![Israel must continue to be able to deter Hezbollah, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar stressed on Wednesday, speaking amid efforts to reach a ceasefire with Iran's Lebanese terrorist proxy. "We need to keep the freedom to act if there will be violations. And we will have to act in time, before the problem will grow," the minister told a gathering of nearly 100 foreign ambassadors in Jerusalem, the Times of Israel reported. A deal to end more than a year of fighting on the northern border must be durable, Sa'ar said, saying Jerusalem “would like to reach an agreement that will stand the test of time." He added that a ceasefire would be an "opportunity" for Lebanon to regain its sovereignty after the Israeli military severely degraded the Iranian-backed group in recent months. He called for the Lebanese Armed Forces to be strengthened and urged the international community to invest more in the economically devastated country, which is drowning in debt following years of mismanagement and corruption. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also emphasized on Wednesday the necessity for Jerusalem to be able to act against any Hezbollah threats that may arise after a ceasefire deal is implemented. “The condition for any political settlement in Lebanon is the preservation of the intelligence capability and the preservation of the [IDF’s] right to act and protect the citizens of Israel from Hezbollah,” Katz said. Meanwhile, U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein remained in Beirut for a second day on Wednesday to discuss "technical details" of an American ceasefire proposal with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement. President Joe Biden's point man in the Land of the Cedars announced he would travel to Israel on Wednesday night, speaking after he made "additional progress" in a second meeting with Berri. Hochstein was scheduled to meet with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer shortly after his arrival, followed by a tête-à-tête with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the following day. “The meeting today built on the meeting yesterday, and made additional progress,” Hochstein said. “So I will travel from here in a couple hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can.” The Biden envoy added that he will work with the incoming Trump administration on ceasefire efforts, saying that he has kept the president-elect's transition team informed of progress. Hochstein described as "very productive" his meetings with Lebanese officials on Tuesday. “We have a real opportunity to end the conflict, and now is the moment to decide. We are committed to doing everything we can to work with Lebanon and Israel to end this conflict,” Hochstein said at a press conference on Tuesday. Hochstein also met on Tuesday with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and he was scheduled to meet with Lebanese Armed Forces commander Gen. Joseph Aoun. Mikati emphasized that Lebanon’s primary objectives are achieving a ceasefire and safeguarding its sovereignty. He highlighted the need to implement international resolutions and bolster the Lebanese Armed Forces in the southern part of the country. Lebanon delivered its written response to the latest U.S. proposal on Monday. According to Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Berri, the response included “comments” that were “presented in a positive atmosphere.” He did not provide details on the nature of the comments, saying only that they “affirm the precise adherence to [U.N. Security Council] Resolution 1701 with all its provisions,” according to Reuters. Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said in a speech on Wednesday that the terrorist group had "read the ceasefire proposal. "We have our comments, and Nabih Berri has comments, and ours and the Lebanese government's comments are, Inshallah ['God willing'], identical," Qassem said. "We have decided not to discuss these ceasefire proposals or our comments in the media. All I will say is that Israeli is trying to obtain through negotiations what it couldn't through war." The terrorist leader vowed to “continue our efforts on the ground, whether the negotiations succeed or not. “We are confronting a savage enemy, and we will remain on the ground, no matter the cost, as we will also increase the cost for the enemy. We are facing Israeli human monsters supported by American human monsters,” threatened Qassem. Disarm and retreat Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War, stipulated that Hezbollah must disarm and retreat north of the Litani River, but was never enforced. The Litani lies some 20 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border. Its enforcement, along with Israeli freedom of operation in Lebanon should Hezbollah violate the terms of a ceasefire agreement, are the key sticking points in the current negotiations. Netanyahu emphasized during a speech in the Knesset plenum on Monday that Israel will not allow Hezbollah to “return to the state it was in on Oct. 6, 2023. “We will be required, in order to ensure our security in the north, to systematically carry out operations—not only against Hezbollah’s attacks, which could come. Even if there is a ceasefire, nobody can guarantee it will hold. So it’s not only our reaction, a preventive reaction, a reaction in the wake of attack but also the capacity to prevent Hezbollah from strengthening,” he said. Hezbollah has launched some 16,000 rockets, missiles and drones from Lebanon at Israel since joining the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after the Gaza-based terrorist group’s massacre in southern Israel. More than 60,000 residents of northern Israel remain internally displaced due to the ongoing rocket and drone attacks from Lebanon. Seventy-six people in northern Israel have been killed by Hezbollah cross-border rocket, missile and drone attacks since the start of the war, including 31 soldiers and six foreign citizens, according to the latest data provided by the Prime Minister’s Office, updated on Sunday. In addition, 729 people have been wounded, including 497 civilians and 232 soldiers. Of these, 29 civilians and 37 soldiers were severely injured; 63 civilians and 38 soldiers were moderately injured and 405 civilians and 157 soldiers were lightly injured. Hezbollah’s leadership has been left in tatters following a series of targeted killings by Israel, including that of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Sept. 27. This was preceded by Israeli sabotage of Hezbollah communication devices that killed 39 people and wounded more than 3,400 members of the terrorist group. Israel has been waging a devastating aerial campaign against Hezbollah throughout Lebanon, including its stronghold of Dahieh south of Beirut. According to Israeli estimates, the terrorist group has lost most of its arsenal to the ongoing strikes. Then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in late October that Hezbollah had lost an estimated 80%-plus of its long-range rockets since the start of the war. Israel also continues to battle Hamas terrorists in Gaza. The terrorist group still holds 101 hostages in the Strip, 97 of whom were kidnapped on Oct. 7. Many of the captives are believed to be dead. Brazil summit Meanwhile, G20 leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro for a summit put out a joint statement on Monday calling for “comprehensive” ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon. The leaders of the world’s biggest economies called for U.S. proposals to end fighting in Gaza and free the hostages, and one for Lebanon “that enables citizens to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line.” The 13-point U.S. proposal presented to Lebanese officials on Nov. 14 includes a 60-day truce, during which Lebanon would redeploy its troops along the border. The proposal also calls for Moscow to prevent Hezbollah from resupplying itself via Syrian land routes. Hezbollah would retreat north of the Litani River, with the border area then being under control of the Lebanese Armed Forces, overseen by the United States and Britain. Israeli officials are emphasizing, however, that the Israel Defense Forces must retain freedom of operation in Lebanon to thwart attempts by Hezbollah to violate the agreement and rearm and reestablish itself. A senior Israeli diplomatic official told Israel Hayom on Saturday that the IDF will retain operational freedom to respond to any security threats from across the northern border, regardless of any diplomatic arrangements. However, a source close to Hezbollah told The Washington Post that the group’s “condition for progress remains clear: Israel must be prohibited from conducting operations within Lebanese territory.” Berri emphasized at the time that any ceasefire agreement must not include the ability for Israel to attack by land, sea or air, Channel 12 reported. “Otherwise, what’s the purpose of an agreement?” he remarked. Another sticking point is Lebanon’s objection to the United Kingdom and Germany monitoring the implementation of U.N. Resolution 1701. Beirut reportedly favors the United States and France. If the ceasefire efforts fail, there are plans in the works to expand ground operations in Lebanon, an Israeli military official told the Post. Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer discussed the proposal with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump during a visit to his Florida estate earlier this month, as well as with senior Biden administration officials in Washington. Dermer also traveled to Russia to discuss the ceasefire proposal. Tehran is telling its Lebanese terrorist proxy Hezbollah that it supports ending the war against Israel, The New York Times reported over the weekend. Ali Larijani, senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, met with senior Lebanese officials in Beirut on Nov. 15 to discuss the matter. Two Iranians affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps told the Times that Larijani conveyed messages to Hezbollah from Khamenei that he supported the end of the war and that the regime would assist with rebuilding the terrorist group’s forces and recovering from the war.](https://jewishwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Gideon-Saar-1320x880-2-218x150.jpg "Sa’ar: Israel must be free to act against Hezbollah truce violations")
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s sweeping election victory generated a collective sigh of relief for many, especially in Israel. After four years of destructive and misguided American foreign policy, Israelis look forward to an administration that believes firmly in peace through strength, and anticipate that Trump’s return to the White House will mean a period of true partnership and reduced tension.
However, with two months left until Trump’s inauguration, some Israelis are worried that President Joe Biden will replicate President Barack Obama’s parting shot at Israel. Before leaving office at the end of his second term, Obama allowed the passage of U.N. Resolution 2334 declaring Judaism’s holiest site “occupied Palestinian territory.”
Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, told JNS it’s “hard to know, since Biden’s situation is far more complicated than Obama’s.”
“Biden has a bone to pick with his own colleagues in the Democratic Party and possibly with Obama, who prevailed upon him to pull his candidacy and allow Vice President Kamala Harris to run” in his stead, said Diker.
In fact, Biden’s parting shot might not be against Israel, but against Iran, he added.
“Biden is a dyed in the wool Irish Zionist by his own declaration, and that’s a very meaningful statement,” Diker told JNS. “This is a man who truly loves Israel and the Jewish people. In order to establish a legacy of courage and moral clarity we might see him take action with Israel against Iran.”
Diker pointed out that since Iran has lost two key proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as its air defense systems, it has been “softened and compromised,” opening up a real opportunity to take out part of if not all of its nuclear program.
“It’s not beyond Biden to say ‘now is the time,’ to leave a legacy of strength,” said Diker.
At the same time, Biden may instead seek to punish Israel on the settlement issue.
“Biden has people around him who are fiercely hostile to Israel,” said Diker.
The Biden administration could level sanctions against Israel by enacting Memorandum 20, legislation that ties military aid to humanitarian assistance. State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters on Tuesday that the United States would not, as of yet, limit military aid to Israel as Jerusalem had made sufficient progress in delivering aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
But that could change in the next few weeks.
For instance, the Biden administration has reportedly frozen the shipment to Israel of over 100 D9 bulldozers, which Israel needs to fight both Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
This move only prolongs the war the Biden administration insists it wants Israel to end.
There is also a possibility that the State Department might recognize the Palestinian Authority as a full member state of the United Nations.
If so, “It wouldn’t change anything on the ground other than making Israel’s life more difficult in the U.N.,” said Diker.
Trump has declared several times that he is looking to end wars, but he also recognizes Iran is the cause behind the wars in the Middle East.
While Biden and his foreign policy team pursued an integrated Middle East with Iran playing a constructive and stabilizing role, Trump and Netanyahu reportedly see eye-to-eye on Iran and instead believe it is the source of instability in the region.
Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, told JNS that Trump “does not want wars.”
Yet Trump may agree that the way to end the wars raging in the region is to eliminate Iran’s ability to start them.
According to Oren, “He will be very hard on Iran, will reinstate punishing sanctions and will place all options on the table.”
Trump has already established himself as a president who understands the reality of the Middle East.
During his first term, Trump moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel and reversed the 1978 Hansell Memorandum, which had declared settlements as violating international law.
These moves not only made Trump the most pro-Israel president in history, but also demonstrated that Israel’s most trusted ally could also be led by a realist who correctly perceives Israel’s position in the Middle East, understands the history of the region and deadly threats against the Jewish state.
Trump’s team spent a lot of time working on a “Deal of the Century” peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
While there was concern in the past that Trump would want to deliver such a deal in his second term, after Oct. 7, 2023, it is even less likely, especially since a majority of Palestinians, 64% in Judea and Samaria, continue to support terrorism, as noted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR).
According to the PCPSR, “a majority of Palestinians continues to view Hamas’s decision to carry out the Oct. 7 attack as ‘correct.’”
Assuming there will be no practical movement on another deal with the Palestinians as long as they reject it, many Israelis, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, would like to see Israel annex the entire area of Judea and Samaria.
According to Oren, Trump “does not want to see Israel annexing land” and is against “unfettered settlement building.”
However, Trump is likely to forge a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and as part of the need to address the Saudi demand to couple it with a pathway to a Palestinian state, the president-elect could also allow some Israeli annexation and building in Judea and Samaria.
“There are many opportunities here,” Oren said of Trump’s second term.
Until then, we will need to see what Biden does in his last two months in office.
The next few weeks will reveal whether Biden truly loves Israel, or whether he will repeat Obama’s error.
“I hope he doesn’t do that, because it would only leave his Zionist legacy in tatters,” said Diker. “For someone who calls himself a Zionist to recognize the terror-supporting Palestinian Authority as a state [for example], would shatter his own declaration as a Zionist and turn him into one of the historical opponents of Israel and the Jewish people.”