Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially accepted an American and French plan that would have temporarily halted the conflict in Lebanon, before making a U-turn, officials in Washington and Paris have claimed. Netanyahu has denied the allegation.
In a joint statement published by the White House on Wednesday, the US, France, and nearly a dozen other countries, including the UK and Saudi Arabia, described the situation in Lebanon as “intolerable,” and called for “an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border” to allow for a diplomatic settlement to the conflict.
American and French officials said that the statement had been coordinated with Netanyahu, and that the Israeli leader would announce his support for a ceasefire upon arrival in New York on Thursday, before addressing the UN General Assembly on Friday.
However, while Netanyahu was en route to the US, his office announced that he “didn’t even respond to” the proposal, and that he had “instructed the [Israel Defense Forces] to continue fighting at full force.”
“Israel’s policy is clear,” Netanyahu said upon landing in New York. “We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force. And we will not stop until we achieve all our goals, chief among them the return of the residents of the north securely to their homes.”
More than 100,000 people have been evacuated from either side of the Israel-Lebanon border since Israeli forces began trading fire with Hezbollah fighters at the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war nearly a year ago. Israel drastically escalated its campaign against Hezbollah earlier this month, wounding thousands in a sabotage operation targeting the group’s handheld communication devices, then pummeling southern Lebanon with airstrikes since last week. At least 1,300 people have been killed in these strikes, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Speaking to reporters later on Thursday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the US would not have published the ceasefire statement if Washington did not believe it had Netanyahu’s support. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre went further, insisting that the statement had been “coordinated” with the Israeli premier.
A senior Western diplomat told the Times of Israel that both Israel and Lebanon privately agreed to the statement before it was announced, and that Netanyahu was closely involved in crafting the text.
“There were conversations at a very high level between the US, France, and Israel, and from those conversations, we understood there was a basis to go ahead with the joint announcement,” a French diplomat told the Israeli news site.
Both Kirby and the unnamed French diplomat suggested that domestic “political” considerations may have forced Netanyahu to backtrack. After the statement was released but before Netanyahu landed in New York, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir threatened to withdraw his far-right Otzma Yehudit party from Netanyahu’s government if he agreed to a truce. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose Religious Zionism party also props up Netanyahu’s government, issued a statement declaring that the conflict in Lebanon can only “end in one scenario – crushing Hezbollah.”
Throughout the Israel-Hamas war, these hardliners have repeatedly threatened to sink Netanyahu’s political career if he were to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza, or allow additional humanitarian aid into the enclave.