Beirut, Lebanon – A number of Lebanon’s Christian villages released a statement on Monday, refuting claims by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they had requested Israeli annexation.“Christian villages in Lebanon, some of them have actually asked to be annexed to Israel, because we protect them against Hezbollah, Hezbollah fanatics who want to kill them, and we do the same things with Christians everywhere,” Netanyahu had told the Fox News programme The Sunday Briefing the day before the villages responded.Israel currently occupies around 6 percent of Lebanese territory, despite claiming in the recent Lebanon-Israel framework agreement that it has no territorial ambitions in the country.Lebanese analysts and southern Lebanon residents also lambasted Netanyahu’s claims, with some using colourful language.“[Netanyahu’s claims] reflect his cynicism and the fact that he’s a pathological liar,” Karim Emile Bitar, a professor of international relations at the Saint Joseph University of Beirut, told Al Jazeera. “Several Lebanese MPs and government officials called every single mayor of all towns in south Lebanon, and there is absolutely no truth in these statements. It is completely a fabricated claim.”Officials in 15 towns in southern Lebanon with Christian populations issued the statement denouncing what analysts said was an effort by Netanyahu to inspire sedition and strife between Lebanese.Division over Hezbollah but rejection of IsraelNetanyahu’s comments come on the back of a highly criti …
