The assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, who led Lebanese Hezbollah movement for more than three decades, will not bring peace or security for Israel. That’s the warning being given by lawmakers from the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) coalition.
The Israeli army announced Nasrallah’s killing on Saturday morning, September 28, which immediately prompted a declaration from Hezbollah that the movement would “continue the Jihad (holy war) against the enemy and in support of Palestine.”
Israel has carried on with its air offensive in Lebanon in the week since and expanded its ground invasion as well. Heavy bombing has killed over 1,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about a million – one-fifth of the country’s population – since it began. In response, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets to northern and central Israel and the occupied West Bank.
All of this – along with Israeli attacks in Syria and Yemen and the threat of war with Iran – comes on top of the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza.
According to Hadash Member of Knesset (MK) Aida Touma-Suleiman of the Israeli Communist Party:
“32 years ago, when Israel killed Abbas Musawi, the co-founder of Hezbollah, the Israeli media announced that the ‘era of Hezbollah was over.’ The desire for revenge leads to blindness, and the intoxication of power makes one forget the lessons of history – as well as the captives and abductees in Gaza, and the war that has been going on for a year.
“The policy of assassinations not only violates international law, but also does not bring us closer to a real security or a stable solution and drags the entire region to the brink of an all-out war. Politicians, both in the coalition and in the opposition, continue to offer only one option: life on the sword and more revenge.
“The only solution is political and not a military one, the bloodshed must stop now,” she added.
The chair of Hadash, MK Ayman Odeh, said:
“Israeli governments have been carrying out assassinations for decades, including against the most senior leaders of the Palestinian people. It did not promote security and did not stop any war, on the contrary.
“There is only one solution: to recognize the rights of the Palestinian people, end the cursed occupation, and start a process that respects the rights of all the peoples of the region. The war in Lebanon and Gaza must be stopped immediately.
“We must fight for a hostage-prisoner deal and prevent the Netanyahu’s government dangerous actions aimed at a regional war.”
MK Ofer Cassif, who has been repeatedly censured by Netanyahu’s parliamentary allies for his protests against the genocide in Gaza, declared that Hadash will “oppose any bombing in the heart of a civilian population – in Gaza, Beirut, Kiryat Shmona or anywhere else.”
The IDF’s tactics are “terrorism by any definition,” he said.
“Since the Israeli government escalated the attacks on Lebanon, we have had no more peace, residents of the north are not close to returning to their homes, and the residents on other regions are close to losing them.
“What kind of society is this that delights in mourning and mass bloodshed in Lebanon and Gaza? A sick, militaristic, violent, inhumane society that happily sacrifices its own sons and daughters, first and foremost the abductees in Gaza.
“The destruction in Beirut and Gaza is also a moral destruction of Israel against which we must fight – for a humane, democratic, egalitarian, and free Israel. Enough of the war! Enough of the bloodshed!
“Only a political solution will bring security and guarantee our future,” he added.
Zo Haderekh
[Photo: Arab-Jewish demonstration in the city of Baqqa al-Gharbiyya, against war and occupation]
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