Communicated by Defense Minister's Media Coordinator Jerusalem, 8 December 1996 Defense Ministry Response to Lebanese Trial in Abstentia of SLA Commander Gen. Antoine Lahad In the wake of the reports in the Lebanese media over the weekend regarding the death sentence which a military court passed in abstentia against South Lebanon Army commander General Antoine Lahad, Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai's Media Coordinator has issued the following statement on behalf of the security establishment: The show-trials which have been held in abstentia for Gen. Lahad and other Lebanese patriots, and the ridiculous sentences which have been passed against them, are usually held only by dictatorships and totalitarian regimes; they have no moral value. These sentences will be thrown into the trash can of history. We know very well, as does every Lebanese, who exactly is behind the instructions which were given to the Lebanese legal system, and who gave the order to try Gen. Lahad and pass sentence on him. We have no doubt that this sentence reflects neither the will of the Lebanese, nor Lebanon's interests. History will prove who is a genuine and courageous Lebanese patriot, and who is acting at the behest of those who are infringing on Lebanese independence; who is fighting terrorism, and those who have turned Lebanon into a center of international terrorism. The sentence against Gen. Lahad is not a step which any country which strives for peace would take, but a provocation which is designed to sabotage the chances for a settlement between Israel and Lebanon. There is no doubt that the sentence attests to the fact that Lebanon lacks a national will of its own and is not free to make its own decisions. To our dismay, in the current situation, Lebanon is also incapable of being a legitimate and serious interlocutor in the negotiations with us. Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai said yesterday (Saturday), 07.12.96, that Israel -- for its part -- will continue to provide all possible aid to Gen. Lahad, the SLA, the residents of the "security zone," and all those who are take part in the daily contest against terrorist actions which originate in Lebanon. The Defense Minister added that the security establishment and the State of Israel support Gen. Lahad and his fighters, and the residents of southern Lebanon, in their patriotic and just struggle for all of Lebanon.