Lebanon banker exposed as major force behind normalisation drive with Israel

One of Lebanon’s wealthiest bankers has been exposed as a key figure behind efforts to push the country towards closer ties with Israel, according to an investigation by The Grayzone.

Antoun Sehnaoui, chairman of Société Générale de Banque au Liban (SGBL), is accused of using his wealth and political connections to support media outlets and figures advocating normalisation with Israel while Israeli forces continue to occupy Lebanese territory.

The Grayzone cited reporting by Lebanese newspaper L’Orient Today, which has examined Sehnaoui’s political, financial and media influence and described him as one of the country’s most powerful behind-the-scenes figures.

The reports come as Lebanon faces intense pressure over the future of Hezbollah and the terms of any Israeli withdrawal from the south of the country.

Israel continues to occupy Lebanese territory and has tied any withdrawal to the disarmament of Hezbollah. The issue has placed Beirut under growing US and Israeli pressure to dismantle the movement’s military infrastructure while Israeli forces remain inside Lebanon.

According to The Grayzone, Sehnaoui has funded several Lebanese media outlets, including French-language Ici Beyrouth, English-language This Is Beirut and Arabic-language Hunna Lubnan.

The outlets have promoted positions sharply critical of Hezbollah and supportive of closer relations between Lebanon and Israel.

The Grayzone also highlighted links between figures working with This Is Beirut and strongly pro-Israel organisations in Washington, including the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP).

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Columnist Hussain Abdul-Hussain is affiliated with FDD, while This Is Beirut director Hanin Ghaddar is a senior fellow at WINEP. American-Israeli journalist Seth Frantzman, who contributes to the Jerusalem Post and FDD, has also written for the outlet.

This Is Beirut openly states that it aspires to “Peace between Lebanon and Israel” and has repeatedly focused its coverage on Hezbollah, Iran and what it describes as terrorism in Lebanon and the region.

Its political orientation came under further scrutiny after it co-hosted a panel with MIND Israel, a think tank founded by former Israeli military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin, during the 2026 Munich Security Conference.

Israeli media described the event as the first Lebanese-Israeli civil panel and presented it as a step towards normalisation

Sehnaoui himself attracted widespread attention in Lebanon after photographs emerged showing him at a private dinner in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The meeting triggered legal action in Lebanon, where contact with Israeli officials is prohibited.

A group of Lebanese lawyers filed a complaint against Sehnaoui following the dinner, and a judge later issued an order for him to be detained and questioned if he returned to the country.

One of the lawyers involved accused Sehnaoui of trying to force Lebanon to submit to Israeli demands “using the money that the Lebanese people have been robbed of from the banks”.

The accusation comes as resentment towards Lebanon’s banking elite remains high following the 2019 financial collapse, which left millions of depositors unable to access their savings.

Sehnaoui was one of the most prominent bankers during that period.

The Grayzone also uncovered Sehnaoui’s close relationship with former US envoy Morgan Ortagus, a formerly evangelical Christian convert to Judaism, described as “a fanatical Zionist”.

According to the Grayzone, in late 2024, after being chosen to serve as Trump’s envoy to Lebanon by Steve Witkoff, Ortagus suggested to Israeli military leaders that they attack the 2024 funeral of assassinated Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah at the Sports City stadium in Beirut

At an event at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington earlier this year, Ortagus described Sehnaoui’s family as “committed Lebanese Christian Zionists” and said his parents had raised him to support Israel.

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Ortagus also praised Sehnaoui’s involvement in a US-Israeli cultural project and remarked that some of what he was doing was “technically illegal in Lebanon”.

Sehnaoui’s political outlook has also come under scrutiny because of his family’s long history of ties with Israel.

According to L’Orient Today, his father, Nabil Sehnaoui, maintained close contacts with Israeli figures during Lebanon’s civil war and was associated with Al-Tanzim, a right-wing Christian militia.

The Grayzone also examined allegations linking Antoun Sehnaoui to Soldiers of God, a hardline Christian group active in Beirut’s Achrafieh district.

The group has been accused of attacks and intimidation and has also been linked to security around some of Sehnaoui’s business interests.

Sehnaoui has denied financing or directing the group.

His growing profile comes as Lebanon is being pressed to make major concessions over Hezbollah while Israel retains military leverage through its continuing occupation of the south.

The current negotiations place Hezbollah’s disarmament at the centre of any future arrangement, while Israel has made clear that it intends to maintain control over occupied Lebanese territory until its security conditions are met.

In this critical moment for Lebanon, Sehnaoui’s media and political activity has become part of a wider struggle over the direction of the country.

Critics say the issue is not simply whether Beirut should pursue peace or normalisation, but whether Lebanon is being pushed to accept Israeli demands while Israeli forces remain on its territory.

The Grayzone’s investigation portrays Sehnaoui as one of the most powerful Lebanese figures supporting that direction, using his wealth, media influence and international connections to promote a political settlement more favourable to Israel.