gaza to new homes elsewhere so that the US could send troops to the Strip, take ownership and build the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

“You build really good quality housing, like a beautiful town, like some place where they can live and not die, because Gaza is a guarantee that they’re going to end up dying,” Trump told reporters after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House.

Borrell accused Israel of violating all the rules of conflict and of using the starvation of Gaza’s civilian population as a “weapon of war.”

“Three times more explosive power has been dropped on Gaza than was used in the Hiroshima bomb,” he said.

“And for months now, nothing has been getting into Gaza. Nothing: no water, no food, no electricity, no fuel, no medical services. That’s what Netanyahu’s ministers have said and it’s what they’ve done.”

He added: “We all know what’s going on there, and we’ve all heard the objectives stated by Netanyahu’s ministers, which are clear declarations of genocidal intent. Seldom have I heard the leader of a state so clearly outline a plan that fits the legal definition of genocide.”