Sixteen-year-old Ahed Tamimi, the Palestinian girl who has made headlines after being imprisoned for eight months for slapping an Israeli soldier, said she is “proud” of being praised by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
A clip from Lebanese television and translated by MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute) begins with Nasrallah saying that Tamimi was “brave and courageous.”
“This is a girl that confronts Israeli soldiers and slaps them,” Nasrallah said before a crowd.
The clip then turns to Tamimi, who called Nasrallah “honorable” and thanked him for his support.
“His words boosted our morale – not just my morale but the morale of many people, because I represent the people,” Tamimi said, adding that Nasrallah’s words provided “support of the entire Palestinian people.”
Tamimi then said she “salutes” Nasrallah.
“We all support him and are proud of him,” Tamimi said.
Nasrallah has a record of anti-Semitic invectives, which includes him saying, “If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew.” He has also said, “If they (Jews) all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.”
According to Jewish Virtual Library, Nasrallah has taken Hezbollah into “a more extremist line against Israel and the US” since he took over the terror group in 1991, pointing to his decision to have Hezbollah kidnap Israeli soldiers and then launch rockets into Israel in 2006, which resulted in the Second Israel-Lebanon War.
