5 Change MPs: No to arms outside defense strategy

Change MPs Firas Hamdan, Najat Saliba, Yassine Yassine, Paula Yacoubian and Melhem Khalaf have condemned an “incitement and treason accusations campaign” against fellow MP Ibrahim Mneimneh, after he criticized the appearance of Jamaa Islamiya gunmen in Beirut during the funeral of a group fighter who was killed by Israeli fire in south Lebanon.

In a joint statement, the MPs said the campaign was aimed at “silencing the debate” that Mneimneh has “dared to launch,” warning that “military parades threaten the city’s security today and might threaten the security of entire Lebanon tomorrow.”

They accordingly warned against “allowing this phenomenon to expand under the excuse of the Palestinian cause or defending Lebanon.”

“As Change MPs, we will not bargain in our defense of state institutions and in rejecting arms operating outside the state … There should not be any arms outside a defense strategy that monopolizes arms in the hands of state institutions,” the MPs added.