Hezbollah Leader Concerned Over Growing Israeli Ties with Arab States

On Hezbollah Martyr’s Day, Nasrallah condemned “all form of normalization with the Zionist entity” and called on “everyone” to fight it. 

By: United with Israel Staff

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah condemned “all forms of normalization with the Zionist entity.” He called on all Arabs calling “to reject normalization and not  be silent about it, and this duty is imposed by all standards and the voice must always be raised to condemn all steps of normalization.”

In a televised speech marking Hezbollah Martyr’s Day on Saturday, Nasrallah addressed the Palestinian people, saying, “do not lose hope over the Arab states’ normalization with Israel.”

He further charged that with regard to Israel’s warming ties with Arab countries in the Middle East, “what before went on behind the scenes now is taking place publicly. The current normalization has put an end to Arab hypocrisy and brought down the masks of the swindlers and hypocrites.”

Nasrallah’s open expressions of concern on Israel’s dramatic diplomatic shift in the Middle East comes as news of yet another trip by an Israeli minister to an Arab country surfaced.

Israeli Economy Minister Eli Cohen was invited by Bahrain to participate in its “Startup Nations Ministerial” conference, Yedioth Ahronoth reported over the weekend, describing the visit as “historic.”

Senior government officials from all over the world are expected to attend the conference, and new ways to boost technology initiatives between the two countries will be discussed, the report said.

The invitation follows visits by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Oman and Culture Minister Miri Regev’s trip to Abu Dhabi earlier last month.

Communications Minister Ayoub Kara also visited Dubai last week. Transportation and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz is currently in Oman.

The visits by Israeli officials are the latest in a recent rapprochement between Arab states and the Jewish state, as reports of attempts to officially normalize ties repeatedly resurface.

Netanyahu has repeatedly stated in recent years that Israel has developed good relations with several Arab states.

“Israel is facing many challenges but while doing so is also “acquiring friends around the world and within the region here,” Netanyahu stated in September at a toast for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, with Prime Minister’s Office personnel. He noted that “we live in a challenging area – and we are equal to the task.”

“They see our strength and they see our commitment to defend our state, to develop it, and become an economic, technological, military and intelligence power, and this brings us friends,” he explained.