![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 Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, persona non grata in the Jewish state on Wednesday morning, hours before Rosh Hashanah begins.
“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil,” Katz stated. “This is a secretary-general, who has yet to denounce the massacre and sexual atrocities committed by Hamas murderers on Oct. 7, nor has he led any efforts to declare them a terrorist organization.”
“Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without António Guterres,” added Katz, referring to the secretary-general as “a stain on the history of the United Nations.”
Hours after Katz’s announcement, Guterres continued to blame the Jewish state for recent escalations in the Middle East and for being attacked in Iran’s ballistic missile barrage on Tuesday.
Addressing an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday morning, Guterres chastised Israel for balking at last week’s proposal by the United States and France, which called for a three-week ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
“Israel refused that proposal and stepped up its strikes, including bombing the Hezbollah headquarters where its leader was killed,” Guterres said.
The secretary-general said that he issued warnings last week about growing tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border, but a JNS search of his public statements and social media accounts suggests that Guterres has barely mentioned Hezbollah as the terror group has launched some 9,000 rockets at Israel since Oct. 8, the day after Hamas’s massacre. When Guterres did mention Hezbollah, JNS found, it was in a statement that also blamed Israel.
Guterres shared Iran’s reasoning for its ballistic missile attack on Israel with attendees of the Wednesday meeting, which included Israeli, Lebanese, Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian representatives.
“It stated it was in response to the killings of Hassan Nasrallah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp commander Abbas Nilforoushan last week, as well as that of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July,” Guterres said.
He clarified a statement he issued on Tuesday, for which he was widely criticized, stating: “I condemn the broadening of the Middle East conflict with escalation after escalation. This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire.” At the Wednesday meeting, Guterres said that he condemned Iran’s attack.
Stéphane Dujarric, Guterres’s spokesman, told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that the United Nations regards Katz’s declaration “as a political statement by the foreign minister” that has no practical impact. Guterres can only come to Israel at the Jewish state’s invitation, which was unlikely anyway given the tension between the global body’s head and Israel.
“We continue our contacts with Israel at the operational level and other levels because we need to,” Dujarric said.
JNS asked Dujarric at the press conference about a lack of clarity in multiple Guterres statements about Israel, including his condemnation initially of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack, which he followed by a lengthy attempt to justify the attack.
Dujarric told JNS that Guterres was clear at Wednesday’s Security Council meeting when he condemned Iran’s attack. The secretary-general’s statement on Tuesday was “within the context of what everybody knew and what the news was,” Dujarric said.
‘Flag still flies’
Guterres stated during Wednesday’s meeting that Israel had requested that U.N. Interim Force In Lebanon peacekeeping troops relocate within Southern Lebanon, ostensibly for their safety as Israel carries out ground operations to further degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities.
Guterres said that the “U.N. flag still flies” in UNIFIL’s area of operation, suggesting that the troops won’t heed Israel’s request.
JNS sought further clarification from Dujarric, who said that Jerusalem requested “UNIFIL to leave several positions near the Blue Line,” but the decision was made “operationally and politically to stay.”
Dujarric added that the United Nations “will continue to stay while at the same time assessing our posture and the security of the peacekeepers, I would say, on an hourly basis.”
Guterres also told the Security Council on Wednesday that “I wonder what remains of the framework” on Security Council Resolution 1701, which was passed in 2006 and was supposed to lead to the disarmament of the Lebanese Armed Forces and folding of Hezbollah. It was also meant to reestablish Lebanese government sovereignty in Southern Lebanon.
Asked on Wednesday which party to the resolution—Israel or Lebanon—ought to enforce it, given that Lebanon has not done so in 18 years, Dujarric said that “diplomacy takes time.”
“We want to see the gun silenced, and we want to see a return to diplomacy,” he said.
Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council that calls to “both sides” to stop escalating the conflict is “an absurd comparison between the one who causes destruction and the one who defends himself.”
The conflict between Israel and Iran “is a struggle between a sovereign state fighting for its right to exist and a regime that desires nothing but the destruction of Israel,” Danon said.
‘Significant escalation’
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Washington’s U.N. ambassador, said in Wednesday’s Security Council meeting that Iran’s failure to kill Israelis on Tuesday “does not diminish the fact that this attack, intended to cause significant death and destruction, marked a significant escalation by Iran.”
“This is a moment for this council to speak out—with one voice—and condemn Iran for its unprovoked attack against another member state,” she said, “and equally important, to impose serious consequences on the IRGC for its actions.”
Thomas-Greenfield accused Iran of complicity in the Oct. 7 attacks by funding and training Hamas. She told the council that the United States warned Iran not to use the aftermath of the massacre to “risk propelling the region into a broader war.”
Iran’s military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, “flagrantly and repeatedly ignored this warning” by enabling its terror proxies to inflict further damage and chaos, Thomas-Greenfield said.
She also pushed back on the U.N. secretary-general’s explanation. “The IRGC was acting in solidarity with Hezbollah” after last Friday’s killing of Hassan Nasrallah,the Hezbollah secretary-general, she said.
“I can think of no starker example of state support of terrorism than launching ballistic missiles to avenge the death of a terrorist leader,” the U.S. envoy added.
Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian ambassador to the global body, blamed the United States for supporting Israel. “As a result, the flames of the all-consuming conflict are spreading wider, engulfing more of Israel’s neighbors in the region,” he said.
A harsh critic of the U.S.-Israel alliance, Nebenzia said that “there is a vast and dangerous illusion that Israel will be able to remain unscathed in this growing fire.”