Moussawi Apologizes over verbal clash with Gemayel

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Hezbollah MP Nawwaf Moussawi apologized on Thursday to Speaker Nabih Berri and the MPs over the language he used during his verbal clash with Phalange MP Sami Gemayel during Wednesday’s parliamentary session.

In a statement issued by Hezbollah’s press office, Moussawi said: “Out of my respect to the party’s values and ethics, I apologize to Speaker Nabih Berri and fellow MPs over the offensive language I used in my response yesterday.”

This comes after a verbal clash that erupted inside the parliament on Wednesday in Beirut between Gemayel and Moussawi when the issue of the Shiite party’s attempt to expand its telecommunications network was discussed during a Question and Answer session .

Gemayel criticized Hezbollah over its “illegal excavation and installation works in the town of Tarshish ( in the upper Metn district ). ”

Moussawi responded saying that the cabinet had given the resistance legitimacy through its ministerial statement.

Gemayel then responded to Moussawi by telling him, “Let the Resistance protect me in this case .”

According to the report, the Hezbollah MP lashed out at Gemayel and said that “the Resistance does not protect agents of foreign governments .”

“Who are you calling agents? The history [of the Phalange ] should be an honor [to you]… You are disrespectful,” Gemayel told the Hezbollah MP

Moussawi reportedly fired back at the Gemayel by telling him, “You are the [impolite] one… And my shoes are more respectful than you.”

But Speaker Nabih Berri reportedly intervened , warning Moussawi that he “shouldn’t defend the resistance in this way.”

Responding to Moussawi’s apology later Thursday, Gemayel thanked Berri for his mediation efforts and hoped things will be back to normal and MPs would be able to express their viewpoints without reaching the degrading level of speech.

At a press conference he held in parliament, the Metn MP hoped that the apology would help Hezbollah understand that it can neither abolish nor threaten any party in Lebanon.

“We dedicate this apology to all the Lebanese and the free people in Lebanon because the insult was not directed at us but the Lebanese people whom we represent,” he added.

“What happened is an insult to the parliament and the lawmakers and should be solved inside the legislature and in front of them through a public apology by Moussawi,” Gemayel added.

Jumblatt Gemayel meeting

According to local reports former Lebanese president and current Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel ( Sami’s father) and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt met on Wednesday evening at MP Nehme Tohme’s residence in Beirut to try and calm down the situation between the Phalange and Hezbollah

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8 responses to “Moussawi Apologizes over verbal clash with Gemayel”

  1. ralphsrouji Avatar
    ralphsrouji

    “We dedicate this apology to all the Lebanese”  Sami Gemayel
    The lebanese do not accept this apology, nor do they accept tobyid el tanajir with your friend berri.
    Man up Sami!!! Look where your father got by accepting apologies, they killed his son, your brother!!!!!
    I hope this will be a wake up call for you, it’s about time that people start patroling their streets and catching and expelling hezbollah agents. Yes, it’s time for some serious confrontation!

  2.  Avatar

    “We dedicate this apology to all the Lebanese”  Sami Gemayel
    The lebanese do not accept this apology, nor do they accept tobyid el tanajir with your friend berri.
    Man up Sami!!! Look where your father got by accepting apologies, they killed his son, your brother!!!!!
    I hope this will be a wake up call for you, it’s about time that people start patroling their streets and catching and expelling hezbollah agents. Yes, it’s time for some serious confrontation!

    1.  Avatar

      Well Ralph … it’s the kind of thing where you know if there were guns in their hands there would be another 40 years of war … sigh … but one has to admit that perhaps there is a little glimmer of light – even with a Hezzy supporter – when an apology is even offered. If they can’t learn to talk sensibly, and without that sectarian divide, FOR the country as a whole, then the sad state of affairs will just continue.
      One could accept … and wait to see what happens … for the sake of understanding and the good of all.
      Although we know there’s still a long way to go ….

      1.  Avatar

        A long way to go? I think it’s more like a dead end. It’s the cowardice of the self-proclaimed leaders of M14 that got us here. It’s the cowardice of jumblat talking about preserving the resistance ON March 14, 2005, the cowardice of Amin Gemayel talking to berri and nasrallah after they killed his son, the cowardice of saad hariri putting his hand in the hand of his father’s killer in damascus… Enough worrying about the fake stability, the “ta3ayosh” and all that nonsense. Clearly none of those “leaders” has any balls and they’re being walked on by the brutes of hezbollah, enough claiming that it’s raining when they spit on you, man up or live like a wuss and shut up!

      2.  Avatar

        A long way to go? I think it’s more like a dead end. It’s the cowardice of the self-proclaimed leaders of M14 that got us here. It’s the cowardice of jumblat talking about preserving the resistance ON March 14, 2005, the cowardice of Amin Gemayel talking to berri and nasrallah after they killed his son, the cowardice of saad hariri putting his hand in the hand of his father’s killer in damascus… Enough worrying about the fake stability, the “ta3ayosh” and all that nonsense. Clearly none of those “leaders” has any balls and they’re being walked on by the brutes of hezbollah, enough claiming that it’s raining when they spit on you, man up or live like a wuss and shut up!

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