BEIRUT (AP) — More than a dozen Lebanese lawyers filed a complaint at the prosecutor’s office in Beirut on Wednesday against a prominent local banker, saying he violated the country’s laws by meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington this week.Lebanon and Israel have been holding U.S.-backed direct talks for the first time in decades over the past three months, seeking an end to the latest fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in southern Lebanon.Lebanon’s laws prevent its citizens from having contact with Israelis — the countries remain in a state of war since Israel was established in 1948 — and violators could face prison terms.Axios reporter Barak Ravid posted a photo on X of the banker, Antoun Sehnaoui, sitting at a restaurant table with Netanyahu and his wife, Sara. Ravid wrote that Sehnaoui and former U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus hosted a dinner on Monday in memory of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham that was attended by Netanyahu and U.S. officials.
A Sehnaoui-linked website, This is Beirut, also reported details of what it called the “special dinner.”Sehnaoui’s lawyer in Beirut did not immediately respond for comment.
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