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World Jewish News
'If Hizbullah harms Israelis abroad it will pay a heavy price'
09.08.2009
If Hizbullah harms Israeli representatives or citizens abroad it will pay a heavy price, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told Israel Radio on Sunday.
"If, god forbid, one hair on the head of an official Israeli representative, or an unofficial one, is harmed, we will view Hizbullah as responsible and it will suffer the consequences," Ayalon said. "And the consequences, as far as Hizbullah is concerned, will be very severe."
Ayalon's statements were made in the context of a report in Egyptian media Saturday night that Egyptian security forces had uncovered a plot to murder Israeli Ambassador Shalom Cohen. Although Hizbullah involvement was not mentioned in the report, Ayalon said such operations were all guided by the same hand and planned "by the same diabolical mind." The deputy foreign minister said Hizbullah was known to be attempting the assassination of Israeli envoys abroad and had made several failed attempts.
The Lebanese nation, Ayalon added, is responsible for the actions of Hizbullah. "Their blood will be on their own heads," he said.
Ayalon also spoke of the recent statements of Israel's consul-general in New England, who in a recent letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman blasted Israeli policy toward the Obama administration.
Ayalon called Nadav Tamir's behavior unprofessional. He said the consul-general was not in a position to appraise Israel's foreign policy and that his perspective, as a representative in Boston only, was limited.
According to Channel 10, to which Tamir's letter was leaked last week, the diplomat's criticism was severe, including an allegation that Israeli policy toward the Obama administration was being developed not to serve Israel's interests, but those of Obama's domestic opponents.
"The way in which we are conducting the relationship with the US government is causing Israel strategic damage. The distance created between us and the Obama administration has clear implications on Israeli deterrence," Channel 10 quoted from the letter.
Источник: JPost.com
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