Fact Checking the Arab Media

On July 26, the Lebanese parliament held its first legislative session after last May's elections with a noteworthy attendance by the US ambassador in Lebanon, Dorothy Shea. On July 27, the Al-Akhbar newspaper carried a report titled: “A legislative session sponsored by Shea: Approval of amendments to banking secrecy, implementation is key.” In the report, journalist Rola Ibrahim claimed that “the US ambassador stormed the session,” adding that “all means were deployed to make her feel comfortable such as seating her in the front row, and making sure that she is not bothered by any journalists.” The writer further asserted that, “none of the parliament members asked her about what she was doing there” especially since the presence of ambassadors in parliament is normally limited to two events: The election of a president, and the election of a speaker.”

It should be noted that Al-Akhbar newspaper in Lebanon has long held a critical and often vociferously opposing position on the US embassy’s activities - and the US government in general - in Lebanon. Indeed, Ambassador Shea herself has often stood in as the personification of US policy for numerous negative stories and opinion pieces, including in other Lebanese news outlets critical and/or hostile to the US government.

In order to verify the several assertions in the article, we contacted the Secretary-General of the Lebanese Parliament, Adnan Daher, who first clarified that, “Ambassador Shea attended the session [in question] after having filed a request to the General Secretariat of the Parliament, and obtaining the latter's approval. This means that Shea did not enter the parliament in an illegal manner.” Daher added that while it is true “the Arab and foreign ambassadors are only invited to attend the president and speaker election sessions in parliament [and] they are not allowed to attend the closed sessions; however, they may request to attend a public session. If their request is approved, they can attend the session normally.” He went on to say that “Ambassador Shea was interested in matters pertaining to the tax law reforms and other reforms requested by the IMF. She requested to attend and then attended the session. The matter does not bear any other speculations.”

Fact Check Assessment: False

Al-Akhbar's report went quite far in “adding spice” to the presence of the US ambassador in the aforementioned parliament session, likely based on the political or ideological positioning of the newspaper which has consistently opposed US policy. It should be noted that we reached out to Ibrahim and Al-Akhbar newspaper for clarification. Ibrahim answered, so we asked "If she knew about the issue of the permission that the ambassador had received before attending the meeting." She replied: "I don't have any information about the issue of permission, but what I know is that the media official in Parliament was aware that the American embassy would attend. And for that reason, the journalists were forbidden from sitting in the front row until she could sit alone, and the journalists were also forbidden from passing in front of her."

Still, using the term “stormed,” even if placed between quote marks, represents a gross exaggeration and doesn’t reflect reality, as clearly explained by the Secretary-General of the Parliament, Daher. Furthermore, it is untrue that ambassadors are only allowed to attend two Parliament session. Shea applied for and received a permit to attend the session as is allowed and required by the Lebanese Parliament's by-laws.