In a speech on Thursday evening Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah waded into the decision by US President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. While supporting a new Palestinian intifada, he condemned the American decision and called on Lebanese not to have dealings with Israel. Nasrallah said that he sought to lay out clearly the dangers of the US decision and what would be the best response. The Hezbollah leader is at the peak of his power in Lebanon, eleven years after the Second Lebanon war.
He compared Trump’s decision to the Balfour Declaration 100 years ago, accusing Israel of never accepting international law and seeking to “Judaize Jerusalem.” Although at the end of his speech he said he supported a new Palestinian intifada, most of the discussion was focused on practical responses. Nasrallah sought to emphasize that the US had held back Israel in the past, according to a series of translated tweets by David Daoud, a research analyst on Hezbollah at United Against a Nuclear Iran. He accused the US of endings its practice of being a check on Israel’s actions, and accused the US of recognizing both east and west Jerusalem as “belonging to Israel.” READ MORE
