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Hadash, Balad MKs condemn Gulf, Saudi classification of Hezbollah as terror group
Two of the three factions comprising the Joint Arab List yesterday condemned last week’s decision by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states to classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.
The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) last week said that, “Hezbollah’s incitement and terrorist acts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq are contrary to morality and human values.” It added that Hezbollah is guilty of “hostile acts” against GCC member states. The GCC’s decision brings it into line with United States policy and that of the European Union which regards Hezbollah’s military wing as a terror group.
However, Balad released a statement yesterday which said, “Hezbollah fights against Israeli attacks on Lebanon, and this [GCC] decision only serves the interests of Israel and the US.” Meanwhile, Hadash, which is headed by Joint Arab List leader Ayman Odeh MK, also condemned the GCC decision, which it said comes “in the service of occupation and the continued occupation of Arab land.”
The Balad and Hadash announcements caused uproar across the Israeli political spectrum. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has often contended that Israel and Sunni Gulf states have similar regional concerns and interests, took to the Knesset podium. He asked the Balad and Hadash MKs, “Will you continue criticizing them when Hezbollah shoots rockets at your villages? Do they differentiate between blood and blood? [Hezbollah] wants to destroy the country, and you’re in the country. Have you gone crazy?” Hezbollah is the de facto ruler of southern Lebanon, where is possesses a large military arsenal, including an estimated 100,000 rockets aimed at Israel.
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid called the Balad and Hadash MKs “a disgrace to Israel’s Knesset and to the State of Israel,” having given “open support” to terror. Meanwhile, Meretz leader Zahava Gal-on said nothing could explain “why Israeli parties insist on coming to the defence of an organisation that sanctifies death and declares that its goal is to destroy the State of Israel and massacre Israeli citizens.”