By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

Duelling Speeches

A stark split-screen moment occurred on Friday, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Israel and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon delivering highly anticipated remarks on the Israel-Hamas war at the same time.

Speaking at a press conference in Tel Aviv following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet, Blinken called on Israel to agree to temporary, local pauses in its military operations to allow more humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip and facilitate efforts to free the more than 200 hostages still being held by Hamas.

Blinken did not push for a full cease-fire despite other world leaders and human rights advocates calling for one as the death toll in Gaza surpasses 9,000 people. However, he did emphasize the “need to do more to protect Palestinian civilians,” and he said that how Israel conducts the war matters.

At the same time, just a few hundred miles north of where Blinken was speaking, large crowds of Hezbollah supporters gathered in Beirut to hear

 speaking, large crowds of Hezbollah supporters gathered in Beirut to hear Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah deliver his first public speech on the conflict since the war began. Speaking via video from an undisclosed location in Lebanon, Nasrallah praised Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack as a “blessed operation” and said subsequent deaths in Gaza and the West Bank were “worthy sacrifices” for their part in establishing a historic, new type of war. He asserted Hezbollah’s role in current “resistance” efforts against Israel but made a point to say that Hamas carried out its Oct. 7 assault on its own, with “absolute secrecy.”

Nasrallah also criticized U.S. support for Israel, saying that the U.S. military deployments to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea in the wake of the attack prove that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are reliant on foreign allies and therefore weaker than they claim to be.

Since war broke out last month, Hezbollah—an Iranian-backed Islamist group—has launched rockets, anti-tank missiles, and drones into Israeli territory, killing and injuring IDF soldiers; Israel has responded in kind, killing dozens of Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. On Friday, Nasrallah reiterated Hezbollah’s support for Hamas but stopped short of committing his group to becoming more deeply involved in the war. Yet he indicated that could change if the conflict continues.

Back in Israel, Netanyahu issued a televised statement shortly after Blinken’s remarks in which the Israeli leader remained defiant on his government’s position toward Gaza. “I made clear that we are continuing full force and that Israel refuses a temporary cease-fire, which does not include the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu said.

 

 

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