On Friday Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel (Michael) Leiter said that the Jewish State and Hezbollah will observe a ceasefire in Lebanon. President Donald Trump’s Iran peace deal is contingent upon Israel halting their attack on Lebanon. Despite the reassurance that the offensive will stop, U.S. intelligence agencies are warning the President that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will likely take steps to prevent his Iran peace deal from succeeding.
In a social media post the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. said:
Israel remains firmly committed to an immediate ceasefire. At 11:30 this morning, Israel halted all offensive operations; Hezbollah and Iranian claims to the contrary are bold lies.
If Hezbollah honors the agreement and ceases its hostilities, they will be met with quiet.
Israel wants our neighbor to the north, Lebanon, with which we have relations dating back to King Solomon and King Hiram, to prosper and enjoy democratic freedoms, and like any normal country will never compromise on our security.
This will only happen when Hezbollah, a murderous Iranian proxy, is destroyed.
The end of Hezbollah will mark the beginning of a beautiful peace between our two countries.
Israel is in the security zone in southern Lebanon to rid the area of Hezbollah and dismantle its terror infrastructure.
We will remain there until that mission is accomplished.
The people of Lebanon deserve a future free from Hezbollah’s grip, and a real, genuine peace between our two countries remains possible.
Ceasefire or not, U.S. intelligence agencies are not expecting Israel to go peacefully into the night.
“U.S. intelligence agencies have warned the Trump administration that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to take steps that will undermine President Donald Trump’s effort to reach a lasting peace deal with Iran, as the Israeli premier faces intense political pressure to continue waging his country’s war in Lebanon, current and former U.S. officials said,” Washington Post said Friday. “Israel appears intent on maintaining military operations against Iran’s proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon, an aim that would flout a core element of the fledgling agreement that calls for an end to hostilities in that country, according to intelligence reports, including one circulated this week, said the officials.”
Some analysis of the tension between Washington and TelAviv concludes that a U.S. arms embargo to Israel may result if the Jewish State refuses to stop attacking its neighbors.
“A much deeper crisis appears to be taking shape behind the public clash between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, with Israeli officials saying that Trump’s pressure for a withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the Syrian Hermon is far from over and is expected to intensify as the anticipated signing of the memorandum of understanding with Iran approaches on Friday, Maariv reported on Thursday. Israeli officials told Maariv that Trump’s demands are not merely theoretical and that issues concerning Lebanon, Syria, and the Syrian Hermon were raised in recent discussions with Netanyahu, adding that the prime minister made it clear that Israel will not agree to withdrawing from its security positions in the north. A senior Israeli official told Reuters that Israel is carrying out ‘stubborn negotiations’ with the U.S. on maintaining its military presence in southern Lebanon and has no intention of backing down,” Yeshiva World News said Thursday. “The officials warned that the messages coming from Washington are no longer limited to difficult discussions. The U.S. is signaling that if Israel continues to insist on its position, it will consider practical measures, ranging from delays in weapons shipments to restrictions on operational assistance, and even more severe steps that could potentially amount to a de facto arms embargo.”
The New York Times detailed Israel’s military operation against Lebanon and Netanyahu’s defiance to his “greatest ally” the United States:
The fighting in Lebanon has strained relations between Washington and Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has indicated that he is not bound by the U.S.-Iran deal, and the White House has delivered rare rebukes of him and other Israeli leaders.
Israel’s latest strikes came after an attack on an Israeli tank crewin southern Lebanon early Friday killed four of its soldiers. In response, Israel said, its military had struck more than 80 targets belonging to Hezbollah militants. The Lebanese Health Ministry reported that the overnight Israeli airstrikes had left at least 47 people dead and injured 97 others.
Mr. Netanyahu said that he had ordered the Israeli military to respond forcefully to the deaths of the tank crew, warning that Israel would “exact a very heavy price from Hezbollah for these attacks.” Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, called the Israeli attacks a “dangerous and reprehensible escalation.”
Netanyahu is not even the most extreme Israeli official however. The nation’s national security minister Ben Gvir has openly said he will refuse Trump’s calls for peace, then said that all Lebanese mothers must weep as all of Lebanon burns.
For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep. All of Lebanon must burn!
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. 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.
I told the Prime Minister, even in our private meetings: For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep.
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.
2 Responses
We’ve heard this nonsense more times than Trump has declared victory. The Israeli screwjob continues on, and on and on…
Israel needs to be disbanded.