Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a statement Sunday urging the United Nations to withdraw so-called “peacekeeping” troops from Lebanon because they were acting as “human shields” for Hezbollah terrorists.
Netanyahu spoke in the wake of international condemnation of Israel over incidents in which two United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) soldiers were wounded and two Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) soldiers were killed. UNIFIL and LAF are supposed to enforce United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. Both have failed to do so, and Hezbollah uses UNIFIL posts as cover from which to fire at Israel.
One condemnation in particular seems to have stung: that of U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who posted a statement on social media on Saturday objecting to what he implied was an intentional Israeli attack on UNIFIL.
In Gallant’s own statement about his conversation with Austin, he said: “Hezbollah operates and fires in the vicinity of UNIFIL positions, using peacekeeping missions as a cover for its terrorist activities. Minister Gallant emphasized that while facing this significant operational challenge, the IDF will continue to take measures to avoid harm to UNIFIL troops and peacekeeping positions.”
Netanyahu appears to have decided that enough is enough. In his statement Sunday, he said (via Government Press Office):
We are marking one year of the harsh war that was forced on us – the war of redemption against Iran’s axis of evil, which has risen up to destroy us.
We are more determined than ever to ensure our future; we are more determined than ever to defeat our enemies.
In Lebanon: We eliminated Nasrallah and his senior personnel. Our heroic soldiers are destroying Hezbollah’s weapons, command centers and terrorist tunnels.
They are fighting forcefully to return our residents in the north safely to their homes. We are not fighting the Lebanese people, we are fighting Iran’s terrorist proxy Hezbollah, which has occupied Lebanon.
I would like to appeal directly to the UN Secretary General: The time has come for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the combat zones.
The IDF has requested this repeatedly and has met with repeated refusal, which has the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields. Your refusal to evacuate UNIFIL soldiers has turned them into hostages of Hezbollah. This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers.
We regret the harm to UNIFIL soldiers and we are doing our utmost to prevent such harm. But the simplest and most obvious way to ensure this is simply to withdraw them from the danger zone.
[English]
Mr. Secretary General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now, immediately.
[End English]
Unfortunately, several European leaders are applying pressure in the wrong place. Instead of criticizing Israel, they need to direct their criticism at Hezbollah, which is using UNIFIL as a human shield, just as Hamas in Gaza is using UNRWA as a human shield.
In Gaza: We are continuing to operate deep in the territory in order to eliminate Hamas and bring about the release of our hostages. Our brave soldiers are now in the heart of Jabalya where they are dismantling Hamas’s strongholds.
The 101 of our hostages who are in Gaza have always been our chief concern. We will do everything to bring them, all of them, back home, the living and the deceased.
In Judea and Samaria: Our forces are acting without respite on the ground and in the air to thwart terrorism. The terrorism there will not win because we will not allow it to.
In other arenas: We will continue to take action to ensure Israel’s security.
There are moments during the war when one simple rule must be adhered to, and I request that all ministers adhere to this rule: Say little and do much.
With G-d’s help, we will do this and we will succeed.
Citizens of Israel, have a good year and “g’mar chatima tova” to all of you.
The phrase “g’mar chatima tova” is a traditional greeting on Yom Kippur, meaning: “May you be inscribed for a good year in the Book of Life.” Netanyahu linked to the website of the Chabad Lubavitch movement for further explanation.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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