Jerusalem - US President George W. Bush Wednesday condemned the actions of Lebanon's Shiite militant Hezbollah movement against the Lebanese government. "Hezbollah, the so-called protector of the Lebanese against Israel, has now turned on its own people," Bush told a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem.
"Hezbollah is supported by Iran and this is an Iranian effort to destabilise that young democracy and the United States stands strongly with the Siniora government," Bush said.
"Here we are in the heart of a thriving democracy, yet that democracy, like other democracies, is being challenged by extremists and terrorists," said Bush, who arrived in Israel for celebrations marking 60 years since the state was founded on May 14, 1948.
He said he was referring to the "existential" threat that a nuclear Iran would pose to Israel.
