BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Monday its nemesis Israel was heading for “collapse and fragmentation”, referring to divisions in Israeli society over a contentious overhaul of the judiciary.
Israel’s parliament on Monday ratified the first bill of a revision that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was seeking after the latest push for compromise fell through and failed to alleviate a constitutional crisis that has rocked the country for months.
“Today, in particular, is the worst day in the history of the entity, as some people say,” Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address, referring to Israel.
“This is what puts it on the path of collapse, fragmentation and disappearance, God willing,” he added.
Netanyahu said Monday he hopes his religious-nationalist coalition will reach an agreement with the opposition on the controversial judicial review plan by the end of November.
Shiite Hezbollah has fought numerous conflicts with Israel since its establishment by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in 1982.
The crisis in Israel has caused deep divisions in society and seeped into the military, with protest leaders saying thousands of volunteer reservists would not report if the government goes ahead with the plans and former top executives warning that Israel’s readiness for war could be jeopardized.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam in Beirut; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
