A Must read. Please go to the Grayzone link to read in full.
https://thegrayzone.com/2026/08/12/media-militiamen-lebanese-aipac-beirut-normalize-israel/
Meet the media and militiamen funded by ‘Lebanese AIPAC Guy’ pushing Beirut into Israel’s hands
As the deadly Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon
continues, the fabulously wealthy banker-turned-“philanthropist” Antoun
Sehnaoui has assembled a network of business and media operatives in
Washington – and a fascist Christian goon squad in Beirut – dedicated to
doing Israel’s dirty work.
In late July, Lebanese daily L’Orient Today exposed
a wealthy banking heir named Antoun Sehnaoui as a driving force behind
recent efforts to push the country to normalize relations with Israel as
the apartheid state continues to occupy hundreds of square miles of
southern Lebanon.
According to L’Orient, Sehnaoui is
now actively seeking to manipulate Lebanese public opinion by lavishly
funding local outlets including French-speaking Ici Beyrouth,
English-language This Is Beirut, and Hunna Lubnan in Arabic. The report
also built on local reports indicating the mysterious Sehnaoui has been
wielding a fascist Christian militia to protect his banking empire and
reputation.
After photos emerged in late July
showing the financier cavorting with Israeli Prime Minister and
international fugitive Benjamin Netanyahu at a private gathering in
Washington DC, Sehnaoui has been publicly denounced by his uncle as a
willing tool of Israel. While currently wanted for questioning by law
enforcement in Lebanon, where directly associating with Israelis is
punishable by law, Sehnaoui has emerged as the man behind the curtain of
the Lebanese government, injecting money and manpower into Beirut’s
dangerous theater of normalization with Israel.
The banker and the convert
Long before his debut as a public
proponent of Zionism, Antoun Sehnaoui was known across Lebanon for both
his tremendous wealth and his tendency to serve as a kingmaker among the
right-wing parties catering to Lebanon’s Christian minority. When
Lebanon’s economy collapsed in 2019 after it became clear that the
country’s banking class had effectively been running a state-sponsored
pyramid scheme, Sehnaoui emerged as the face of an amoral Lebanese elite
that managed to squirrel over $15 billion out of the country by using
their connections with Lebanon’s central bank. While ordinary Lebanese
residents were turned away from branches empty-handed, it was revealed
that billions were being funneled abroad via the Sehnaoui-owned Banque
Richelieu France bank.
Since then, Sehnaoui has become
romantically involved with US President Donald Trump’s former Special
Representative for Lebanon, Morgan Ortagus. Ortagus, a formerly evangelical Christian convert to Judaism, is a fanatical Zionist who flaunts her ideology with her choices of jewelry. In late 2024, after being chosen to serve as Trump’s envoy to Lebanon by Steve Witkoff, Ortagus suggested to Israeli military leaders
that they attack the 2024 funeral of assassinated Hezbollah Secretary
General Hassan Nasrallah at the Sports City stadium in Beirut.
Israel ultimately decided to stage an intimidating overflight of the
funeral rather than launch an attack that would have killed thousands of
civilians.
This April in Washington DC, in the
midst of talks between Lebanon and Israel, Ortagus introduced Sehnaoui
at the Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Remembrance Day,” where Sehnaoui’s
name was inscribed on the institution’s Donor Wall. In revealing
comments, Ortagus praised Sehnaoui’s family as “committed Christian
Zionists” who had “trained [him] to be a supporter of the state of
Israel and the Jewish people.” She then volunteered her opinion that
“what Antoun [Sehnaoui] is doing today is technically illegal in
Lebanon.”..........
Lebanese banker Antoun Sehnaoui with his girlfriend, former US envoy to
Lebanon Morgan Ortagus, at the Holocaust Memorial Museum this April
