Antoun Sehnaoui
| Antoun Sehnaoui | |
|---|---|
| Image | |
| Born | 3 November 1972 Beirut |
| Died | |
| Nationality | Lebanese |
| Residence | |
| Occupation | Banker |
| Known for | Chairman of SGBL; praised by Morgan Ortagus as a Zionist; named in reports on southern land sales |
| Parents | |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | |
| Sibling(s) | |
| Education | |
| Predecessor | |
| Website | |
Antoun Sehnaoui (أنطون الصحناوي, born 3 November 1972) is a Lebanese banker, chairman of the SGBL group since October 2007, when he succeeded his father Nabil Sehnaoui. The group includes Société Générale de Banque au Liban, Société Générale de Banque in Jordan, and Fidus Wealth Management. In April 2026 Morgan Ortagus, then a US Middle East envoy and reported as his partner, called him a committed Zionist from a family of “Lebanese Christian Zionists.” In July 2026 a photograph of him at a Washington dinner with Benjamin Netanyahu led a Lebanese judge to order his arrest on return, for contact with Israelis. Al-Akhbar has reported that people working with him were discussing purchases of southern land and a sale of Solidere shares into foreign-registered companies. That is their account.[1][2]
Family and the bank
He was born in Beirut. His mother is May Chehab Sehnaoui. He went to the Collège Notre-Dame de Jamhour and then to the University of Southern California. He took the chair of SGBL in October 2007. In 2011 the bank acquired most of the assets of the Lebanese Canadian Bank. In 2017 it opened a subsidiary in the Abu Dhabi Global Market and bought Pikes Peak National Bank in Colorado. Cousins include Nicolas Sehnaoui and Khalil Sehnaoui. He has two children. He also produces film, through Ezekiel Film Production.[1]
His father, Nabil, chaired the bank before him. Ortagus, at the April 2026 event, described Nabil as one of the principal funders of the Lebanese Forces, which allied with Israel in the 1982 invasion and took part in the massacres at Sabra and Shatila. That is her characterisation of the family, made in his presence, at a museum he had given money to.[1]
The 2026 speeches and the dinner
On 17 April 2026 he was at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, at an event he had funded. Ortagus praised him for backing a US-Israeli opera project, which she said was “technically illegal in Lebanon,” and said he had been “trained to be a supporter of the State of Israel and the Jewish people” by his family. Annahar and Ynet had already reported, in January 2026, that the two were in a relationship. In late July 2026 Barak David of Axios published a photograph of Sehnaoui at a dinner he and Ortagus gave in Washington in honour of the Republican senator Lindsey Graham, seated with Netanyahu and his wife. A Lebanese judicial official told AFP that an investigation had been opened for breach of the law banning dealings with Israel, and a judge ordered his arrest if he returned.[1][3]
The south
After the Israeli occupation of villages south of the Litani was consolidated, owners of large plots along the coast from Mansouri and Bayada to Naqoura reported calls from lawyers in the United States offering above the current market. The finance minister, Yassine Jaber, then froze registration of sales in the occupied towns and sent parliament a bill to void them until the occupation ends. In the same reporting, Al-Akhbar said information was circulating that Sehnaoui, described there as a Zionist banker, was working with Israelis to “restore Christian ownership” of large southern estates sold to Muslims under duress, according to people working with him. The paper noted the Israeli use of Palestinian front buyers in Jerusalem, and the possible use of property companies. It also raised Solidere: a large shareholder, it said, could sell stakes to companies registered to people holding a foreign nationality as well as an Israeli one. No completed sale has been published. The bill is the state’s response to the calls. The Sehnaoui paragraph is what the paper says his circle is discussing.[2][4]
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Controversy as Lebanese banker Sehnaoui is praised for supporting Israel, Al Jazeera, 17 April 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 لماذا مُنعت البيوع العقارية على الحدود؟, reporting the Al-Akhbar account, 3 October 2026.
- ↑ French-language biographical account of the July 2026 dinner and the arrest inquiry, citing AFP.
- ↑ A new law could reshape property sales in southern Lebanon’s occupied towns, LBCI, 26 September 2026.