Following the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election, Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas outlined in a televised address and a statement respectively, that they were not counting on the outcome of the elections to bring an end to the Israeli aggression on Gaza and Lebanon.
The groups allege that both major parties in the US, the Republicans and the Democrats have always sought to maintain their imperialist interests in West Asia, by unrestrictedly backing the Zionist entity. Although the implementation of the policy varied from one US President to another, the goal has always been the same.
Donald Trump’s approach during his first term as president was to push forward the “Deal of the Century” and advance Arab states’ normalization with Israel. Both initiatives sought to liquidate the Palestinian cause and subjugate the region. Meanwhile, Joe Biden undermined the Palestinian cause by providing unlimited military, financial, political, and diplomatic support to Israel amid its genocidal assault on the region.
Hamas in a statement released on Wednesday, November 6, urged Trump to “learn from Biden’s mistakes”. The movement said that its position towards the new administration will depend on “its policies and the practical actions it takes concerning the Palestinian people, their legitimate rights and their just cause.” Hamas criticized the negative stance of all successive US administrations towards the Palestinian cause since 1948. The movement slammed these administrations for “consistently supporting the Zionist occupation in all spheres”.
Hamas asserted that it will never accept any compromises that would undermine the rights of the Palestinian people. In this regard, the resistance movement stated that “the new US administration must recognize that the Palestinian people will continue to resist the oppressive Israeli occupation and will not accept any path that undermines their legitimate rights to freedom, independence, self-determination, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri stated on Wednesday that: “The Democratic Party’s loss is the natural price for their leadership’s ‘criminal stance’ towards Gaza”. Commenting on Trump’s victory speech, in which the elected Republican president said “I’m not going to start wars, I’m going to stop wars,” Zuhri said that “Trump’s victory puts him to the test to translate his statements that he can stop the war within hours”.
On Wednesday, November 6, Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem delivered his second speech since he was elected at the end of October. November 6 marked the 40th day since the death of Hezbollah’s former Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and coincided with the announcement of Trump’s win for the second time in the US presidential elections.
In his speech, Sheikh Naim Qassem declared that the US presidential election “means nothing to Hezbollah” and that the Lebanese resistance group is betting only on the military confrontation with Israel to end the war.
He also asserted that Hezbollah’s confrontation with Israel is not a support frontline for Gaza exclusively anymore, but is now a defensive war. The Hezbollah leader reiterated that the battlefield, not the political action, will end the war, noting that the basis of any negotiation is to stop the aggression on Lebanon, and to fully protect its sovereignty.
Qassem confirmed that Hezbollah’s capabilities enabled it to fight Israel for a long time not only at the southern Lebanese border, but also in the Israeli depth. “We have tens of thousands of well-trained fighters and military capabilities that are enough for a long-term battle,” Sheikh Naim Qassem said, adding that the Israeli enemy “will scream” as all regions across the Zionist entity are within the reach of Hezbollah’s rockets and drones.
