![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")
Relatives of Israelis being held captive by Hamas in Gaza on Wednesday called on the Israeli government to launch a military operation in Rafah to destroy Hamas and bring about the release of the hostages.
“We have to finish this war. We cannot let Hamas rise again in Gaza and because of that we must win,” Tzvika Mor told JNS after a press conference at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv.
Tvika’s son Eitan, 23, was kidnapped from the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im on Oct. 7.
“We believe that the Israeli government is doing its best for us families of hostages. They want to release our loved ones. We trust them but we want to see the IDF defeat Hamas in Rafah,” added Mor, a co-founder of the Tikva Forum for Families of Hostages.
The group, an alternative to the larger Hostages and Missing Families Forum, has come out against the hostages’ families who joined forces over the weekend with anti-government protesters to push for the ouster of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu.
In a statement issued Saturday evening, the Tikva Forum said that “a significant number of abductees’ families are shocked by the political activity.”
Instead, members of the Forum gathered in Tel Aviv on Wednesday to share a message of unity.
“For three months, I have been hearing of a deal. The media make it sound like there really is a deal on the way, and the [Israel Security Agency] and everyone who is responsible for this chaos tell the prime minister that there is a deal on the way. I am telling you there is no deal,” said Yaron Or, whose son Avinatan was kidnapped from the Supernova festival along with his girlfriend Noa Argamani.
“Hamas has no plan to release anyone. We need to increase military pressure. I am calling on Prime Minister Netanyahu to enter Rafah, go to the Philadelphi Corridor [a buffer area running along the Egypt-Gaza border] and exhaust them until they fall to their knees and release everyone,” he added.
His remarks echoed those of Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, who said on Wednesday that only through “stronger pressure” would a hostage release deal be achieved, adding, “and we will press harder, as much as necessary.”
“Another [Hamas] battalion dismantled, another commander killed, another infrastructure destroyed, this is the way to eventually pressure for the release of the hostages,” he said.
On Wednesday, Or said that the families who have joined the anti-government campaign “are being exploited for political motives and told that their actions could help close a deal.” Some of the protesters at one of the anti-government rallies had carried posters of his son, he said, adding, “Who gave them the permission to speak in my name? Who?”
Avinatan’s mother, Ditsa Or, reaffirmed at the event in Hostage Square that she would not support any deal that benefited Hamas.
“Prime minister, for as long as you fight with all the military and spiritual power and the authentic and deep Israeli heroism, God will be on our side and will give us strength because we are fighting for what’s good and the truth,” she said.
“When you do it as you should do it, we will get all our hostages back at once. Until then, we are not agreeing to any deal that is partial, in phases or that allows for any benefit to our enemies,” she added.
Also attending the presser were the parents of Sgt. First Class Ran Gvili, a police officer who was on medical leave on Oct. 7 but joined the fight to repel Hamas’s terrorist invasion.
Gvili was abducted on Oct. 7 and declared dead on Jan. 31. His body is still being held by Hamas in Gaza.
“We feel that we are back to Oct. 6, and I cannot watch people spit in the face of police officers who put their lives at risk to save everyone on Oct. 7,” Ran’s father, Itzik Gvili, told JNS. “Sixty-one police officers were killed” during the Hamas invasion, he added.
Gvili stressed the importance of Israeli unity, despite people holding contradictory views.
“My son went to fight for the country. Those who went to fight should be respected. They can’t spit on the families the way they do. I am not interested in the issue of supporting or not supporting Bibi. We must be united,” said Gvili.
“We need to be together even if we disagree; we are one people. If we don’t rely on one another, we will be lying next to one another as we were on Oct. 7,” he added.
Israeli officials from across the political spectrum on Wednesday criticized the previous night’s anti-government demonstration in Jerusalem, which featured protesters calling to “burn down the country” and attempting to storm the Prime Minister’s Residence.
Israel Security Agency chief Ronen Bar issued a rare warning, describing the incident as “beyond acceptable protest.”
Protesters and relatives of hostages later on Wednesday vandalized the windows of the gallery overlooking the Knesset Plenum Hall. (The color has become associated with the campaign to free the captives.)
Security personnel clashed with the demonstrators before escorting them off the premises.
Tsofit Libman, the daughter-in-law of Eliyahu Libman, one of the founders of the Tikva Forum and whose son Elyakim is being held by Hamas in Gaza, told JNS that early elections would harm the effort to free the captives.
“If there are elections, everyone will be busy campaigning and with politics and the hostage issue will be pushed aside,” said Libman.
“Beyond that, I am sure that when Hamas sees all the chaos [in Israel], it lifts up the morale of its members and is making them stronger, which by definition does not help the hostages,” she added.
In an address to the nation on Sunday, Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected the idea of holding elections during the war, saying it would paralyze hostage negotiations and prevent the defeat of Hamas.
“The first who would welcome this is Hamas, and that says everything,” he said.
“I’m committed to bringing everyone back, all of our men and women, soldiers, civilians—I will not leave anyone behind. God willing, we will continue to work, continue to fight, and we will win together,” he said.