Smotrich: IDF advances in Lebanon correction of ‘old national sins’

The Israel Defense Forces’ regained control of the Beaufort Fortress in southeastern Lebanon for the first time since 2000 is “an expression of correcting old national sins and distorted perceptions,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday.

The Israeli government promised the residents of the north lasting security, and “we are acting with determination to achieve this,” Smotrich tweeted in Hebrew.

“We fled from Lebanon [in 2000] and received the disaster of the [2006] Second Lebanon War and Hezbollah’s buildup to monstrous dimensions now required destroying through hard work,” the minister continued.

“We fled from Gush Katif and the Gaza Strip [in the 2005 disengagement] and received the disaster of Oct. 7, [2023]. ... I will continue to demand and promote a permanent territorial conception and exceptional military aggressiveness. The costs of the war are heavy, but necessary for Israel’s security and its future,” he added.

Smotrich accused the Israeli left of offering nothing but “retreats and weakness.”

“Its keyboard warriors only recently ran a reckless campaign here calling on us to surrender to Hamas and withdraw from Gaza while abandoning the security of the southern residents. We did not surrender, and we will not surrender” to demands to withdraw from Lebanon, he stressed.

The leader of the Religious Zionist Party extended his condolences to the family and friends of Givati Brigade Reconnaissance Battalion fighter Staff Sgt. Michael Tyukin, who was killed fighting Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon on Saturday night.