A former Lebanese government minister said last week that he likes Germany because “they hate Jews and burned them.”

A former Lebanese government minister said last week that he likes Germany because “they hate Jews and burned them.” He was speaking on Al-Jadid/New TV in PREFIX = ST1 / Lebanon on July 4. PREFIX = O /

The clip was found and translated by MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute), and screened on its MEMRITV.org television monitor project.

Wiam Wahhab, known to be pro-Syrian, served as Lebanon ’s Minister of the Environment from 2004-5.

Asked whom he supports in the World Cup, Wahhab said, “ “I support Germany in politics and Brazil in soccer. … I like the Germans because they hate the Jews and burned them” – and then laughed heartily.

He also said in the interview that if the current situation in southern Lebanon continues, UNIFIL could find itself under attack.

The MEMRITV project monitors over 100 Arabic and Farsi TV channels 24 hours a day, and provides translations.

In another clip from four weeks ago, Hamas leader Mahmoud a-Zahar said that the key to Hamas policy is to demand a state in the West Bank and Gaza , with its capital in Jerusalem , “but without recognizing Israeli sovereignty over a single inch of land. This is our plan for this stage – to liberate the West Bank and Gaza – without recognizing Israel ’s right to a single inch of land, and without giving up the Right of Return for a single Palestinian refugee…"

"The next stage is to have Palestine in its entirety," A-Zahar continued.