US academic Noam Chomsky, who was barred from entering Israel last week has met Hizbollah’s spiritual leader in Lebanon, telling him Israel has a “persecution complex.”

Professor Chomsky, who has been an outspoken critic of Israel, met Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah in Lebanon, where he told the Hizbollah leader he did not expect Israel to attack Lebanon except out of a “mentality of madness”.

Ynet reported that Sheikh Fadlallah told Professor Chomsky that Israel is not capable of attacking Lebanon again. He said: “The existence of the insane mentality in the Zionist entity demands great care but this insanity will not push the enemy to suicide.”

Professor Chomsky was barred from entering the West Bank last week, where he had planned a lecture at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah. Later the Israeli government said the border guards had been “overzealous” and that Professor Chomsky was welcome to return to Israel.