OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israel’s foreign minister on Saturday hailed the American nighttime operation in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of President Nicolas Maduro, saying Washington acted as the “leader of the free world”. “Israel stands alongside the freedom-loving Venezuelan people, who have suffered under Maduro’s illegal tyranny. Israel welcomes the removal of the dictator who led a network of drugs and terror and hopes for the return of democracy to the country and for friendly relations between the states,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on X.