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Dinner for Graham
Lebanese businessman and SGBL CEO Antoun Sehnaoui, together with former U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus, hosted a dinner on Monday evening in memory of influential South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who died on July 11 from a cardiac condition.
“hosted a dinner on Monday evening in memory of influential South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was on an official visit to the United States to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, his wife Sara Netanyahu, and members of Graham’s family, attended the dinner, along with several Republican senators, senior officials, business leaders and Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter.
The event took place on the eve of the first day of funeral services for the late senator, with a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol during which Vice President JD Vance praised Graham as a man of conviction who "loved people from all walks of life."
L'Orient Today also reported that a second ceremony was scheduled later that day at Washington National Cathedral, attended by Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Israeli prime minister.
Before his death, Graham had sought to persuade the United States "to join" Israel in its strikes against Hezbollah, and after his death Trump described him as "one of the greatest senators" he had known and ordered U.S. flags nationwide to be flown at half-staff for several days.
Lebanon reacts
A photograph taken at the Four Seasons in Washington showed Benjamin Netanyahu at table with several guests, while Antoun Sehnaoui appeared from behind in the foreground, and the image quickly became a political object in Lebanon.
Libnanews said Sehnaoui co-organized, with Morgan Ortagus, an evening in honor of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, and that the presence of the Israeli prime minister, his wife, and American officials gave the image "a reach that goes beyond the world of high-society circles."
Libnanews framed the anger in Lebanon around the fact that the scene involved Netanyahu while Lebanon remains officially at war with Israel, and it tied the controversy to Israeli-Lebanese discussions conducted under American mediation.
The article also said Sehnaoui appears in the role of host and that co-organizing, not just being present, is what fuels the anger of a portion of Lebanese opinion.
It further linked the dinner to Sehnaoui’s broader pro-Israel involvement, including that in 2025 he financed a collaboration between the Washington National Opera and the Tel Aviv Opera.
Networks and scrutiny
L'Orient Today reported that the relationship between Sehnaoui and Ortagus first became public in 2025, when several media outlets reported on their close ties alongside reports of Ortagus’ divorce, and that Ortagus later left her position as deputy U.S. envoy for the Middle East in the Trump administration.
“their names were unveiled on the museum’s donor wall”
The L'Orient Today account said the couple’s relationship became public in April when they attended the annual Days of Remembrance ceremony organized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, where their names were unveiled on the museum’s donor wall.
Libnanews added that under the Holocaust Memorial Museum’s publicly published rules, the inscription corresponds to a contribution of at least $50,000, and it described the donor-wall listing as part of Sehnaoui’s visible presence in American pro-Israel circles.
The Guardian of this set is not present, but Libnanews described Sehnaoui’s gravitation around networks close to AIPAC and major pro-Israel lobbying groups, and it said his involvement changes the nature of the debate from rumor to public record.
In the same coverage, Libnanews said the dinner was presented as a tribute to Lindsey Graham, and it described Graham as a steadfast supporter of Israel and a proponent of a hard line against Iran.