Anti-Hezbollah bids cover for Israel aggression: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Jamal Wakim, a professor of Lebanese International University from Beirut, to discuss the recent remarks by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that ties between Tel Aviv and certain Arab states are dramatically warming, a few days after he welcomed their decision to list Lebanon’s Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Talk to us about these recent comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Many are seeing these statements as quite opportunistic.

Wakim: I believe that this is a good opportunity for Israel to have Hezbollah labeled as a terrorist group by Arab states and it could be used as a cover for future Israeli aggression against Lebanon under the banner of fighting terrorism. So, that’s why I believe that the Israeli leadership is quite happy with the Saudi move and with the endorsement of this move by many Arab states and I don’t say that all Arab states endorse the move, that was planned by the Saudis because Iraq, Tunisia and Algeria weren’t part of this decision in addition to Lebanon and we know that any decision should be endorsed unanimously by all member states of the Arab League but I believe that Israel could benefit from this to wage an attack against Lebanon. Of course it should first calculate its military capabilities and of course an endorsement by the United States of America of such an aggression.

Press TV: There can be a lot of criticism directed towards the Arab world as to what wrong moves and steps they’ve taken over the past years or so whether day has now come that Israel is praising good ties with Arab states.

Wakim: Well, we need to admit that the Saudis had maintained good relations though in secret with Israel since the 1960s during the war on Yemen back then against the Yemeni revolution and there were close cooperation between the Saudi secret services and the Israeli intelligence services against Gamal Abdel Nasser. Later on in 1982, for example, Saudi Arabia endorsed the invasion of Lebanon by Israel though in secret and it supported the Phalangist party to rise to power back then.

So, this is not something new. Lately, there were attempts to mend fences with Israel and to use the hostility against Iran as a cover up to substitute one enemy with another, so to substitute Israel as the enemy of Arabs with Iran. This was the attempt of Saudi Arabia. But  I don’t say that this move was endorsed and adopted throughout the whole Arab world because many states, many Arab states, big states had reservations on this, including Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Algeria and many others and at the same time if we take into consideration the popular mood, the popular mood is still against Israel.

But, I don’t underestimate the attempts by Saudi Arabia. We need to wait and see because I believe that with the new changes on the regional level especially after the Western failure to oust the Syrian regime on one hand, to destroy the Islamic resistance in Lebanon and to encircle and besiege Russia, Iran and China and contain them and forbid them from having access to the East Mediterranean, there are prospects for a new regional order. Of course, the Americans will be part of this. The Turks and the Saudis have lost lots of influence in the past few months and I believe that this explains the behavior of the Saudis. I believe that this is a desperate move by the Saudis because Hezbollah wouldn’t be affected by this move. It wouldn’t be affected either on the moral or on the material level.

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