Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday urged that recent military gains be translated into diplomatic achievements, stressing the importance of securing lasting peace and stability.
“We must not, under any circumstances, rest on our laurels. Time will tell whether the impressive military achievements will be translated into diplomatic steps that secure a long-term, stable, safe and quiet future—on our northern border and beyond. There is a real opportunity, and we must not miss it,” Herzog said during the state memorial marking 19 years since the Second Lebanon War, held at the National Memorial Hall For Israel’s Fallen at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
He continued, “We have demonstrated Israel’s strength and transformed the reality on the ground. We are in a historic moment. We stand at a crossroads: between jihadist terrorism that has sought—and still seeks—to dominate the region, and a horizon of hope for partnership and peace in the Middle East.”
Herzog emphasized that this is a critical time for all peoples of the Middle East to unite against hatred and terrorism, and to work together toward building a new regional reality. He said a historic opportunity is now within reach—one that fallen soldiers helped make possible—and it is the nation’s responsibility to pursue it.
“A first, essential and critical step in transforming this reality must be the completion of the most sacred mission: the return of our brothers held hostage in Hamas’s tunnels,” continued the president. “This is a sacred moral, Israeli, Jewish and human duty, and we must fulfill it. We will not rest, we will not be silent, we will not heal, and we will not be whole until they return, all of them, every last one.”
On Nov. 26, 2024, Israel and Lebanon signed a truce that sought to end more than a year of cross-border clashes. Since the deal, the IDF has carried out frequent operations aimed at preventing Hezbollah from reestablishing its presence in Southern Lebanon in violation of the agreement.
U.S. envoy Thomas Barrack told reporters on Monday that Hezbollah “needs to see that there’s a future for them” to accept his roadmap to disarmament, which Beirut had agreed to as part of the ceasefire.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Barrack said the Iranian-backed terrorist group “needs to see … that the road is not harnessed solely against them, and that there’s an intersection of peace and prosperity for them also.”
Hezbollah has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. State Department since 1997.
A State Department official subsequently told JNS that “our position has not changed—[Hezbollah] is a designated terrorist organization, and we do not distinguish between its political or armed wings.”
Under the terms of the November deal, Hezbollah must retreat north of the Litani River, about 20 miles from the border, while the Lebanese Armed Forces deploy along the 75-mile frontier, in coordination with monitors from the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.
