From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Knesset speaker, visiting Paraguay, says Israel has reached the point of ‘no more’ regarding Lebanon
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Addressing the Paraguayan parliament, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana holds up a picture of murdered hostage Ori Danino, 25, and calls on the world to pressure Hamas to return the rest of those in captivity in Gaza.
“These are everyone’s children,” he says. “For almost a year, tens of thousands of Israeli citizens have been displaced from their homes in northern Israel. Hezbollah shoots at them and destroys their houses. No citizen in Asuncion, Paris or New York would accept such a reality [and] neither do we.”
Speaking on the day that Hezbollah fighters’ pagers exploded in a vast attack across Lebanon, he adds to loud applause: “We have gone above and beyond in our efforts to seek a non-military solution. But we have reached the point where we have to say: No more.”
Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the attack; Israel has not officially commented.
Ohana is accompanied by Ori’s father Elhanan Danino and Avi Hasidim, the father of Naor Hasidim, 23, who was murdered on October 7. He is also joined by MKs Boaz Bismuth (Likud) and Evgeny Sova (Yisrael Beytenu).
“Mr. Speaker, when you return to your country with your delegation, give a message from us to the parents of the victims and the hostages: You are not alone,” says Ohana’s Paraguayan counterpart, Raúl Luís Latorre Martinez.
“We support you. Even if we are the only ones to support you, we will support you and stand by our brother — Israel.”
The two parliaments sign a memorandum of understanding for cooperation and exchange of knowledge, and Martinez gives Ohana Paraguay’s top Congressional award.
