![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")
In a scathing speech last week about corruption in the United Nations, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley accused Canada of making a “deal with the devil” and called again for the removal of Venezuela from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
“If we are serious about being advocates for human rights, Venezuela’s membership on the Human Rights Council cannot stand,” Haley said on Thursday night at the inaugural gala of the UN Watch NGO in New York City, where she received the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for defending truth, fairness and human rights. “At stake is the ability of the Venezuelan people to reclaim their freedom and human dignity. The revolutionary notion that we are all children of God and entitled to his gifts is embedded in the founding purpose of the United Nations. It is at the heart of the American idea. As long as I have a voice, I will never stop being the proud ambassador of this cause.”
In October, Venezuela won a seat on the U.N.’s Human Rights Council with 105 votes, despite its very public and recorded human-rights abuses. A total of 14 U.N. members were elected to the 47-member council for three-year terms starting in January, including the human rights-violating countries Cuba, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Sudan, China, Egypt, Qatar, Somalia and Pakistan.
Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, wrote in an op-ed last month in The Miami Herald that “Venezuela is the last country that should sit on a council that’s supposed to protect human rights.” On Twitter, she denounced Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime as being “one of the world’s worst human-rights abusers.”
“The United Nations’ greatest failure when measured by the yardstick of its own charter is the Human Rights Council,” she added.
She said the international body is “allowing the world’s worst actors to call the shots on human rights.”
UN Watch launched a global campaign in October to remove Maduro from the Human Rights Council, and Haley urged the public to support the campaign and efforts by its chairman, Ambassador Diego Arria, former chairman of the U.N. Security Council and former Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations. Speaking to JNS, Arria praised Haley for supporting the freedom and human rights of Venezuelan people “in such a deciding and committed way” and for backing efforts to remove Venezuela from the UNHRC.
He has become “a great admirer” of Haley’s, he said. “I think she is really the most extraordinary American ambassador in the U.N. ever. I hope we will see more of her. She could be president of the United States, I am absolutely convinced.”
Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, also said his NGO is “deeply grateful” for Haley’s support for the campaign. He criticized the General Assembly for voting Venezuela in, calling it “one of the worst regimes in the world,” where 4 million people have been forced to flee oppression, hunger and poverty caused by the “failed policies” of the former Hugo Chávez and current Maduro regimes.
“It’s an oppressive government, and it’s the last government that should ever have ever been elected to any human-rights body, let alone to the world’s highest human-rights body,” he told JNS.
‘A culture of bullying’
Haley also charged the United Nations for exhibiting a “culture of hypocrisy, entitlement and unaccountability,” as well as a “culture of bullying” that has causes it to “time and again” fail to “live up to its charter.”
She said the international body is “allowing the world’s worst actors to call the shots on human rights.”
“Instead of protecting human rights, the Human Rights Council has long protected the tyrants, dictators and strong men who abuse her,” she told the audience last week. “It’s honestly difficult to say which was worse—the tolerance we encountered for human-rights violators in the council or the hypocrisy of the countries that should have known better.”
Haley branded the U.N. Security Council’s regular meeting on the Middle East a “monthly Israel-bashing session” and described the United Nations as a “club” where “there’s a constant pressure to abide by the rules; to conform to the culture.”
And that culture, she stressed, “corrupts everyone it touches.”
“I speak from experience when I say the United Nations presents many opportunities to strike a deal with the devil.”
Almost all of the pro-Israel countries in the Human Rights Council agreed that reform was needed, but refused to take a stand in public and gave in to the corruption of the international body, reported Haley. She accused Canada of being an example of “this cultural corruption playing out in real time” by “trading its integrity” for a seat on the U.N. Security Council when it recently voted in favor of an anti-Israel General Assembly resolution co-sponsored by North Korea.
“This is a resolution that Canadian governments for years have voted against,” said Haley. “I speak from experience when I say the United Nations presents many opportunities to strike a deal with the devil.”
The anti-Israel resolution will be voted on one final time on Dec. 18, Neuer told JNS; a petition by UN Watch that calls on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to reverse his vote against Israel has more than 30,000 signatories.
“Canada has, for the past at least 15 years, only moved in the direction of opposing these resolutions, so the shift by the Trudeau government is quite significant, and it’s clear that they are motivated by an attempt to curry favor for their Security Council candidacy,” said Neuer. “It seems that they want to go along to get along, and that’s wrong. We see too much of that at the U.N.—a failure of principal and instead people doing very questionable trades, backroom deals, to win U.N. positions.”
“The fact that Canada voted for a resolution … which is entirely one-sided; which criticizes Israel repeatedly, makes no mention of Hamas, Islamic Jihad; and that they would do so days after hundreds of rockets are fired at Tel Aviv, is absolutely offensive. We hope that Prime Minister Trudeau will change his position and vote ‘no.’ ”