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Israeli Leaders Warn Hezbollah Not to Push Israel, Point to Gaza as Example: ‘This Is What Will Happen Here’
Israeli soldiers stand by, as a mobile artillery unit fires on the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Gil Eliyahu
Israel’s top leaders have sent a clear warning to Hezbollah: Stop attacking Israel with rockets and other weapons, or the Jewish state will target the Iran-backed terror group in Lebanon just as it’s decimating the Hamas terror group in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah not to escalate the current conflict during a visit to the town of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon.
“Hezbollah got us wrong in a major way in 2006, and is getting us seriously wrong even now,” he told a group of Israeli soldiers, referring to the 34-day conflict known as the Second Lebanon War fought between Israel and the powerful Islamist group.
“Hezbollah made a big mistake with us in 2006 and it is making one now,” Netanyahu added. “It thought that we were like a spiderweb.”
Before the 2006 war, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah referred to Israeli society as a spiderweb, characterizing the Jewish state as weak. He reused that same metaphor in a November speech, saying, “Israel has revealed itself to be a weak state, as fragile as a spiderweb, and it needs American and Western support.”
Netanyahu said that Hezbollah knows such a characterization is false, adding, “It sees here tremendous power, the unity of a people, a determination to do whatever is necessary to restore security to the north, and I tell you — this is my policy.”
Hezbollah operates with impunity in Lebanon, where it wields significant political and military clout, and rules over large swathes of the southern part of the country.
The terror group and Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire since the eruption of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in early October, forcing hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the north to evacuate their homes. Fighting at the Lebanese border has intensified in recent weeks, leading to concerns that the conflict in Gaza — the Palestinian enclave ruled by Hamas, another Iran-backed Islamist terror group, to Israel’s south — could escalate into a regional conflict.
“We will do everything to restore security to the north and allow your families — because many of you are from here — to return home in safety and to know that we are not to be trifled with,” Netanyahu told the soldiers on Monday. “We will do whatever is necessary.”
“Of course, we prefer that this be done without a widespread campaign,” the prime minister continued, expressing Israel’s wish to avoid conflict. “But that will not stop us.”
Netanyahu then warned Hezbollah that, should fighting continue to escalate, Israel is prepared to take its ongoing military campaign of air strikes and ground operations against Hamas in Gaza and use it against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“We gave them an example of what is happening to their friends in the south; this is what will happen here in the north,” he said. “We will do everything to restore security.”
Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza after Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, massacred 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 240 hostages. The Israeli government has pledged to bring all hostages home and destroy Hamas to the point that the terror group no longer poses a threat. At least 8,000 terrorists have been killed so far including key leaders, according to the Israeli military, which has destroyed much of the group’s infrastructure.
Netanyahu’s comments echoed remarks made by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Sunday.
Gallant explained that Israel isn’t afraid to go to war with Hezbollah in Lebanon if pushed to the brink.
While Israel doesn’t seek such a war, the defense chief clarified, “80,000 people need to be able to go back to their homes safely,” he said, referring to Israelis who were forced to evacuate their homes near the northern border. But if all else fails, “we are willing to sacrifice.”
Gallant then warned Hezbollah, like Netanyahu, that Israel could target its fighters in Lebanon just as it’s currently doing to Hamas in Gaza.
“They [Hezbollah] see what is happening in Gaza,” Gallant said. “They know we can copy-paste to Beirut [the Lebanese capital].”
Elaborating on the dangers that Israel is facing, the defense minister said the source of both areas of conflict — Hamas to the south and Hezbollah to the north — is the same: Iran.
“My basic view: We are fighting an axis, not a single enemy,” Gallant said. “Iran is building up military power around Israel in order to use it.”
Iran has provided arms, funds, and training to both Hamas and Hezbollah. All three have the stated aim of seeking Israel’s destruction.
The post Israeli Leaders Warn Hezbollah Not to Push Israel, Point to Gaza as Example: ‘This Is What Will Happen Here’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.