According to a survey conducted by Direct Polls for Israel’s Channel 14, the Israeli public is split down the middle on the Lebanon ceasefire agreement that went into effect on Wednesday at 4 a.m. What’s notable in this case is that the division doesn’t run along party or ideological lines.
In fact, the newly minted deal—stipulating that Israel has 60 days to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, during which time the Lebanese Armed Forces will deploy to the southern border and Hezbollah will retreat northward of the Litani River—has been met with harsh criticism by both supporters and detractors of the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Chief among the latter are members of the “anybody but Bibi” protest movement, most of whom claim to consider Netanyahu a greater threat to national security than Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and the head of the snake, Iran. Since they oppose every policy that he puts forth, their knee-jerk anger was to be expected.
The former category includes residents of northern Israel: evacuees forced for the past 14 months to live in temporary lodgings; and others, slightly farther south of the Lebanon border, who’ve remained under constant rocket, missile and drone fire.
Rather than welcoming the prospect of a truce enabling them to return home or stop running for shelter with every air-raid siren, these people are furious. Not trusting Hezbollah to honor an arrangement that it didn’t actually sign, nor believing that the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL will guarantee the phony peace, they feel that Netanyahu capitulated to foreign pressure before finishing the job.
His explanation for the move—from the Knesset podium and subsequently in a video message—may have assuaged some of their fears. It also possibly helped them understand the timing of his decision. Nevertheless, they remain wary and out of sorts.
Champions of the ceasefire are also a mixed bunch, with pundits and part of the populace who disagree with one another on various other issues viewing the maneuver as strategically clever. This disparate group seems to be growing with each additional clarification by Netanyahu and the coalition partners who gave him the green light.
In an effort to persuade skeptics—especially after Hezbollah violated the terms of the deal within hours of its implementation—Netanyahu sat down on Thursday evening for a lengthy, one-on-one interview with Channel 14’s Yaakov Bardugo.
Bardugo is a right-wing journalist whose natural inclination would be and was to disapprove of such a ceasefire. After all, on paper, it’s almost identical to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, the farcical 2006 document that ended the Second War in Lebanon against Hezbollah.
The following excerpts from the one-on-one conversation shed light on the real impetus for the pause in pulverizing Hezbollah:
Bardugo: Why a ceasefire now?
Netanyahu: Precisely because we achieved exactly what we aimed at achieving. We said that we would deal Hezbollah in Lebanon a double blow. … And that we would create the conditions for the return of our northern residents to their homes. That’s exactly what we’re doing. We’ll take advantage of the ceasefire—ceasefire—I didn’t say an end to the war.
Bardugo: A ceasefire can last for many years.
Netanyahu: It can also be short. You saw that we already enforced it on the first day. Yesterday [Wednesday], we killed five Hezbollah [terrorists] and captured four. We’re not kidding around. We’re enforcing [the ceasefire] aggressively. But if it becomes necessary, I gave the IDF a directive to be prepared in the event of a violation of the terms of the ceasefire for a large-scale war. What are we going to do during the ceasefire? First of all, we’re going to equip ourselves with arms. We’ll refresh the troops and arm ourselves through massive [domestic] production. … In tandem, we’ll also receive arms, some of which have been withheld, from the United States.
Bardugo: Has the [President Joe] Biden-[Secretary of State Antony] Blinken embargo ended? You spoke about it in the Knesset and in your statement this week.
Netanyahu: There were components of weapons and equipment that didn’t arrive. And I can tell you that I’m sure they’ll get here. It could be that they’ll arrive now—during the [U.S.] administration transition period—but President[-elect] Trump told me unequivocally that as far as he’s concerned, there will be no delay of any weapons. In other words, we’ll enhance [our military capabilities] with arms that we produce by ourselves—to the extent and speed that we haven’t known until now—and with arms that we’ll receive [from elsewhere]. …
Bardugo: We’ll get to that. But I want to ask you why we were so afraid of them [Hezbollah] all these years.
Netanyahu: Look, their military preparation was immense. They possessed 150,000 missiles and rockets, short-range, long-range and precision. They built the Radwan Force that was supposed to invade the Galilee. They built a subterranean network. Because of all that, people thought that there would be thousands [of Israelis] killed here; that towers would be toppled in Tel Aviv. And [those concerns] couldn’t be dismissed. But it was also impossible to initiate such a move in terms of legitimacy—or national and international de-legitimacy. You couldn’t suddenly start a war [against Hezbollah], just as you couldn’t do it against Hamas. But the minute that the war was imposed on us—that’s a different story. And we changed the equation. It’s impossible to recognize Hezbollah, Hamas or Iran…
Bardugo: Why didn’t you include a demilitarized zone—a demand of the heads of northern communities?
Netanyahu: The area is in a different situation now. We destroyed the underground network that was built over the course of many years. We leveled terror villages, which were numerous. And Hezbollah isn’t the same Hezbollah. But it will be tested through enforcement. People will test us. …
Bardugo: How does the agreement affect the Gaza arena and war against Hamas?
Netanyahu: I think very well. Because what did Hamas want from the very beginning of the war? It hoped that Iran would come and rescue it. That didn’t happen. It thought the Houthis would come and rescue it. That didn’t happen. But more than anything, it hoped that Hezbollah would come and rescue it. And indeed, Nasrallah said on the second day [Oct. 8, 2023], when he attacked: “We’ll continue until Israel ceases its attacks on Hamas.” Hamas counted on Hezbollah. There is no Hezbollah now. Hezbollah is out of the picture.
Bardugo: So, is there news for the families of the hostages? Can you look them in the eye and say that there’s cause for optimism toward a deal [for their release]?
Netanyahu: I think that the conditions are far, far better. I’m saying this not only theoretically, and not only because of the severing of [the linkage between] the arenas. But also because of a combination of things: the elimination of [Hamas chief Yahya] Sinwar—as long as he was around, he didn’t want any deal. The Americans and everybody said that he was the obstacle. … Now we have an opportunity. I don’t want to go into details. We’re doing many things that are bringing us closer to a release [of the hostages]. And I won’t give up on that; not on a single hostage.
Bardugo: Are you willing to stop the war [in Gaza] or agree to a ceasefire?
Netanyahu: A ceasefire, certainly, at any moment. But not the end of the war, because we have to achieve the destruction of Hamas. We have two different goals. In the north, the aim was to truncate Hezbollah, and in the south, to destroy Hamas. In the north, we’re preventing rearmament. What’s the Philadelphi Corridor of the north? The Syria-Lebanon border. Hezbollah’s armament will come from Iran, via Syria to Lebanon. So what are we doing? We’re bombing—right now—the border crossings and in Syria aggressively. … In the south, what do they want me to do? Bomb Egypt? We have a peace treaty with Egypt. There we have the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah crossing, through which all Hamas’s arms were transferred. I won’t let any element in Gaza rearm. Thus, the goal is different in the north and the south. And the conditions are different. But the answer is clear: I’m willing for a ceasefire in the south; I think we can achieve it. And I’m working to achieve the release of the hostages. I won’t go into detail; we’re really working on it. …
Bardugo: In your statement this week, you spoke about Iran. You said you wouldn’t expand on it. I want to ask you: Maybe here you can expand on it? Iran has almost been your life’s mission. And now we know that it’s on the nuclear threshold.
Netanyahu: First of all, the activity I’ve led for decades set back Iran by about 10 years from where it planned to be by now. We delayed them, but didn’t stop them. It’s true that in terms of uranium enrichment, they are on the nuclear threshold. But they have other things that I won’t specify, and we’re determined, I’m determined, to prevent Iran, by any means, to obtain nuclear weapons. And that’s a mission that is foremost for me.
Bardugo: Are you saying, “Read my lips: Iran will not go nuclear?”
Netanyahu: I’ll do everything I can so that it doesn’t go nuclear. I’ll enlist all the powers possible. And believe me, it’s not an easy mission, because sometimes you have to stand alone against the whole world.
Bardugo: All powers, such as your friend, President Trump, who’s entering the White House in seven-eight weeks? Will he be in line with your view on this issue?
Netanyahu: Look, I spoke to Trump a few months ago at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on this issue and he also raised the danger. I’ve spoken to him on the phone about five times since then, and in almost every conversation he was aware of the threat. …
It’s hard to say whether this exchange caused naysayers to have a change of heart. Israelis are right to be cautiously pessimistic. And, as Netanyahu pointed out, he’s being put to the test on the ground. But since there is general consensus that Hezbollah, unlike Hamas, cannot be totally destroyed, it makes sense to target Tehran. If Israel, with the help or tacit approval of the incoming administration in Washington, takes out Iran’s nukes—and in so doing, hastens the ouster of the ayatollah-led regime—Hezbollah will become powerless and irrelevant.
