Lebanon's Delegate to UN Responds to Israeli Comments on Hezbollah

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Lebanon's representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Salim Baddoura, firmly responded to Israel's accusations of Hezbollah being a "terrorist" organization, considering that Lebanon is not willing to be lectured by an occupying country. 

In his intervention before the Human Rights Council, while discussing the periodic report on the human rights situation in Lebanon, he said: "the world turns a blindside to the Israeli crimes, an occupation state which does not respect the nature of this meeting."

He added: "Lebanon did not participate in this meeting to be lectured by an occupation force that has a history of occupying parts of Lebanon and violating its sovereignty, killing, intimidating, and displacing civilians. We are not here to engage with polemics that do not fit the nature of the discussions, and we will be satisfied with denouncing the reprehensible allegations against the Lebanese state and the Lebanese people, condemning the provocative tone. 

"We strongly condemn the accusations against the Lebanese Hezbollah and denounce accusing it of terrorism. Hezbollah is a Lebanese component representing a large percentage of the Lebanese and participates in both the government and parliamentary debate. The party plays a key role in the Lebanese resistance in the face of the occupation and the continuous Israeli attacks," he continued. 

The Israeli delegate demanded that Lebanon consider Hezbollah a "terrorist" organization, and she was surprised how Lebanon refused to accept the Israeli recommendations.

She said, "Failing to take into account the Israeli recommendations is because Lebanon has no recognition of "Israel" and this is insulting."

In addition, she said: "Our recommendations base on UN Security Council resolutions that demanded the disarmament of terrorist militias such as Hezbollah, while Lebanon considers Hezbollah a political party and part of the resistance."

The delegate continued, "Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that takes the Lebanese people hostage, and this is not solely an Israeli position, but the position of many countries. The time has come for the Lebanese mission to stop defending Hezbollah's human rights violations and to agree to these recommendations in favor of the Lebanese people."