President Shimon Peres has called on the European Union to place Hezbollah on
its list of terror organizations.
Peres, who on Thursday was the keynote
speaker at the Roaring Lion Monument at Tel Hai in the Upper Galilee to
commemorate the heroism of Yosef Trumpeldor, who fell in battle 93 years ago
while defending the area, said it was time for every organization, particularly
the EU, to list Hezbollah as a terrorist group.
“In Syria the president
is slaughtering his own people and the children of his country,” Peres said,
looking to the northeast. “Close by, in Lebanon, [Hezbollah leader Hassan]
Nasrallah, wearing the robe of the religious, is pushing Lebanon toward war,
even though Lebanon has no enemies.”
Against the backdrop of revelations
of Hezbollah’s terrorist activities in Bulgaria, Cyprus and Nigeria, Peres said
that “the time has come to call Hezbollah what it is – a murderous terror
organization.”
Israel has stretched out a hand of peace to the land of
the cedars, said Peres, adding that it was regrettable that Nasrallah was
sending flames into the cedars.
Earlier in the day, when Peres was flying
from Jerusalem to the Upper Galilee and was over Kibbutz Ein Harod, he was
surprised when the helicopter pilot, speaking to him through headphones, told
him to look to the field on his right, where members of Kibbutz Tel Yosef had
helped create a mammoth field drawing featuring an image of Peres and the figure
90 as a tribute to his upcoming 90th birthday in August.
“I worked these
fields and now I’m flying above them. It’s an exceptionally thoughtful gift,” he
said as he looked down in delight.
Artist Peter Wiener created the
250-dunam image in the fields of the kibbutz. It is believed to be the largest
field drawing ever created in Israel, and perhaps the world.
Although his
birthday is not until later in the summer, Peres will have a major celebration
in June when world leaders converge on Jerusalem for his Facing Tomorrow
conference, which has become a presidential tradition to be carried on by his
successors.
Peres still has almost a year and a half left in which to
complete his tenure as president.
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