Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi strongly condemned the "ongoing genocide in Gaza," urging the world to put an end to it. During his Sunday mass at the patriarchal church in Bkerke, he denounced the silence of world nations in the face of the Israeli war on Gaza, motivated by fears for their financial interests, sacrificing a people deprived of their land and their right to a state of their own, in accordance with UN resolution 181, which calls for the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state.
Al-Rahi emphasized that "we in Lebanon seek to avoid slipping into this blind war, to protect southern Lebanon and the safe citizens, and to immediately proceed to elect a president for the republic in order to regularize the parliamentary council, the government, and all other constitutional institutions." He noted that "from this perspective, we view the initiative of the 'National Moderation' bloc and the efforts of the five-member committee with much positivity."
He called on politicians to "emerge from the confines of personal and sectarian interests and to uplift the country," asserting that they themselves are responsible for the paralysis of the state and its institutions. He emphasized, "I wish they would humble themselves, acknowledge their mistakes, and correct their performance for the sake of Lebanon and the Lebanese people."
