Lebanese Maronite Religious Leader Patriarch Bechara Boutros Raï: Since All Domestic Solutions Have Failed, The Internationalization Of The Lebanese Issue Is Inevitable

Lebanese Maronite religious leader Bechara Boutros Raï, the Patriarch of Antioch and All of the East, said in a December 11, 2022 public address that was posted on the Newsgate YouTube channel that the Lebanese people must approach the U.N. and the global superpowers and ask them to "save Lebanon before it is too late." He said: "The internationalization of the Lebanese issue is inevitable, after all the domestic solutions have failed." Raï added that the same elements that are foiling domestic solutions oppose the internationalization of the Lebanese issue. He criticized the Lebanese parliament for failing to elect a president, saying this means that the members of the parliament do not want to elect a president or are unqualified to do so. Raï also said that they are "undermining the very existence of the Lebanese Republic." For more about Bechara Boutros Raï, see MEMRI TV Clips Nos. 8724 and 8769.

Patriarch Bechara Boutros Raï: "Is the goal behind this shameful behavior to do away with Lebanon's uniqueness, values, and order? Has a premeditated decision been made to destroy Lebanon, and to build – on its ruins – a quasi state that does not belong to its people, to its history, or to its environment?

"How do the MPs look at themselves in the mirror, when they have convened nine times without electing a president for the country? This means that they do not want to elect a president, or that they are not qualified to elect a president. Therefore, they are undermining the very existence of the Lebanese Republic, and losing the trust of the people, as well as the respect of Arab and friendly countries that are striving to save Lebanon.

"Are the parliamentary sessions, as they are today, designed to lead the people and the world into believing that they are indeed convening to elect a president, while they are deceiving and misleading them?

"Therefore, [the Lebanese] must approach the United Nations and the superpowers so that they save Lebanon before it is too late. The internationalization of the Lebanese issue is inevitable, after all the domestic solutions have failed. It should be noted that the people who foil the domestic solutions are the same people who object to the internationalization.

"When domestic solutions are foiled and the internationalization is rejected, it means that those parties do not want any solution to the situation in Lebanon."