Blumenthal, during an appearance on Sputnik Radio's "Loud & Clear," said Israel has grown closer to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Sunni Gulf states through a shared "hysteria and panic" over Iran’s geopolitical ambitions.
"It's almost official policy that Israel prefers Sunni extremists to Hezbollah and their Iranian funders and supporters," Blumenthal said, "so I don't think anything that Ya'alon said was particularly shocking, except that he was so candid."
Israel's conflict with Hezbollah dates back to the 1980s, when Israel occupied a strip of land in southern Lebanon. The occupation continued until 2000, when Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shiite militia, launched an armed resistance.
"Hezbollah remains a real thorn in Israel's side," Blumenthal said. "Meanwhile, [Daesh] and its affiliates have not attacked Israel."
He cited reports of Israeli troops supplying the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate, and Israeli hospitals treating Nusra fighters so they could return to the battlefield in Syria as "illustration of official Israeli policy that's being carried out below the radar.