Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared a table with Lebanese banker Antoun Sehnaoui and US diplomat Morgan Ortagus at a memorial dinner for senator Lindsey Graham in Washington.
The dinner, hosted by Mr Sehnaoui and Ms Ortagus, was held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington during Mr Netanyahu’s visit to the US, where he met President Donald Trump.
Images of the event have sparked anger among many Lebanese, as the country is still reeling from Israel’s war with Hezbollah. At least 4,333 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon in the latest war, while Israeli forces occupy dozens of villages in the country’s south.
Under Lebanese law, citizens are prohibited from engaging in direct dealings with Israeli people or institutions, with violations punishable by prison. Mr Sehnaoui has lived outside Lebanon for several years and has publicly advocated establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.
The Lebanese banker and businessman, who faces corruption allegations, first appeared alongside Ms Ortagus in April at a ceremony held at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. The appearance came after months of rumours about a relationship between the two.
Mr Sehnaoui attended the museum’s Days of Remembrance event, where he became the first Lebanese to have his name displayed on the institution’s Donors’ Wall.
“I’m going to brag about him because I love him – what Antoun is doing today is technically illegal in Lebanon,” said Ms Ortagus, before referring to his contributions to a US-Israeli opera initiative. “I’m so proud of him today for doing something illegal in Lebanon.”
Ms Ortagus also described Mr Sehnaoui and his family as “generations of Lebanese Christian Zionists”, a term rarely used in Lebanese political discourse, and said his parents had raised him to support Israel.
Mr Sehnaoui is chairman of Societe Generale de Banque au Liban (SGBL), one of Lebanon’s largest banks. Prosecutors in his homeland have filed charges against him and the bank over alleged money laundering linked to currency-trading operations during the financial crisis that began in 2019. The bank denies any wrongdoing.
The economic collapse, from which the country has yet to recover, was blamed on decades of financial mismanagement and corruption by Lebanon's ruling elite.
Investigators have reported allegations that SGBL enabled capital flight and benefited from financial engineering associated with former central bank governor Riad Salameh.
