by Shane Trejo, Big League Politics:
On September 8, 2024, Israeli opposition leader and head of the National Unity party, Benny Gantz, declared that the state of Israel should “concentrate” on directly confronting Shia militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“We have enough forces to deal with Gaza and we should concentrate on what is going on in the north,” Gantz remarked. He noted that Iran and its “proxies” are “the real issue.”
“The time of the north has come and actually I think we are late on this,” he continued.
He also contended that Israel’s rapid evacuation of tens of thousands of settlers from Israel’s northern border with Lebanon was a mistake.
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“In Gaza, we have crossed a decisive point of the campaign. We can conduct anything we want in Gaza. We should seek to have a deal to get out our hostages but if we cannot in the coming time, a few days or few weeks, or whatever it is, we should go up north,” Gantz observed. “The story of Hamas is old news.”
“We are capable of … hitting the state of Lebanon if needed,” he stressed.
Gantz’s comments came while he was giving a speech during a forum in Washington, DC. The Western corporate media has marketed Gantz as a “moderate” figure in the Israeli political arena.
Back in early June, Gantz exited Israel’s war cabinet in protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s perceived failure in the punitive military campaign against Gaza. He previously issued an ultimatum, warning that he would withdraw from the emergency government if certain goals were not met, chief among them are returning the settlers to the north and the Israeli prisoners from Gaza.
Per Al-Hurra newspaper, Gantz said following a meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on September 8 that his party will offer Netanyahu a “political safety net” if he opts to halt the obstruction of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.
On top of that, during Gantz’s trip to Washington, D.C. that he “expects the international community to support Israel’s intensification of civilian and military pressure in the Gaza Strip,” continuing by highlighting that pressure “is what led to the completion of the first exchange deal with Hamas, and that the intensification will help eliminate the movement more quickly.”
Gantz’s remarks came at a time when there have been increased calls by Israeli officials for an escalated conflict with Hezbollah.
“Iran’s strongest arm is Hezbollah in Lebanon. I have instructed the [army] and all security forces to prepare to change this situation. There is no possibility that we will continue in the current situation, and we are obligated to safely return all the residents of the north to their homes,” Netanyahu declared on September 8.
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