![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")
Israeli lawmaker Sharren Haskel on Tuesday night called on Christian parliamentarians from around the world to demand their governments sanction Iran, in a dramatic address that culminated with her cutting her hair in a show of solidarity with Iranian women.
“Demand that your governments and elected officials stand by the Iranian people at this time, support their protests and help them attain the freedom which they deserve,” Haskel said. “Demand that your countries impose sanctions on the leaders of Iran, the dictators who are leading us to a regional war and who murder and abuse their citizens.
“How long will it take for the world to step in and truly make a difference?” she asked. “The answer depends on some of the people in the room here today.… We must channel our Judeo-Christian values of justice, morality and righteousness into a global voice of life and freedom for all.”
Haskel then joined the Iranian women demonstrating against state-sanctioned violence following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by Tehran’s “modesty police” for violating hijab laws and later died in custody.
Chanting, “Jin, jiad, azadi; women, life, freedom,” Haskel cut off two large chunks of her hair.
“May next year we have [at this event] … women representatives from Iran as well,” she concluded.
The chair of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, Haskel was addressing a room of some 2,000 Christian supporters of Israel, who convened at the Pais Arena in Jerusalem for the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem’s (IECJ) annual Feast of Tabernacles celebration.
The event was last held in person in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, when nearly 6,000 pilgrims attended. Although fewer in total number this year, the participants included representatives from about 80 countries, influencers of millions of people across the globe.
For her part, Haskel used the occasion to also call for Jewish and Christian prayer on the Temple Mount. She stressed that Israel is the only country in the region that protects its Christian minority, pushing back against Jordanian King Abdullah’s recent claim at the United Nations that “Christianity in the holy city [of Jerusalem] is under fire.”
Haskel noted that while “the most persecuted minority in the Middle East are Christians, in Israel you are protected and cherished citizens.”
To which Haskel received a hearty ”hallelujah” from the audience, members of which waved the flags of their nations.
Mogoeng Mogoeng to receive Nehemiah Award
The Feast commenced Sunday in the Galilee, where for the first time participants took part in two evening concerts in Capernaum National Park, where Jesus is believed to have lived and preached. The pilgrims then traveled to Jerusalem for five additional days of events, including Tuesday’s colorful “Roll Call of the Nations” in Pais Arena.
On Thursday, they will be joined by other Christian visitors for the Jerusalem March through the streets of Israel’s capital city. For the first time, Jerusalem’s mayor, currently Moshe Lion, is expected to kick off the march alongside ICEJ President Dr. Jürgen Buhler.
On the final day, participants will head to the western Negev for a solidarity rally and tree-planting ceremony alongside Israelis who live near the border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
The Feast constitutes the greatest influx of Christian tourists into the country since Israel shuttered its skies in 2020 due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, although hundreds of seats remained vacant on Tuesday in Pais Arena.
“The people who are still a little concerned and careful to come are the traditional supporters from Western Europe and North America,” ICEJ President Buhler told JNS. Instead, “we see an amazing surge from the Global South, unprecedented numbers from Africa, Latin America and Asia. You can really see the Global South is awakening regarding Israel.”
Buhler said that while Christianity is strengthening in these countries, a “battle for Christian values” is taking place in the West.
Approximately 90 delegates from South Africa are attending the Feast, including former chief justice of South Africa Mogoeng Mogoeng, who was recently ordered by his country’s Judiciary Conduct Committee to apologize for publicly supporting Israel during a Zoom interview with an Israeli newspaper two years ago.
Speaking at an intimate reception on Tuesday night, Mogoeng attributed to his Christian faith his refusal to walk back his statement that South Africa has deprived itself of “a wonderful opportunity of being a game-changer in the Israeli-Palestinian situation.”
“Love is about obeying the commands of God,” Mogoeng said. “In Genesis 12, verses 1-4, it is clear regarding the attitude that committed children of God should have toward Israel and the descendants of Abraham. Unless I no longer wanted to be a Christian, there was no way in which I could bow down to this pressure” to retract the comments.
Mogoeng and his wife are on their first-ever pilgrimage to Israel. On Wednesday, he will receive the ICEJ’s Nehemiah Award in recognition of his “strong stand for Israel and the Jewish people on biblical grounds,” according to the organization.
Mogoeng was joined Tuesday night at the Feast by other notables such as Andrew Brunson, the American pastor who was held for two years in a Turkish prison on false charges of terrorism, and two Iranian-born singers who performed Christian songs in Persian and Hebrew.
Buhler said that he hoped the upcoming visit to Gaza border communities would provide perspective and encouragement to Feast participants from Europe, in particular, where a war is raging in Ukraine and inflation is skyrocketing.
He said that on a tour of these Israeli towns and villages a few weeks ago, “I saw the resilience and entrepreneurial spirit they have. They are not afraid of the rockets, and they want to turn their communities into the best in Israel. And their numbers are growing…. We especially want our Christian pilgrims to witness the incredible positive spirit emanating from these Israeli communities despite all they face.
“There is a crisis in Europe and really all over the world,” Buhler continued. “Don’t let these crises rail you down. Look at what the people of the border communities are doing and take that message back to your country.”