Good Morning Britain host Adil Ray pulled no punches when he quizzed the Mayor of Beirut on Thursday's show.
Speaking alongside co host Ranvir Singh, Adil demanded to know how citizens of Beirut, which was devastated by an explosion on Tuesday, could trust his promises to rebuild the city.
At least 135 people have been killed and an estimated 300,000 left homeless when the blast of nearly 3,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate tore through Beirut.
Adil pointed out: "The same people who are accused of being corrupt, of mismanaging funds for years, for decades in that country, we have seen protests, Prime Ministers have had to resign, and now that same group of elite politicians are responsible for rebuilding.
"I don't think people sitting in their damaged apartments right now are going to believe a word."
"Well, it's not going to be 100% dependent on the government," said Jamal. "The municipality is taking action on its own as well, of course we don't have unlimited resources, but at the same time, all the Lebanese are joining hands to work together to clear up the mess that has happened and start helping the people who have damaged homes, and we have started already."
Jamal agreed the horror was "all avoidable", but when asked if he felt guilty when there had been warnings that the chemicals could "wipe out Beirut", Jamal replied: "No, we did not know the details.
"The port has a separate authority that belongs to the Ministry of Public Health.
"The government is responsible for that, the people who are responsible are now under house arrest until the investigation is over."
"Do you feel any sense of responsibility of guilt, even in hindsight?" Ranvir pressed.
"No, I feel bad but I don't feel guilt. I feel guilt that we are hopeless and we don't have the authority to have taken action in that regard," Jamal replied.
"We will not leave anyone homeless," he promised. "Lots of homes have been provided by Lebanese living outside of Beirut.
"We will provide homes for everybody who has lost their home temporarily, and then the plan is to work with them to provide all the facades on the buildings to protect their homes so they can make the move back again and clean up the mess inside their homes."
* Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV at 6am
