Member of Parliament and leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil. (Photo: AFP)
The Arabic-language spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, targeted the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), MP Gebran Bassil, in one of his messages on X, criticizing his alliance with Hezbollah from 2006 to 2023.
"Dear Mr. Bassil, Israel is not the aggressor. You only need to look back a little to realize that it is this devilish party [Hezbollah] that you defend which is the aggressor. You are too young to have Alzheimer's," he wrote.
Bassil had declared, in a statement published after an FPM meeting, "We hold Israel responsible for the war in Lebanon because it is an aggressor and occupying state, just as we hold Hezbollah responsible for this war because it linked its fate to that of Gaza and then Iran, thereby linking Lebanon to them as well." He also accused the Lebanese authorities of negligence and failing to protect the country with a proper defense strategy. A former political ally of Hezbollah, the FPM is currently in the opposition and is not a part of Nawaf Salam's government.
Unprecedented messages between Lebanese MPs and Adraee
In a direct response to Adraee, two FPM MPs defended Bassil and addressed the spokesman on X. Aounist MP Nada Boustani wrote on her X account that he "did not understand that Gebran Bassil does not defend Hezbollah, but rather Lebanon, and that he had opposed from the beginning the opening of a support front with Gaza and then with Iran."
For his part, MP Salim Aoun, targeting Adraee, wrote that "our history in the struggle against tutelage and occupation does not need a certificate of good conduct from the spokesman of the occupying army." "Lebanon's sovereignty is decided by the Lebanese, within their state and their institutions — not in Tel Aviv nor on the 'X' platform. Spare us your advice and go preach elsewhere," the MP also wrote.
These are almost unprecedented public exchanges between Lebanese MPs and the Israeli spokesman, as the 1955 Lebanese boycott law on Israel prohibits any interaction between Lebanese and Israelis. "The Free Patriotic Movement breaks the taboo of direct contact with Israel through two tweets by MPs Nada Boustani and Salim Aoun. Some concepts now belong to the past..." commented journalist Rikardo Chidiac on his X account, who presents himself as independent.
The law in question prohibits any individual or legal entity from contacting Israelis or people residing in Israel. It also bans all commercial, financial, and other transactions. Violation of this law is punishable by a sentence of three to ten years of hard labor. But in recent years, it has been invoked repeatedly to accuse, summon or even incarcerate activists opposed to Hezbollah or the former president Michel Aoun.
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