Hezbollah MPs, rivals clash in parliament over Israel

The second day of a general parliamentary debate session witnessed renewed verbal clashes between lawmakers from Hezbollah and political rivals.

“Go check what the Israelis said about Ali al-Taher. Shame on you,” MP Ihab Hamadeh of Hezbollah told his political foes, prompting MP Waddah Sadek to say, “Go check who brought the Israelis into the country!”

“Go to hell … Shut up!” Hamadeh snapped back.

“Go check the lies you have told the people,” Sadek responded.

The quarrel drew an intervention from MP Ziad Hawat of the Lebanese Forces, who told Hamadeh: “Enough with showing off. Go show off in front of the Israelis.”

Hamadeh later called the rival MPs “the cronies of Israel,” which prompted Hawat to say: “You have brought Israel into the country. You have destroyed the country, you have destroyed the south … No one is afraid of you anymore.”

“What a shame,” Speaker Nabih Berri said, commenting on the clash.

MP Halima Qaaqour of the Change bloc meanwhile said the framework agreement signed with Israel is “shameful,” while stressing that she supports the monopolization of arms in the hands of the state.

“Is this how we negotiate? Is this a framework agreement that can be defended? It contradicts with all values of sovereignty and justice and it legitimizes occupation,” she lamented.

“You have deprived the people of the south of justice by depriving them of getting compensations from the enemy,” Qaaqour added.

MP Pierre Bou Assi of the Lebanese Forces meanwhile told PM Nawaf Salam: “I fear for your government, because in these circumstances if it falls, any consecutive government that comes will not be able to govern.”