{"id":37916,"date":"2024-11-30T11:38:42","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T19:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=37916"},"modified":"2024-11-30T11:38:42","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T19:38:42","slug":"israel-agrees-to-stop-bombing-lebanon-so-it-can-keep-bombing-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/11\/30\/israel-agrees-to-stop-bombing-lebanon-so-it-can-keep-bombing-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"ISRAEL AGREES TO STOP BOMBING LEBANON \u2014 SO IT CAN KEEP BOMBING GAZA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Biden said that the truce could be a prelude to a ceasefire in Gaza. Netanyahu\u2019s actions seem to indicate otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jonah Valdez<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

November 26 2024, 7:03 p.m. (TheIntercept.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Lebanese Army at the site of an Israeli strike in Basta, Central Beirut, believed to have killed at least 15 people on Nov. 23, 2024. Photo: Nael Chahine\/Middle East Images\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER<\/strong> Benjamin Netanyahu announced his support for a ceasefire deal to halt Israel\u2019s fighting in Lebanon<\/a> in a televised address Tuesday evening, projecting a message of victory to his Israeli audience. He spoke of a Hezbollah diminished by the Israeli campaign.

\u201cThis is not the same Hezbollah \u2013 we pushed them back decades,\u201d Netanyahu said during his speech. \u201cLebanon is not the same.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke in support of the ceasefire later the same day, adding that his administration would use the momentum from Tuesday\u2019s deal between Israel and Hezbollah to push toward a ceasefire deal in Gaza. Biden also blamed Hamas for the failure to secure peace in Gaza to date, alleging that the group has failed to negotiate in good faith, despite reporting<\/a> to the contrary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But Netanyahu\u2019s own address seemed to undercut Biden\u2019s point. In pitching the ceasefire to the Israeli audience, Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for potential war crimes<\/a>, emphasized that closing the northern front of its war would allow Israel\u2019s military to regroup and give the nation an opportunity to focus on other enemies: Iran and Hamas. He also emphasized that Israel would \u201cretain complete military freedom of action,\u201d adding that \u201cshould Hezbollah violate the agreement or attempt to rearm, we will strike decisively.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evidence that Netanyahu\u2019s government is interested in any sort of lasting peace in both Lebanon and Gaza is thin on the ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel intensified its bombing campaign against Lebanon in recent days<\/a>, up through and beyond the announcement of the pending ceasefire. A day before the truce was announced, Israeli strikes<\/a> killed at least seven Palestinians in Gaza City. Reports have surfaced in recent days of the IDF using sniper drones<\/a> to target and kill civilians. And as the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza has been slowed by Israel, experts warned<\/a> of \u201ca strong likelihood of famine\u201d in areas of northern Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe going conventional wisdom is that there\u2019s no ceasefire deal because Netanyahu doesn\u2019t want a hostage deal \u2013 he hasn\u2019t wanted one because he wants to keep his coalition together, and the far right wants to resettle Gaza,\u201d said Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group focusing on Israel\u2013Palestine. \u201cYou can\u2019t pull out of Gaza if you\u2019re going to build settlements there.\u201d\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Israel Accuses Hamas of Using \u201cHuman Shields\u201d While IDF Embeds Among Civilians at Lebanon Border<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

She said Israelis are questioning why Netanyahu is striking a deal with Hezbollah instead of focusing on a ceasefire deal in Gaza, where more than 100 Israeli hostages remain. Residents of northern Israel have also criticized Tuesday\u2019s deal, saying that Israel\u2019s campaign in Lebanon has not improved their sense of safety near the border. While Hezbollah strikes have killed 45 Israeli citizens in northern Israel and in the occupied Golan Heights, the losses for Lebanon have been staggering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SINCE ISRAEL BEGAN<\/strong> its campaign on Lebanon in September, Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,800 Lebanese, injuring more than 15,000, many of them civilians. More than 1 million people have been displaced<\/a> from Lebanon, including more than 500,000 Syrian refugees. The Israeli military has destroyed entire villages in the country\u2019s south. The cost of rebuilding is estimated to be more than $8 billion<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Israel Agrees to Stop Bombing Lebanon \u2014 So It Can Keep Bombing Gaza<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonah Valdez<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite the fact that I welcome and have begged for a ceasefire since day one, and that\u2019s coming and I\u2019m relieved, there is more than a bitter taste left in my mouth for the fact that the supposed ceasefire agreement is essentially what the status quo was before this entire operation,\u201d said Drew Mikhael, an expert on displacement and conflict resolution with the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome 3,000 deaths that we know about, the vaporized families that we\u2019ll never know about that were killed because of killing Nasrallah, 1.5 million people who have been displaced \u2013 all for what?\u201d Mikhael asked. Israel \u201cdecided to enact war crimes on its neighbor unilaterally for no apparent strategic gain,\u201d he said. Read Our Complete CoverageIsrael\u2019s War on Gaza<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Tuesday\u2019s deal, the fighting will cease at 4 a.m. local time on Wednesday. Over a 60-day period, Israel must withdraw its soldiers from Lebanon while the Lebanese government takes control in southern Lebanon to restore a buffer security zone between Lebanon and Israel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a zone already existed before the recent conflict as a result of a deal enacted in 2006. Under that agreement, the area was overseen by UN peacekeepers, which Israel has regularly bombed during the ongoing conflict. As part of Tuesday\u2019s deal, Hezbollah, the Shia military group and political party, is not allowed to rebuild its military capacity or reassert itself in the country\u2019s south. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Biden said the agreement was meant to be \u201ca permanent cessation of hostilities,\u201d he maintained that \u201cIsrael has a right to defend itself\u201d if it suspects that Hezbollah is violating the deal. Netanyahu vowed he would still launch attacks into Lebanon if Hezbollah broke from the deal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zonszein said that the truce does not imply Israel is interested in peace. She said that continued U.S. support gives Israel the unilateral ability to move freely in and over Lebanon by land, sea, and air. Maintaining the threat of violence against Lebanon, and, as Netanyahu mentioned in his speech, Iran, is core to Israeli strategy, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIsrael wants to be this angry monster, that\u2019s the perception it wants, because it lost all of that deterrence and power on October 7,\u201d Zonszein said. \u201cSo that\u2019s part of what it wants to market: it wants people to think that Israel is crazy and kind of inhumane, that it\u2019s going to target them, because that projects power.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mikhael agreed. Netanyahu \u201chas to create islands of insecurity all around him,\u201d he said, \u201cHe has only got violence and insecurity and anxiety to offer the Israeli people.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moments after Biden announced the deal, Israeli warplanes struck Beirut yet again. The bombing campaign continued<\/a> in the hours leading up to the pending ceasefire.Share<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONTACT THE AUTHOR:<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jonah Valdez<\/a>jonah.valdez@theintercept.com<\/a>@jonahmv.05on Signal@jonahmv<\/a>on X<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Biden said that the truce could be a prelude to a ceasefire in Gaza. Netanyahu\u2019s actions seem to indicate otherwise. Jonah Valdez November 26 2024, 7:03 p.m. (TheIntercept.com) The Lebanese Army at the site of an Israeli strike in Basta, Central Beirut, believed to have killed at least 15 people… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37916"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37917,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37916\/revisions\/37917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}