Maduro claims ‘Zionists’ trying to hand Venezuela over to ‘devils’ as conflict with US intensifies

Maduro placed Israel and Zionists at the center of what he described as a moral and spiritual battle.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro used a national address on Saturday to deliver a torrent of rhetoric aimed not only at the United States but also at Zionists and Israelis, describing them as forces seeking to destabilize his country and inviting conflict across the region.

His comments, made to Bolivarian Integral Base Committees, cast Israel and its supporters as central antagonists in Venezuela’s confrontation with Washington.

Maduro placed Israel and Zionists at the center of what he described as a moral and spiritual battle. “There are those who want to hand this country over to the devils – you know who, right? The far-right Zionists want to hand this country over to the devils,” he said, accusing unnamed outside actors of plotting against Venezuela.

He framed the confrontation through biblical allegory, comparing the country to King David facing an American Goliath, telling supporters, “We are the people of David against the Goliaths that we have already defeated in history… If God wills it, we will face them.”

The remarks came as the Trump administration formalized its view that the United States is in an “armed conflict” with Venezuelan drug cartels labeled “unlawful armed combatants.”

American military operations began in September against networks accused of smuggling cocaine into the United States, though legal specialists continue to warn that US law does not clearly authorize the use of military force against cartels, even those that appear on foreign terrorist organization lists.

Throughout the speech, Maduro argued that Venezuela was under attack not just militarily but ideologically, claiming foreign powers hostile to Christians were driving events in the Caribbean.

Linking the Palestinians with Jesus, he said, “I place at the forefront of this battle our Lord Jesus Christ … the young child and Palestinian martyr, Jesus of Nazareth,” and named him “commander in chief of the battle for peace.”

National Students for Justice in Palestine announced a protest day calling on activists to “smash imperialism” and “crush Zionism,” framing US action against drug cartels as part of a global offensive linked to Israel.

The group argued that American strikes were “part of the same machinery that arms the Zionist entity’s genocide of the Palestinian people” and claimed solidarity with any movement targeting institutions “that prop up the Zionist entity’s occupation of Palestine.”