US President Barack Obama, center, signs the guest book during his visit to the Children’s Memorial at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, Israel, Friday, March 22, 2013. Standing with Obama are from left to right, Israeli Benjamin Netanyau, Israeli President Shimon Peres, Chairman of the Memorial Avner Shalev and checking his watch is Rabbi Israel Meir Lau. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group is condemning President Barack Obama, saying the statements he made during his recent visit to Israel made him appear like “an employee of the Zionist entity.”
Hezbollah’s statement on Friday came a day after Obama said in a speech in Jerusalem that every country that “values justice should call Hezbollah what it truly is — a terrorist organization.”
Hezbollah, which was created after Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, fought several wars with the Jewish state in the past decades and spearheaded a guerrilla warfare that led to Israel’s withdrawal in 2000.
Hezbollah said it was not surprised by Obama’s speech but “strongly condemns the American stance.”
It says such statements make Washington “a full partner with the enemy (Israel) in all its crimes.”
