![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")
Show me a city where there have been pro-Hamas (“Death to America”) demonstrations, university encampments and organized violence against Jews and, without exception, these will be cities that have stopped prosecuting shoplifters and chosen to raise the goal posts for prosecuting crimes of all classes.
They will be cities like Chicago that have recklessly ignored federal immigration statutes at the expense of residents who, dependent on government services, have been pushed to the back of the line and left to contend with the blemish of overflowing “migrant centers.”
The stunning surge in antisemitic demonstrations, encampments and mini-pogroms like the one that occurred in Los Angeles on June 23 are part of a grossly un-American panorama that is precipitously unfolding. It could be said that due to its largely unconstrained expression, antisemitism is now on the cusp of becoming “institutionalized.”
The political umbrella under which these historically untraditional American policies reside is the far-left, progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the congressional members of the “Squad” may be the face of the progressive agenda but are in reality just the tip of the iceberg.
The real muscle of the progressive infrastructure lies innocuously out of sight. Insidiously executing progressive policy at the cabinet level are the 12 (out of 15) members of the Biden cabinet who are Obama holdovers and share Obama’s vision of fundamentally transforming our nation.
Moderate Democratic legislators, concerned with the substantial electoral downside resulting from negative public reaction to progressive policies, have been left to flail impotently without recourse.
The Oct. 7 massacre, the most gruesome and barbaric of crimes, left a stain on the world unlike anything since the Holocaust.
In that shocking moment, the universal and global value of “civility” required fortification. Such an act of barbarism had to be definitively quarantined and the remorseless perpetrators (Hamas) brought to justice.
But what started out as an iron-clad commitment by the Biden administration to support Israel’s rightful response to the barbarity was derailed in short order.
Obama holdovers within the administration made sure that the lies spun by pro-Hamas agitators that turned the victim (Israel) into the victimizer were well amplified, facilitating the transformation of the president’s initial moral clarity.
Obama, the godfather of progressivism (“We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America”) and author of the greatest existential threat to Israel (the failed Iran nuclear deal) methodically stacked the deck inside the Biden administration.
Absent such a deftly executed stranglehold, how could armaments vital to Israel’s defense and designated by a bipartisan congressional decision remain in shipping crates, ensnared in a maze of byzantine bureaucratic processes?
Who was it, as Israel contemplated a plan for a preemptive strike on Hezbollah in Lebanon, who authorized Joint Chiefs of Staff head Charles Q. Brown to pull the rug out by publicly declaring that the United States, in the event of a full scale war, might be unable to come to Israel’s assistance?
Whether it is the criminal justice system, open borders, the economy, foreign policy, taxation, education, partisan divisiveness or racist antisemitism, the progressive agenda has been bad for Americans. The solution in November 2024 is the flushing of this ideology and its adherents out of the system to the greatest extent possible.
It has been proclaimed by some that Biden’s disastrous debate performance blocks the Democrat’s path to the presidency and he must withdraw from the race.
At any other time in history, such a tactic might have been logical. However, a mere substitution of candidate, while enabling some voters to check a box, only masks the core issue and fails to remedy the future potential damage caused by progressive policy.
Even if John F. Kennedy were brought back from the dead and substituted as a candidate, it would, within the current structure of the Democratic Party, be a mere change of wallpaper and a seamless transition back to the stranglehold of Obama’s underlying political infrastructure.
We are witnessing the divisive and destructive trail of progressive policy at all levels of government. The fundamental task should be to declare and to implement a “declaration of independence” from the insidiously imposed grasp of progressivism. But the temptation will be to try to take the path of least resistance (substituting a presidential candidate).
If so, then who on the Democratic roster has the charisma and the stature truly capable of shifting the power base away from Obama’s meticulously integrated administrative and financial network?
From his secluded beach house on Martha’s Vineyard, the godfather of progressivism continues invisibly to push buttons and pull levers.
While most Americans have come to abhor the impact of progressive policies, it is not clear that those Americans understand that, in cleaning the slate as required, the lifting will be heavy and uncomfortable.
Yes, it is now time to throw out the bath water, but it is also necessary to dispose of the entire progressive tub.