Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday night issued a statement directed at Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, who earlier on Monday dismissed Netanyahu’s allegations before the UN General Assembly about Hezbollah rocket conversion facilities located inside civilian communities around Beirut, and even led dozens of ambassadors to a golf course and a soccer stadium near Beirut’s international airport, seeking to dispel Israeli accusations.
has a long history of covering up inconvenient truths and then parading foreign officials around. Maybe this time ask why missile workshop located so close to int’l in heart of ? pic.twitter.com/SFpqmw7ztq
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDFSpokesperson)
“Hezbollah is brazenly lying to the international community by means of the fraudulent propaganda tour of the Lebanese Foreign Minister who took ambassadors to the soccer field but refrained from taking them to the nearby underground precision missile production facility,” Netanyahu stated, adding, “The ambassadors should ask themselves why they waited three days before making the tour. Hezbollah always takes care to clean the area at exposed sites.”
“It is unfortunate that the Lebanese government is sacrificing the peace of its citizens to cover for Hezbollah which has taken Lebanon hostage for its aggression against Israel,” Netanyahu concluded.
When asked about Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s recent boasting of possessing “highly accurate” missiles despite Israel’s bombings of cargo trucks carrying Iranian military equipment from Syria to Lebanon, Bassil acknowledged Hezbollah’s claims, but said “this doesn’t mean that those missiles are present in the vicinity of Beirut airport.”
Incidentally, in response to Nasrallah’s bragging, Netanyahu warned that Hezbollah would “receive a lethal blow it can’t imagine” if it ever dares to confront Israel.
So, if I were a resident of Beirut, I’d stick to watching my soccer games on the tele.