Smear Campaign Targets Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rai, Joseph Aoun And Nabih Berri Defuse Tensions

A social media smear campaign targeting Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai ignited tensions in Lebanon, prompting President Joseph Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to publicly try to defuse the situation.

“LEBANESE ARMY On its 20th anniversary, the Lebanese Armed Forces Relief Program calls for increased aid to the Lebanese Army AFP / By L'Orient Today staff, 2 May 2026 11:01”

L'Orient Today

L’Orient-Le Jour says the campaign was relayed by multiple accounts and included images in which al-Rai’s head was replaced by a shoe, a pig, or a bird’s head from the popular Angry Birds mobile game.

The same reporting describes another montage showing al-Rai smiling alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The controversy followed a recent LBCI broadcast that depicted Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem and its fighters as Angry Birds-style caricatures, mocking the military imbalance with Israeli forces.

Hezbollah responded by criticizing the LBCI videos as going “beyond the limits of political disagreement,” describing them as “degrading and cheap insults that lower political discourse to a repulsive level and turn it into a deliberate tool to incite the street and stir society … in order to provoke uncontrollable strife among Lebanese.”

Hezbollah also urged supporters “to be aware of the seriousness of what is being plotted against all Lebanese” and to avoid being drawn into provocations.

In parallel, Aoun denounced attacks against Christian and Muslim religious leaders and called for “differences of opinion to remain within a political framework,” without explicitly naming the movement.

President Joseph Aoun denounced attacks against Christian and Muslim religious leaders and called for “differences of opinion to remain within a political framework,” according to L’Orient-Le Jour, which says he did not explicitly name the movement.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri followed Aoun and framed the dispute through the lens of recent Israeli bombardments in southern Lebanon, saying that “the only true winner when the Lebanese are divided and confront one another is the one who dared to destroy the nuns’ convent in Yaroun, the mosque in Bint Jbeil, and the _husseiniya_ in Doueir.”

“Politique - CONTROVERSY Rai cartoons ignite tensions, Aoun and Berry try to defuse situation Hezbollah criticized recent videos broadcast by LBCI mocking its secretary-general and the military actions of the movement”

L'Orient-Le Jour

Berri’s statement earlier Saturday, as quoted by L’Orient-Le Jour, said the campaign against Patriarch al-Rai began after what he described as an initial provocation by the LBCI channel, through videos that were “insulting” and “went beyond the bounds of political disagreement.”

The same account places the controversy in the context of a war with Israel that is devastating parts of southern Lebanon as it seeks to establish a buffer zone, while an ongoing cease-fire is negotiated under U.S. auspices.

Hezbollah and its allies, L’Orient-Le Jour reports, oppose direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.

Hezbollah MP Ibrahim Moussaoui echoed the group’s call for supporters to avoid being drawn into provocations, while fellow MP Hussein Hajj Hassan suggested that “the attacks and destruction in southern Lebanon, under the supposed cease-fire, are being coordinated with the United States and Lebanon.”

In its statement, Hezbollah urged its supporters “to be aware of the seriousness of what is being plotted against all Lebanese,” linking the cartoons and videos to a broader effort to incite internal unrest.

The cartoons targeting Patriarch Bechara al-Rai triggered condemnation from Christian political figures and religious organizations, with calls for legal action and warnings about civil peace.

“Politics - CONTROVERSY Rai cartoons ignite tensions, Aoun and Berry try to defuse the situation A social media smear campaign targeting Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai sparked widespread condemnation on Saturday from political and religious figures, prompting President Joseph Aoun to denounce attacks against Christian and Muslim religious leaders and call for “differences of opinion to remain within a political framework,” without explicitly naming the movement”

Lorientlejour

Kataeb leader and MP Sami Gemayel wrote on X in support of the patriarchate that “1,600 years of defending freedom… Bkerke is a mountain that does not shake.”

Former Free Patriotic Movement MP Ibrahim Kanaan said that “Bkerke and its patriarch embody Lebanon’s conscience,” while another former FPM lawmaker, Simon Abi Ramia, described the cartoons as “a grave deterioration of public discourse” and “an affront to the values of respect that must govern our national life.”

The head of the Greek Catholic Association, Consul Kabi Abou Rajili, warned that escalating verbal attacks against political and religious authorities could threaten civil peace, and Armenian Catholic Patriarch Raphael Bedros XXI Minassian condemned the cartoons as “unacceptable.”

The Maronite League denounced the content as “vulgar and inciting,” referring the matter to the judiciary and calling for swift action and accountability.

The General Maronite Council condemned an “unprecedented level of moral degradation,” calling for immediate prosecution and warning of a threat to civil peace and national unity, while criticizing what it described as “suspicious silence” from authorities.

Beirut Bar Association head Imad Martinos said it was “necessary” to take the matter to court, describing the cartoons as “an affront to all of Lebanon, in all its components, religious and secular, and a challenge to a unifying national and spiritual authority,” according to the National News Agency.

While the cartoons controversy unfolded in Lebanon, L’Orient Today reported a separate development tied to Lebanon’s security and external support through the Lebanese Armed Forces Relief Program.

On its 20th anniversary, the Lebanese American Renaissance Partnership (LARP) called for increased aid to the Lebanese Army and security forces, and it linked that request to a political condition involving Hezbollah.

“LEBANESE ARMY On its 20th anniversary, the Lebanese Armed Forces Relief Program calls for increased aid to the Lebanese Army AFP / By L'Orient Today staff, 2 May 2026 11:01”

L'Orient Today

L’Orient Today says LARP stressed the importance of “increasing military aid to the Lebanese Army and security forces, and the need to disarm Hezbollah as part of an approach to restore full sovereignty,” citing a statement relayed by the National News Agency.

The association marked its 20th anniversary in Washington, D.C., with a day that included a meeting at the U.S. Congress and a gala dinner “with the participation of senior American officials, diplomats, military leaders, Lebanese figures and members of the diaspora.”

L’Orient Today lists attendees including Lebanon’s ambassador to the United States, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, and former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon David Hale.

The report also says LARP underscored “the need to link disarmament to the reconstruction of social and institutional consensus, in a context where a narrow but real window of opportunity is opening for the state to strengthen its authority.”

In a separate reference within the same L’Orient Today piece, the publication includes a photo caption noting President Joseph Aoun with a LARP delegation “on September 18, 2025, in Baabda.”

Across the two L’Orient publications, the core facts of the cartoons controversy are presented in closely aligned terms, but the emphasis differs in how the story is positioned and extended.

“Politique - CONTROVERSY Rai cartoons ignite tensions, Aoun and Berry try to defuse situation Hezbollah criticized recent videos broadcast by LBCI mocking its secretary-general and the military actions of the movement”

L'Orient-Le Jour

L’Orient-Le Jour frames the episode as “CONTROVERSY” and describes how the campaign was relayed by multiple accounts, including accounts “with no followers and generic profile photos,” and it details the Angry Birds-style imagery used in both the social media campaign and an LBCI broadcast.

L’Orient-Le Jour also foregrounds Hezbollah’s language about “degrading and cheap insults” and its call for supporters “to be aware of the seriousness of what is being plotted against all Lebanese.”

L’Orient Today, by contrast, does not cover the cartoons in the excerpt provided, but it does connect Lebanon’s internal stability to external support and disarmament, stressing “increasing military aid to the Lebanese Army and security forces” and “the need to disarm Hezbollah.”

The local Western reprint at Lorientlejour repeats the same controversy narrative, including Aoun’s call for “differences of opinion to remain within a political framework,” Berri’s statement about the “nuns’ convent in Yaroun, the mosque in Bint Jbeil, and the husseiniya in Doueir,” and Hezbollah’s criticism that the LBCI videos “go beyond the limits of political disagreement.”

Lorientlejour also includes the legal and religious reactions, quoting Sami Gemayel’s “1,600 years of defending freedom… Bkerke is a mountain that does not shake” and Imad Martinos’s view that it was “necessary” to take the matter to court.

In the same Lorientlejour text, the report adds that according to MTV, lawyer Elie Mahfoud is preparing to file a complaint with the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, and it quotes Beirut Bar Association head Imad Martinos describing the cartoons as “an affront to all of Lebanon, in all its components, religious and secular.”