![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 and international media are transfixed by anti-government demonstrations in Tel Aviv demanding an immediate hostage deal at any price, per a new, in-depth JNS poll of Israeli public opinion.
The survey, conducted by Direct Polls, suggests an overwhelming majority of Israelis oppose the demonstrations and support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s negotiating positions.
Support for Netanyahu’s positions comes not only from voters for parties in his government coalition. His positions are also supported by about a third of opposition party voters, per the survey data.
Direct Polls conducted the survey Monday evening both before and after the prime minister’s press conference, in which he set out the rationale for his refusal to remove Israel Defense Forces troops from the border zone between Gaza and Egypt known as the Philadelphi Corridor, its code name on IDF maps.
Pollsters found a significant disparity in Netanyahu’s favorability ratings before and after the press conference.
JNS asked respondents: “Do you believe Israel should support or oppose a deal that conditions the receipt of between 18-30 hostages on an IDF withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor for six weeks, during which Hamas will be able to rearm and smuggle hostages out of Gaza?”
Before Netanyahu’s conference, 65% of respondents from the opposition party supported withdrawing from the corridor, compared to 57% from that group after the press conference. Support for the withdrawal from coalition voters dropped from 8% before the speech to 5% after the speech.
Overall, 35% of respondents said that Israel should agree to such a deal, with 62% saying the Jewish state should oppose it. Some 3% had no opinion on the matter.
Some 7% of those in the parties that are part of Netanyahu’s governing coalition supported leaving the Gaza-Egypt border and 92% opposed it. Some 62% of opposition voters agreed with such a measure, while 33% opposed.
The disparity was even more apparent in the ways opposition voters polled before and after Netanyahu’s speech viewed mass anti-government protests for a hostage deal.
More than half (52%) of opposition party voters said before the press conference that the demonstrations advanced the goal of getting the hostages home, 32% said that they had no impact on achieving a deal that would get the hostages home and 16% said that demonstrations decreased the chance of getting a hostage deal with Hamas.
After the press conference, just 42% of opposition voters said that the demonstrations increased the chances of getting the hostages home, 39% said that the demonstrations didn’t affect the hostages’ plight and 19% said that the demonstrations decreased prospects for bringing them home.
More than six in 10 (61%) Israelis agreed with the sentence: “Only military pressure on Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and planned military actions including hostage rescue operations can lead to the release of the hostages.”
A third (33%) agreed that “continuing IDF operations in the Gaza tunnels endanger the hostages’ lives.”
Israelis are sharply split over whether Netanyahu holds responsibility for the execution of the hostages. Opposition voters support the claim 69% to 28%, while coalition voters oppose it 94% to 6%.
The deal that Netanyahu has accepted involves three phases. In the first phase, Israel would agree to free hundreds of Hamas terrorists from prison and significantly draw back its forces from Gaza while accepting a six-week ceasefire. Hamas would free 18 to 30 hostages. In two later phases of the deal, Hamas would release the rest of the hostages—alive and dead—in exchange for further release of terrorists from prison and continuation of the ceasefire.
JNS asked Israelis if they believe that Hamas is willing to release additional hostages in later phases of the deal, or would the terror organization continue to imprison them as an insurance policy to protect it from destruction.
Nearly seven in 10 (69%) Israelis—88% of coalition voters and 50% of opposition voters—believe that Hamas will not release additional hostages. Only 24% of Israelis, including 10% of coalition voters and 38% of opposition voters, say that Hamas will be willing to release additional hostages.
That means that some 69% of Israelis believe that between 83 and 71 hostages could be left behind in Gaza indefinitely.
Hamas’s reported negotiating position is that Israel must remove all of its forces from Gaza, including from the Philadelphi Corridor, from the mile-and-a-quarter-wide security perimeter in Gaza along the border with Israel and from the Netzarim corridor that separates the northern part of Gaza from its central and southern parts.
Nearly three-quarters of Israelis (73%), including 95% of coalition party voters and 51% of opposition party voters, oppose Hamas’s demands. Some 22% of Israelis support it, including 4% of coalition voters and 40% of opposition voters.
A majority of Israelis do not trust U.S. President Joe Biden’s commitments to support Israel if Hamas breaches the ceasefire-for-hostages deal.
JNS asked respondents: “Do you believe that the Biden-Harris administration will permit or block Israel from reinstating hostilities and reconquering Gaza to defeat Hamas if Hamas breaches the agreement?”
Some 38% of Israelis said the United States would permit Israel to renew military operations, while 56% said the United States would block Israel from renewing its military operations in Gaza. Only 14% of coalition voters believe the Biden administration would support a renewal of operations.
Some 61% of opposition voters trust the Biden administration’s support, while 81% of coalition voters said the United States would prevent Israel from renewing its operations if Hamas breaches a ceasefire deal. Some 31% of opposition party voters said Washington would block Israel from renewing its military operations if Hamas breaches a U.S.-mediated ceasefire-for-hostages deal.
On Sunday, Arnon Bar David, the chairman of Israel’s main labor union the Histadrut, declared a general strike to shut down the economy to force the government to accept a hostage deal. A Labor Court ruled on Monday afternoon that the strike is illegal and ordered that it be stopped immediately.
The damage to the economy from the lost work hours has been estimated to cost about 2 billion shekels (about $535,000).
JNS asked respondents if they believe that the strike advanced a hostage deal, had no impact on prospects for a deal or damaged prospects for such an agreement.
Some 50% said that the strike harmed chances for a deal, 18% said it helped and 32% said it had no impact.
The heads of the anti-government protest groups active since January 2023 and the Hostage Families Forum, which represents a few dozen hostage families, have been cooperating informally since Oct. 7.
In December 2023, former prime minister Ehud Barak, who is the unofficial leader of the anti-government political groups organizing the protests, called for the groups to work with the hostages’ families.
On Tuesday, it was reported that Barak’s associates will begin officially cooperating with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum from now on, effectively merging the group representing a fraction of the hostages’ families with the anti-government protest movement.
JNS asked respondents if they believe that anti-government protest groups have joined the hostages’ families groups mainly to help secure the hostages’ release, to overthrow the government or to advance both goals equally.
Some 55% of Israelis, including 90% of coalition voters and 20% of opposition voters, said that the anti-government groups are helping the Hostages and Missing Families Forum to overthrow the government. Some 20% of Israelis, including 3% of coalition voters and 37% of opposition voters, said the anti-government groups were supporting the Hostages and Missing Families Forum to secure the hostages’ release.
Nearly a quarter (24%), including 7% of coalition voters and 41% of opposition voters, believe that they were helping the forum advance both goals equally.
In light of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s open opposition to the security cabinet’s decision to oppose all withdrawals from the Philadelphi Corridor, JNS asked if Israelis believe he should quit or be fired by Netanyahu, or whether he should remain in his position.
Some 51% of Israelis said that Gallant should be fired or resign, 33%—including 53% of coalition voters and 14% of opposition voters—said that Gallant should resign and 18% of Israelis (32% of coalition voters and 4% of opposition voters) said that Netanyahu should fire Gallant.
Some 45% of Israelis, including 13% of coalition voters and 76% of opposition voters, said that Gallant should remain in his position.
Similarly, 48% of Israelis believe that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi should either resign immediately or in the next few weeks. Some 41% believe that he should leave when the war is over, and just 7% believe he should remain in his position until the official conclusion of his term in 2025.