Tensions surfaced during Thursday’s Israeli security cabinet meeting over the current ceasefire in Lebanon.
According to a source familiar with the discussion, it unfolded as follows:
Prime Minister Netanyahu: “Any immediate threat—our soldiers on the ground respond. We are not restricting any soldier.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir: “What about an emerging threat? If we see Hezbollah rearming, why aren’t we dismantling them?”
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Minister Orit Strook: “This is drawing criticism from soldiers, who feel like they’re sitting ducks. It’s good that every immediate threat is being addressed.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir: “You wanted a ceasefire.”
Ben-Gvir: “I don’t want a ceasefire. That’s exactly why.”
Netanyahu: “The Americans understand our right to defend ourselves.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz: “Every soldier can respond immediately.”
Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf: “But not beyond the Yellow Line.”
Strook: “Hezbollah continues to move ammunition.”
Katz: “The ceasefire has advantages and disadvantages, but we are not putting any soldier at risk.”
Ben-Gvir: “Soldiers have already been wounded. This is an opportunity to collapse the agreement. We can strike hundreds of targets and bombard them.”