Israeli leaders’ statements demanding that “all of Lebanon must burn” have become an unwelcome complication to peace negotiations as a ceasefire between the Israeli militia and Hezbollah begins.
Israel and Hezbollah, two parties that did not sign on to the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Israel, exchanged strikes on Friday. Ultranationalist leaders in Israel, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have poured gasoline on the fire by opposing any deal that would restrict Israeli military operations against Hezbollah.
“With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not forfeit,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement on Friday. “All of Lebanon must burn. Our supreme duty is to protect the citizens of Israel and the soldiers of the IDF, and this commitment takes precedence over every other consideration.”
The minister seemed to be reacting to an Israeli report that four soldiers had been killed in the south of Lebanon on Thursday when their tank was struck during a combat operation outside Kfar Tebnit.
“I told the Prime Minister, even in our private meetings: For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep,” he said. “Enough with the ping-pong. In the Middle East, you don’t win with measured responses and restraint—you need to go berserk. To obliterate. To crush the terror.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Ben-Gvir’s comments showed that Israel’s “only interest is permanent war.”
“This is not a rant by a random genocidal lunatic. It’s a public post by the national security minister of the Israeli regime,” said Araghchi. “The genocidal death cult headquartered in Tel Aviv is a threat to all of humanity. It threatens all humans.”
Vice President JD Vance has escalated criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet, arguing that the ultranationalist ministers do not have a coherent counterproposal to peace.
“You’ve seen people in their system, Ben-Gvir and [Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich, who’ve attacked the deal. And I guess,” Vance said in an interview with the New York Times, “my response to them would be: What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.”
The vice president said at a Thursday press conference in the White House briefing room that Israel owes Trump gratitude, since the president is “the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment.”
“To some of these Cabinet members in Israel who are attacking the president of the United States, the other thing that I would say is that over the last three months, two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars,” Vance said. “The problem for Israel is not Donald J. Trump, and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.”
NEW ISRAELI STRIKES IN LEBANON PUT KEY ELEMENTS OF IRAN PEACE DEAL AT RISK
As quickly as violence broke out, peace now seems to be agreed upon as Israel and Hezbollah reportedly signed a ceasefire of their own on Friday afternoon local time.
The deal was reportedly mediated by the U.S., Iran, and Qatar. Israeli militia spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin asserted that the military retains “full freedom of action” to act in Lebanon and “remove threats in any area.”
“Hezbollah is the one that violated the ceasefire,” Defrin said. “It is trying to defend the capabilities it built over the years.”