BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Monday its arch-foe Israel was on a “path of collapse and fragmentation,” referring to divisions in Israeli society over a contested overhaul of its judiciary.
Israel’s parliament on Monday ratified the first bill of an overhaul sought by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after last-gasp compromise efforts collapsed and failed to ease a constitutional crisis convulsing the country for months.
“Today, in particular, is the worst day in the history of the entity, as some of its people say,” Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech, referring to Israel.
“This is what puts it on the path of collapse, fragmentation, and disappearance, God willing,” he added.
Netanyahu said on Monday he hopes his religious-nationalist coalition will reach an agreement with the opposition on the contested judicial overhaul plan by the end of November.
Shi’ite Hezbollah has fought numerous conflicts with Israel since being established by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982.
The crisis in Israel has caused a deep divide in society and has seeped into the military, with protest leaders saying thousands of volunteer reservists would not report for duty if the government continues with the plans and former top brass warning that Israel’s war-readiness could be at risk.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam in Beirut; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
