Lebanese journalist: Israel is internationally respected, Lebanon is not
Nadim Koteich lamented the situation in Lebanon, comparing each citizen's portion of the GDP ($360)to Israel's, which he says is $3,600 for each citizen.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFLebanese Journalist Nadim Koteich is interviewed on LBC TV(photo credit: SCREENSHOT/MEMRI)
In an interview with Lebanon-based TV station LBC TV, Lebanese Journalist Nadim Koteich said that neither Hezbollah nor Lebanese president Michel Aoun are the answer to restore Lebanon to its respected status among the international community, according to Middle East Media Research Institute (), who posted a translated version of the clip.In this interview, he claimed that no politician appointed by Aoun has ever been normal, calling the phenomenon "Aounism," which he also defined as a disease."Show me a single example of an Aounist who was appointed to a job and remained normal. When there were fires, they said that the fires took place in Christian areas, not in Muslim areas." Koteich said. The interviewer responded by saying it was "an exceptional case." Koteich disagreed saying, "it was not. Aounism is not a political phenomenon. It's a disease. There is a mental illness called Aounism in Lebanon."He then went on to lament the situation in Lebanon by pointing out that each Lebanese citizen's share of its GDP was just $360, whereas Israel's is $3,600 per citizen. When told that Israel receives international support, he replied, "we used to get international support as well. We used to be a respected country."When confronted about speaking about Israel as a state and how people would not like it, he says "[those people] never like anything. Israel has important shows on Netflix. This is soft power. We are talking about a scientific power, an economic power, a cultural power and a military power. This reality does not make me happy. It makes me sad, because we used to be much more important. In the 1960s, Israel was a silly little country, and we were a respected country."He concluded the interview saying that the Lebanese people should contemplate how they got to this point, from once being a respectable country to how they are now, when Israel was at the time, as he says "a silly little country" but has now bypassed Lebanon in GDP and international influence.
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