Samy Gemayel - Early Political Activism

Early Political Activism

Samy Gemayel was the head of the student movement of the Phalange Party as a law student at Saint Joseph University from 1999 to the early 2000s. His policies were considered more conservative and nationalistic than those of his father Amine Gemayel, and in 2006 he launched the Loubnanouna (Our Lebanon) Movement, separate from the Phalange Party. Sami's movement aimed at reuniting the politically divided Lebanese Christians. He is an outspoken critic of both Hezbollah's military wing and the Michel Aoun-led Free Patriotic Movement, the main Christian party in opposition to March 14 Movement. In a 2006 interview following the Israeli-Hezbollah War, Gemayel accused Hezbollah of wanting "to implement an Islamic state in Lebanon," also adding that "Hezbollah is functioning as state: political power, economical power, social allegiance, military power, a region where it imposes its laws... all the attributes of a state." He expressed his hope that Lebanese Christians would reunite under similar political stances, and stressed that the Phalange is open to all Christians.

After the assassination of his brother Pierre Amine Gemayel in November 2006, Samy rejoined the Phalange Party to head the Phalangist Youth and Student Council and later, became the coordinator of the Phalange Central Committee.