PM: Arab States’ Criticism of Hezbollah ‘Almost Like Yemos Hamashiach’

Comments by officials in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates against the attack by Hezbollah against an Israeli army base Sunday were refreshing, and worthy of praise, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday.

“I welcome the comments against the violence of Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said at the opening of a cabinet meeting Tuesday. That two major Arab powers would side with Israel against the Lebanese terror group “almost sounds like yemos hamashiach, and shows what a change has come over the Middle East.”

Those comments came Monday, a day after Hezbollah fired missiles at an army base in northern Israel, leading to an Israeli response that saw some 50 Hezbollah targets hit. In a statement, the Bahrain government accused Lebanese leaders of acting irresponsibly in giving free reign to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Bahrain called on its citizens to leave Lebanon until tensions were eased.

“The aggression of one state against another is prohibited by international law,” the Foreign Minister of Bahrain, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, wrote in a social media post. “Standing by as a spectator state as battles range on its borders and endangering its people is a major failure of the responsibility of that state to its citizens,” he wrote, hinting at criticism of the Lebanese government for allowing Hezbollah to act without restraint against Israel.

More direct was Dr. Anwar Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the UAE, who wrote that “the Lebanese people have always suffered from decisions made by a single party,” referring to Hezbollah, “and the people have had to live with its consequences. Logic dictates that decisions of war and peace be made by the state in a way that will express its own interests and the security of its residents.”

In his comments Tuesday, Netanyahu said “the Arab world realizes that Iranian aggression,” via Hezbollah and Tehran’s other agents throughout the region, “is dangerous to the entire world. We are working on scheduling a meeting with both the United States and Russia to discuss the removal of Iran from Syria,” Netanyahu added.