Israeli Lawmakers Urge Netanyahu to Reject Lebanon Cease-Fire

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at internal Israeli dissent over a cease-fire proposal in Lebanon, additional U.S. military aid for Ukraine, and a major Sudanese army operation against rebel forces.

21 Days

Israeli lawmakers from across the political spectrum urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to reject international calls for an immediate 21-day cease-fire across the Israel-Lebanon border. Netanyahu, who arrived in New York City on Thursday and is expected to address the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, has not formally responded to the proposal yet, but he has told the Israeli military to continue fighting Hezbollah “with full force.”

Sign up to receive World Brief in your inbox every weekday.

21 Days

“We continue to hit Hezbollah with all our might. We will not stop until we achieve all our goals, first of all the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes,” Netanyahu said in a statement on Thursday.

The truce deal—released on Wednesday by the United States and backed by the European Union, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and other major powers—called the fighting “intolerable” and said it “presents an unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation.”

Under the proposal, Hezbollah would not be a direct signatory to the truce; rather, the Lebanese government would be expected to ensure that the Iran-backed militant group abides by the deal’s terms. Hezbollah has not commented on the proposed terms. Although the deal would only apply to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, U.S. officials said they believe the pause could help restart stalled negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Yet Netanyahu is facing major pushback at home from those urging him to reject the deal. Among the most prominent voices leading the charge is far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. At an “urgent” party meeting on Thursday, Ben-Gvir said his Otzma Yehudit party would stop cooperating with Netanyahu’s ruling coalition if the prime minister agrees to a temporary cease-fire. He also warned that should the truce become permanent, all Otzma Yehudit members, including himself, would leave the government completely.

Ben-Gvir has successfully used this tactic several times since the government’s formation in late 2022, including in June of this year, when he threatened to quit if Netanyahu accepted a proposed hostage deal with Hamas. And with the Knesset scheduled to vote on a 2024 budget amendment on Sunday, the Israeli prime minister can’t afford to lose Ben-Gvir’s support. Netanyahu’s coalition holds a 64-56 majority, but without Ben-Gvir’s six party members, the prime minister could lose the vote. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also condemned the cease-fire deal, saying fighting in the north should only end once Hezbollah is eliminated.

But Netanyahu’s right-wing backers are not the only ones denouncing the idea. Centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid said he could support a seven-day truce but “will not accept any proposal that does not include Hezbollah’s removal from our northern border.”

Meanwhile, Israeli military actions in the region on Thursday continued to ramp up. Israel’s 7th Armored Brigade conducted a simulated ground incursion exercise just a few miles from Lebanon. Israeli fighter jets hit infrastructure on the Lebanon-Syria border to stop weapons transfers from Syria to Hezbollah. And the Israeli military said it killed Mohammad Hossein Sarour, the commander of Hezbollah’s drone unit, in an airstrike on Beirut in the afternoon.

“There will be no ceasefire in the north,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted on X. “We will continue to fight against the Hezbollah terrorist organization with all our strength until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.” More than 600 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israeli strikes escalated on Monday.

Today’s Most Read

What We’re Following

Greater military assistance. U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Thursday a nearly $8 billion military aid package to Ukraine for its war against Russia. The deal includes the first shipment of a precision-guided, medium-range glide bomb called the Joint Standoff Weapon, which will help Kyiv hit Russian targets from a safer distance. Biden, however, did not remove restrictions on Ukrainian forces using Western-supplied weapons to strike deeper inside Russian territory—something that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly advocated for.

As part of the new package, the U.S. Defense Department will refurbish and provide Ukraine with an additional Patriot air defense battery and more Patriot missiles as well as expand training for Ukrainian F-16 pilots. Some $5.5 billion will be allocated before the U.S. fiscal year ends on Monday, and another $2.4 billion will fall under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows Washington to buy weapons for Kyiv from companies rather than pulling from its own stocks.

“We will use this assistance in the most efficient and transparent manner to achieve our major common goal: victory for Ukraine, just and lasting peace, and transatlantic security,” Zelensky posted on X ahead of his one-on-one with Biden at the White House, where he is expected to outline his “victory plan” against Russia.

Khartoum offensive. Sudan’s army on Thursday launched its largest military operation on the capital city of Khartoum since the country’s civil war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began more than a year ago. Reports indicate that Sudanese troops have taken control of three key bridges, including two connecting Khartoum to the city of Omdurman, and are advancing toward the presidential palace. The RSF secured most of Khartoum when the conflict first erupted in April 2023.

The heavy bombardments came the same day that Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s de facto ruler, addressed the U.N. General Assembly. While there, Burhan said he would accept peace if the RSF’s “occupation” of Sudanese territory ended. However, Burhan accused some countries in the region (without specifying which ones) of supplying the paramilitary organization with funding, weapons, and mercenaries. On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned of an “escalation” in the conflict, which the U.N. has called one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

Mayoral ties to Turkey. Authorities charged New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday with conspiring with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign campaign donations in exchange for acting on its behalf. Adams, a former police officer, faces five federal charges, including bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign contributions since at least 2014, when he was a top elected official in Brooklyn.

In a 57-page indictment, federal prosecutors allege that Adams received luxury travel benefits—such as free and discounted Turkish Airlines tickets, free meals, and free hotel rooms—from at least one Turkish government official and several wealthy foreigners. Adams is said to have tried to hide the gifts, which were valued at more than $100,000. In exchange, prosecutors say, Adams pressured New York Fire Department officials to allow a new Turkish consulate building in Manhattan despite safety problems, going so far as to threaten one person’s job if they did not do so.

Federal agents seized Adams’s phone and electronic devices on Thursday. Several elected New York officials, including U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have called on Adams to step down. Adams, though, maintains that he will fight the charges and not resign from office.

Odds and Ends

An individual pretending to be former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba targeted U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in what officials are calling a suspected election interference attack.

The imitator, whose face and voice were similar to Kuleba’s but are believed to have been generated by artificial intelligence, appeared on a scheduled Zoom call last Thursday. Cardin became suspicious when the caller “began acting out of character and firmly pressing for responses to questions like, ‘Do you support long-range missiles into Russian territory?’” Cardin quickly ended the call and contacted the U.S. State Department.

It is unclear who was behind the suspected deepfake operation, which the Senate’s security office said “stands out” from other recent social engineering threats “due to its technical sophistication and believability.”

The post Israeli Lawmakers Urge Netanyahu to Reject Lebanon Cease-Fire appeared first on Foreign Policy.