(JNS) Israel’s Joint List Party head Ayman Odeh refused to condemn Hezbollah as a terrorist group during a Channel 13 interview this week, instead denouncing Israel’s “occupation” as the chief source of terrorism in the region.

In response to a question from reporter Udi Segal, Odeh characterized the Israeli “occupation” of the territories captured in the 1967 Six-Day War as the “primary terrorism.”

“More than [Hassan] Nasrallah?” Segal asked, referring to the Hezbollah leader who had threatened Israel’s offshore gas fields. Odeh replied that the Israeli occupation was “the most real, strategic and continuous terrorism since 1967 until now. We need to stop this, and strive for peace with all Arab countries, including Lebanon.”

“Knesset Member Odeh, you understand that because of these kinds of things that you say, in the end Knesset members say about you that you’re a terrorist supporter,” Segal said.

“The terrorist supporter is the one who supports the occupation of territories in the occupied territories of 1967,” Odeh answered.