Washington — The Trump administration sharply criticized a complaint filed in Lebanon against the country’s ambassador to Washington for her contacts with her Israeli counterpart, accusing Hezbollah-linked actors of seeking to obstruct U.S.-led efforts to foster diplomatic contacts between the two countries.
The complaint against Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad was filed with Lebanese military justice by a lawyer the United States described as “pro-Hizbollah,” in response to a report in Lebanese media that Moawad contacted Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter after his son was seriously injured in a car-ramming terrorist attack in the West Bank last month.
“It is embarrassing that a military court is handling a complaint against Lebanon’s ambassador to Washington for carrying out the policies of its legitimate government and engaging in U.S.-led negotiations,” a State Department spokesperson told CBS News on Tuesday, in an unusually pointed statement.
The two diplomats participated in U.S.-brokered talks aimed at improving relations between Israel and Lebanon — an effort that faced resistance from Iran-backed Hezbollah. Lebanon and Israel held their first direct diplomatic talks in decades in Washington in April, with the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States sitting alongside their American counterparts. Photos of Secretary of State Marco Rubio with the ambassadors drew scorn from Hezbollah supporters in Lebanon.
Oliver Contreras/AFP via Getty Images 
“Lebanese military justice should use its limited resources to pursue Hezbollah operatives who plot against the Lebanese government and people instead of working on their behalf,” said the State Department official, who also called for the repeal of laws and practices that allow “politicized targeting” of civilians and diplomats while protecting Hezbollah.
“We have no patience for obstruction,” the official said.
This appears to be a reference to an anti-normalization law dating from 1955, which was part of a broader boycott of Israel by the Arab League and banned all contact between Lebanese and Israeli citizens.
A diplomatic source told CBS News that the law is outdated and has become a tool used by Hezbollah to suppress those seeking peace and normal relations with Israel.
CBS News has contacted the Israeli embassy for comment.
It is not yet known whether the complaint against Moawad will result in formal proceedings.
It comes against the backdrop of a sustained push by the Trump administration to bring together the longtime adversaries, still formally at war. In April, Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted the two ambassadors for face-to-face talks, acknowledging at the time that the United States was working against “decades of history and complexities.”
In June, the two countries signed a framework agreement intended to lay the foundations for a lasting peace, based on a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon alongside the disarmament of Hezbollah and the deployment of Lebanese government forces. Implementation of the agreement has stalled due to disagreements over the sequence and verification of these steps. The last round of formal negotiations, held in Rome in August, ended without result.
The ambassadors last met at the State Department in September, and a new round of negotiations is expected this month in Rome.
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