Berri rejects attacks on al-Rahi as Hezbollah visits Bkirki

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday said he rejects “the unjust campaigns against His Eminence, Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, over his honest calls for supporting the displaced Lebanese.”

“His Eminence’s call for supporting the displaced expresses a unifying national stance,” Berri said in a statement.

“As I laud His Eminence’s call in this regard, we condemn the campaign that targeted him out of a mere misunderstanding,” the Speaker added.

MTV meanwhile reported that a meeting was held between Bkirki spokesman Walid Ghayyad and Hezbollah officials Mustafa al-Hajj Ali and Mohammed Saeed al-Khansa following the social media attacks against al-Rahi.

“We do not accept insults against any Christian figure or religious leader,” Khansa told OTV, noting that “Hezbollah is only responsible for what is voiced in its media outlets, not through social networking websites.”

“The responsibility for any remarks on social media exclusively falls on those who voice them,” Khansa added.

Al-Rahi had on Wednesday said: “Our people in the South are leaving their homes and this means further poverty, that’s why we have asked our parishioners to offer sums of money and to present Sundays’ trays (of donations) to our people who are coming from the southern towns.”

Since October 8, thousands of residents have fled the southern border towns amid daily clashes between Israel and Hezbollah against the backdrop of the war in Gaza.

Al-Rahi’s remarks infuriated some pro-Hezbollah activists, including al-Manar reporter Ali Shoaib and al-Mayadeen reporter Ali Murtada, who launched vehement attacks and insults against al-Rahi on their social media accounts.