Hezbollah denounced on Tuesday the opening of an Israeli embassy in Bahrain as a treacherous move and a “political and ethical degradation” of the Bahraini regime following years of repression of its people.

“The Bahraini regime’s decision to open an embassy for the Israeli entity at this critical juncture in its temporary existence is an ominous step contrary to the aspirations and beliefs of the Bahraini people,” a Hezbollah statement said.

It considered what it described as “the new betrayal” to be “a stab in the back of the Palestinian people, who are currently engaged in the greatest struggle and heroism against the blind Zionist terrorism.”

While condemning this move, Hezbollah stressed that “the brave Bahraini people and the peoples of our entire nation reject all forms of normalization and relations with the enemy, and the Zionists will not find a safe haven in our lands.”