Agencies- Lebanon tasked the security forces on Wednesday with investigating a meeting between influential Lebanese Christian businessman Antoun Sehnaoui and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a judicial official told AFP.
Lebanese law criminalizes contact with Israel and violators could face prison terms. The countries began direct talks under US sponsorship in April, a month after the latest fighting erupted between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Axios journalist Barak Ravid said on X that on Monday night in Washington, Sehnaoui and former US envoy Morgan Ortagus hosted a dinner attended by high-profile officials including Netanyahu. The dinner was in memory of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who died this month.
An accompanying photo showing Sehnaoui and Netanyahu at the same table sparked uproar on social media in Lebanon across the political spectrum.
The judicial official, requesting anonymity, told AFP that the public prosecutor had tasked the security forces “with opening an investigation into the photo” to establish “whether it is authentic.”
The “appropriate legal procedures” will be taken based on the outcome of the investigation, the official added.
In another image posted on Netanyahu’s X account, Sehnaoui is visible behind the Israeli premier.
The prosecutor is to examine the matter and decide whether to refer it to the military court.
More than a dozen Lebanese lawyers filed a complaint at the prosecutor’s office in Beirut on Wednesday against the banker, saying he violated the country’s laws by meeting with Netanyahu.
The complaint said Sehnaoui committed “the crimes of contacting and dealing with the Israeli enemy, violating the Israel boycott law, the crime of treason and state security crimes.”
Two of the Lebanese lawyers who filed the complaint told The Associated Press that the Sehnaoui-Netanyahu meeting came as Israel’s military is still carrying out attacks on Lebanon.
The conflict revived two days after Israel and the US attacked Iran, when Hezbollah fired at Israel and Israel responded with airstrikes and ground forces. More than 4,000 people in Lebanon have been killed, and Israel still occupies dozens of villages and towns. The countries recently reached a framework agreement.
One of the lawyers, Hassan Bazzi, said Sehnaoui violated the law and offended national sentiments. Bazzi said the lawyers hope the prosecutor’s office performs its duties “effectively and swiftly.”
Another lawyer, Mohammed Hajj Hassan, called Sehnaoui’s meeting with Netanyahu “a public offense,” and now the judiciary is expected to investigate the case in what could lead to issuing arrest warrants.
It was not immediately clear how prosecutors will deal with the case. In the past, they issued arrest warrants in similar cases for Lebanese citizens outside the country.
Sehnaoui, who has been mostly based in the US in recent years, has several businesses in Lebanon and abroad in sectors including banking, media and the film industry.
Like other senior bankers, Sehnaoui was harshly criticized following Lebanon’s historic economic meltdown in 2019, when most people lost access to their money. The economic crisis was described by the World Bank as among the worst in the world since the 1850s.
Sehnaoui’s meeting with the Israeli leader occurred as some in Lebanon have called for abolishing a 1955 law that bans dealing with Israel or having contacts with Israelis and punishes offenders with up to 10 years in jail.
