Hezbollah leader praises Israel

Screen capture/AFP

Whatever your thoughts on Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, you have to admit: the man is no dummy. Nasrallah has embraced the findings of the initial Winograd report that harshly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his government for “deep failures” in their conduct of the July 2006 war with Hezbollah.

“I will not gloat,” Nasrallah began his televised speech, before proceeding to do exactly that. He went on to hail Israel for learning from its mistakes:

It is worthy of respect that an investigative commission appointed by [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert condemns him,” Nasrallah said. “When the enemy entity acts honestly and sincerely, you cannot but respect it.”

But Nasrallah came not just to praise Israel, but to bury his fellow Arab leaders:

Sheikh Nasrallah said that Israelis “study their defeat in order to learn from it”. He contrasted this to Arab states that “do not probe, do not ask, do not form inquiry commissions… as if nothing has happened”.

It’s not an original point—bitter Arab opinion columnists make it all the time—but coming from the leader seen in the region as “the man who defeated Israel,” it has a lot more resonance. And there’s no better way to get under the skin of Arab leaders than to remind them of their many failures, particularly when it comes to Israel.

(Hat tip: Stephen Pollard at one of the Spectator‘s three new blogs. Check ’em out.)