The families of the August 4 Beirut blast victims issued on Saturday a statement in response to caretaker Economy Minister Raoul Nehme’s recent remarks about the explosion.
In the statement, the families’ committee criticized Nehme’s statements about eliminating the possibility that the explosion was the result of terrorist activity.
“Nehme surprised us by appointing himself a judge, issuing a preliminary ruling acquitting the Zionist enemy and terrorism of the crime of bombing the Port of Beirut, which killed our flesh and blood, injured thousands, and destroyed our city,” the statement said.
The committee said Nehme had made his remarks “under a flimsy excuse, playing the role of one who is keen on the rights of those affected, striking our feelings as families of martyrs against the wall.”
“What this minister did… is not only a blatant and unacceptable interference in the results of the investigation but a treacherous stab in the side of our national and humanitarian cause, which is something that cannot be tolerated,” it added.
Earlier on Saturday, caretaker Minister Nehme asked Judge Tarek Bitar, who is leading the investigation into the August 4 blast, to issue an official report eliminating military and terrorist acts from the potential causes of the explosion.
He said such a move would “enable us to issue appropriate directives and instructions to the Lebanese insurance companies and to address the international reinsurance agencies to pay their financial obligations in order to preserve the rights of the insured citizens.”
