Al-Rahi: Lebanon needs patriotic and sovereign parliamentary majority

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Saturday called on the Lebanese to elect a “patriotic” parliamentary majority that believes in “sovereignty and independence" and in “the Lebanese Army as the sole authority for arms and security” in the country.

“We are the movement of change, freedom and sovereignty in this Levant and we are the pioneers of political and intellectual renaissance. We resisted when resistance was an adventure, we rebelled when the uprising was being suppressed, and we raised the voice when voices fell silent,” al-Rahi said in his annual Easter message.

“We persevered when aggressors and occupiers were kingdoms, empires and sultanates, so we will not submit and surrender today. Why don’t we rebel, put conflicts aside and come together in the country of unity and cultural and religious pluralism that we achieved together in 1920,” the patriarch urged.

Referring to the upcoming parliamentary elections, al-Rahi said that “the more the people act to seriously confront this disastrous situation, the more the Arab and international community would be encouraged to assist them.”

“We call on the Lebanese themselves to return to Lebanon and to abandon their foreign allegiances and their belonging to projects that are alien to our history and heritage,” the patriarch added.

He accordingly called for eliminating “the hybrid identities that sneaked into our Lebanese identity throughout history.”

Moreover, al-Rahi urged citizens to vote for “the forces who can defend Lebanon’s entity and identity, who can remain loyal to the martyrs of the Lebanese cause and who can restore Lebanon’s Arab and international ties.”