{"id":500686,"date":"2026-06-19T10:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T10:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/500686\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T10:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T10:16:08","slug":"avigdor-liberman-bezalel-smotrich-itamar-ben-gvir-call-for-lebanon-strikes-after-four-soldiers-killed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/500686\/","title":{"rendered":"Avigdor Liberman, Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben-Gvir call for Lebanon strikes after four soldiers killed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Avigdor Liberman, chairman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz to strike Dahiyeh in response to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/article-899926\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">four IDF soldiers<\/a> being killed by Hezbollah on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If after the difficult event in which four fighters fall, and families are destroyed, then Dahiyeh is still standing tall &#8211; this is a direct failure of the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/article-899574\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Liberman<\/a> posted on X\/Twitter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;IDF soldiers are not ducks at a shooting range. For every injury to our soldiers, we must exact a heavy price that the other side will not forget.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>National Security Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/international\/article-899868\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Itamar Ben-Gvir<\/a> also demanded that Israel strike at Lebanon in revenge, declaring, &#8220;All of Lebanon must burn!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not forfeit,&#8221; he wrote in a post on X\/Twitter. &#8220;Our supreme duty is to protect the citizens of Israel and the soldiers of the IDF, and this commitment takes precedence over every other consideration.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;I told the Prime Minister, even in our private meetings: For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;Enough with the ping-pong. In the Middle East, you don\u2019t win with measured responses and restraint &#8211; you need to go berserk. To obliterate. To crush the terror.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Finance Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/article-899747\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bezalel Smotrich<\/a> also called for attacks on Lebanon, saying &#8220;Time to speak with fire. To open the gates of hell.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Lapid shares condolences with fallen soldiers&#8217; families<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Opposition leader Yair Lapid also reacted to the four soldiers&#8217; deaths, mourning their loss and expressing condolences to their families.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;The heart breaks with the news,&#8221; he wrote in a post. &#8220;Endless pain. I share in the family&#8217;s grief from the depths of my heart. May their memory be blessed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">President Isaac Herzog said that the fallen soldiers &#8220;join a long and anguished list beyond words of daughters and sons who fell in defense of the homeland and the people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;Together with the entire people of Israel, we embrace the beloved and precious families and send them condolences from the depths of our hearts in this difficult hour. We pray for the healing of the wounded and the safety of all IDF soldiers and security forces. May the memory of our heroes be a blessing,&#8221; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Former prime minister Naftali Bennett expressed his condolences as well, saying that &#8220;The heart refuses to believe.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;He dedicated his life to protecting all our lives. And paid the most terrible price of all,&#8221; he wrote about the fallen commander whose name has been released to the public. &#8220;I share in the family&#8217;s heavy grief over this horrific loss. May his memory be a blessing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Former defense minister Yoav Gallant shared memories of meeting the fallen commander.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;Throughout the war, I met Dor many times during my visits to the Northern Command headquarters, when he served as the Major General&#8217;s aide-de-camp,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;I was impressed by his intelligence, determination, and devotion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;In this difficult hour, my heart and thoughts are with his family, friends, and fighters. May his memory be blessed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Democrats chairman Yair Golan said that it was &#8220;An unbearable hard morning.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;The price of war is unbearable. It is our duty to be worthy of the sacrifice,&#8221; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Blue and White leader MK Benny Gantz expressed his condolences, saying that the IDF soldiers had been killed during the &#8220;false ceasefire.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;I wish to send heartfelt condolences to the families of the fallen in their time of such great hardship, and to wish a speedy recovery to the wounded,&#8221; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Democrats MK Rabbi Gilad Kariv also mourned the fallen soldiers, stating that &#8220;The heroism of the fighters and our eternal debt to them compel us to also say things as they are.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;The role of the IDF is to win on the battlefield. The role of the government is to translate the IDF&#8217;s strength into diplomatic moves that will prevent the need to return to the battlefield time and again,&#8221; he continued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;We owe this to the soldiers and commanders, to the children and grandchildren of us all.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The IDF announced on Friday that four soldiers were killed while fighting in southern Lebanon, with the commander of the 52nd Battalion, 401st Brigade, Lieutenant-Colonel Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, aged 32, among the fallen troops.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">At approximately 00:20, a suspicious object struck a tank belonging to Battalion 52 forces under the Givati Brigade who were operating in the area of the village of Tebnit, the IDF stated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The incident is under investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Avigdor Liberman, chairman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24405,1982,6209,1031,85,46,837,88,43],"class_list":["post-500686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-avigdor-liberman","tag-bezalel-smotrich","tag-fallen-soldiers","tag-idf","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-itamar-ben-gvir","tag-lebanon","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}