National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night after he signed a framework agreement with the Lebanese government. Immediately after Shabbat ended, and as Netanyahu was holding a news conference on the issue, Ben-Gvir said “the agreement with Lebanon is a grave mistake. I have been fighting it for weeks” and demanded a Cabinet vote.
“I already approached the prime minister this evening asking for a Cabinet vote," Ben-Gvir said. "It is true that we remain in most of the territory for now, but the state of Lebanon will not disarm Hezbollah. Hezbollah ministers are members of the Lebanese government and Lebanon cannot be trusted to take Hezbollah’s weapons. I will demand a Cabinet vote. Only IDF soldiers will destroy Hezbollah — no one else will do it for us.”
After Netanyahu said at his news conference that he intended “to establish a broad national government, not a narrow government, because only that way can we reach agreements among ourselves,” Ben-Gvir said the remark was “very troubling.”
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Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded a Cabinet vote on the agreement signed with Lebanon
(Photo: Shilo Shalom)
“The previous governments into which Netanyahu brought players from the left cost us Tzipi Livni as justice minister, Benny Gantz as defense minister and paralyzed the ability to advance a firm right-wing policy,” he said. “The government Prime Minister Netanyahu must form is only a full right-wing government.”
The agreement with the Lebanese government was signed Friday evening after the start of Shabbat, following four days of negotiations in Washington. The U.S. military is expected to closely accompany the agreement, though the timetable for its implementation remains unclear.
Netanyahu revealed only Saturday night the pilot areas from which the IDF is expected to withdraw. He presented a map of the “yellow line” — the security zone that the IDF has already taken control of areas beyond — and said most of the pilot areas are outside that line, with only one including a certain section inside it.
Netanyahu revealed during a press conference on Saturday night the pilot areas from which the IDF is expected to withdraw
(Photo: GPO)
“Israel is staying in the yellow zone that protects us, and this is a huge achievement because they tried to remove us from there by all kinds of means and pressure. That, of course, did not happen,” he said.
Netanyahu also thanked the United States, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Lebanon. In response to a question from ynet about Gadi Eisenkot’s interview, in which he said Lebanon is “a political graveyard for prime ministers,” Netanyahu claimed political considerations do not drive him at all in security decision-making. He argued that Eisenkot’s remark reflected what Netanyahu described as the hesitancy of his political rivals.
The agreement, which Ben-Gvir opposed, emphasizes that Israel has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon and is operating militarily in its territory only because of the need to remove threats posed by Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations. At the same time, while the agreement effectively rejects Tehran’s attempt to turn Lebanon into an inseparable front, Iran is not mentioned in the document at all. It does state, however, that the Lebanese government “rejects the claims of any state to use force on its behalf.”
The document also states that Israel and Lebanon, with the full support of the United States under President Donald Trump, affirm their shared goal of achieving lasting peace and security.