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Netanyahu Says Ready to Implement Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire, Biden Announces Truce to Begin Wednesday
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Feb. 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he was ready to implement a ceasefire deal with Lebanon and would respond forcefully to any violation by Hezbollah, declaring Israel would retain “complete military freedom of action.”
In a television address, Netanyahu said he would put the ceasefire accord to his full cabinet later in the evening. The more restricted security cabinet had earlier approved the deal by a majority of 10 ministers to one.
“Israel appreciates the US contribution to the process, and reserves the right to act against any threat to its security,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
The accord was brokered by the United States and France and was expected to take effect on Wednesday.
“We will enforce the agreement and respond forcefully to any violation. Together, we will continue until victory,” Netanyahu said in his television address.
Netanyahu said there were three reasons to pursue a ceasefire: to focus on the threat from Iran, which backs the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah; replenish depleted arms supplies and give the army a rest; and to isolate Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that triggered war in the region when it attacked Israel from Gaza last Oct. 7.
“In full coordination with the United States, we retain complete military freedom of action. Should Hezbollah violate the agreement or attempt to rearm, we will strike decisively.”
Netanyahu said Hezbollah — which wields significant political and military influence across Lebanon and is allied to Hamas, another Iran-backed Islamist group — was considerably weaker than it had been at the start of the conflict.
“We have set it back decades, eliminated … its top leaders, destroyed most of its rockets and missiles, neutralized thousands of fighters, and obliterated years of terror infrastructure near our border,” he said.
“We targeted strategic objectives across Lebanon, shaking Beirut to its core.”
US President Joe Biden was set to deliver remarks at the White House at 2:30 pm EST (1930 GMT).
ISRAEL RAMPS UP AIRSTRIKES
Despite the diplomatic breakthrough, hostilities raged as Israel dramatically ramped up its campaign of airstrikes in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, with health authorities reporting at least 18 killed.
There was no indication that a truce in Lebanon would hasten a ceasefire and hostage-release deal in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas.
The Lebanon ceasefire agreement requires Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon and Lebanon’s army to deploy in the region, officials say. Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the border south of the Litani River.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said the Lebanese army would be ready to have at least 5,000 troops deployed in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops withdraw, and that the United States could play a role in rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by Israeli strikes.
Not everyone in Israel supports a ceasefire. Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a right-wing member of Netanyahu’s government, said on social-media platform X the agreement does not ensure the return of Israelis to their homes in the country’s north and that the Lebanese army did not have the ability to overcome Hezbollah.
“In order to leave Lebanon, we must have our own security belt,” Ben-Gvir said.
Israel demands effective UN enforcement of an eventual ceasefire with Lebanon and will show “zero tolerance” toward any infraction, Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier on Tuesday.
In the hours before the announcement, Israeli strikes smashed more of Beirut’s densely-populated southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold. The Israeli military said one barrage of strikes had hit 20 targets in the city in just 120 seconds, killing at least seven people and injuring 37, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Israel issued its biggest evacuation warning yet, telling civilians to leave 20 locations. Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a “widespread attack” on Hezbollah targets across the city.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah has kept up rocket fire into Israel.
Israel has dealt Hezbollah massive blows since going on the offensive against the group in September, killing its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders, and pounding areas of Lebanon where the group holds sway.
Over the past year, more than 3,750 people have been killed in Lebanon and over one million have been forced from their homes, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures.
Hezbollah strikes have killed 45 civilians in northern Israel and the Golan Heights. At least 73 Israeli soldiers have been killed in northern Israel, the Golan Heights and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli authorities.
Hezbollah has been launching barrages of rockets, missiles, and drones at northern Israel from neighboring Lebanon almost daily since Oct. 8 of last year, one day after Hamas’s invasion of the Jewish state from Gaza to the south.
The relentless attacks from Hezbollah have forced tens of thousands of Israelis to flee their homes in the north, and Israel has pledged to ensure their safe return.
Israel had been exchanging fire with Hezbollah before drastically escalating its military operations over the last two months, seeking to push the terrorist army further away from the border with Lebanon.
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Algemeiner Unveils 11th Annual ‘J100’ List at Gala Featuring Douglas Murray, Matisyahu
British author Douglas Murray speaking at The Algemeiner’s 11th annual “J100” gala in New York City on Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: FotoBuddy
The Algemeiner unveiled its 11th annual “J100” list of the top 100 people “positively influencing Jewish life” on Tuesday night at a gala in New York City.
The event took on special significance this year, with Israel having been at war every single day since the Hamas-led invasion of the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023, and fighting for its survival on several fronts — most notably against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis Yemen, and Iran itself. Meanwhile, antisemitism has simultaneously surged around the world during the conflict, with antisemitic incidents reaching record levels in several countries including the United States.
The spike in antisemitism and the war between Israel and Iran’s network of Middle Eastern terrorist proxies featured prominently in speeches throughout the gala. However, many of the speakers struck an optimistic tone, noting Israel’s recent string of victories against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Fifteen months have now passed since the Jewish state went to war, since the Jewish people went to war. A terrible price has been paid,” said event co-chair Dovid Efune. “But it is a different world now. Israel has out-maneuvered its foes at every turn in a complex, multi-front war … The Jewish state has doused Iran’s ring of fire and replaced it with a ring of Israeli iron.”
The acclaimed British author Douglas Murray — who, as Free Press founder Bari Weiss noted in her remarks introducing him, has emerged since Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught as one of the fiercest defenders of Israel and the Jewish people — noted that the atrocities of the Hamas attack marked “the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.” He also noted the “deep challenge ” of combating pro-Hamas demonstrators across the West flirting with “the most dangerous, evil imaginable.”
“What does it say about us and the society which we’ve allowed to emerge?” he asked.
However, Murray continued, he was hopeful for the future after recently spending months with the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“The real warriors are very clear. We all know who they are,” Murray said. “They are these remarkable young men and women. And we owe them everything. And the civilized world owes them everything.”
Murray was one of the honorees at the gala, along with Jewish singer-songwriter Matisyahu and philanthropists David and Debra Magerman.
Matisyahu, who was honored for his outspoken support for Israel and the Jewish people, said during his remarks that he reexamined his Jewish identity and faith following the deadly Hamas-orchestrated terrorist attack in Israel that took place on Oct. 7, 2023.
“After Oct. 7, I believe there was a paradigm shift. I was immediately forced to ask myself the question of what it means to be Jewish again and how important it is to be,” he said. “What does it mean to be a Jew now after Oct 7? Prior, the main division, seemingly, religion. But it seems that we elevated above that in a need to find each other. We are forced again to look inward. To ask ourselves: What does it mean to be a Jew? What does Israel have to do with being a Jew? If you don’t find the answer, the rest of the world will gladly find it for you, and whatever story they choose to make up — it’s not our story. The story of Moses and the Jews.”
The singer added, “May we continue to look within to find the answers we hold and may the shining star of Israel blaze forever.”
The gala also featured comments from Michal Lobanov, the widow of murdered Hamas hostage Alex Lobanov.
“After 11 months of unbearable suffering, on Aug. 29 [Alex] was murdered in Tel Sultan in Rafa,” Michal recalled. Along with other hostages kidnapped last Oct. 7, “their dead bodies were found in a tunnel in horrible conditions. Believe me, I saw this with my own eyes, the horrors that my Alex went through, together with the five hostages are the same horrors that happened in the Holocaust. Yes, we went through a Holocaust for the second time in history; there is no other way to describe it.”
The gala and Lobanov’s comments came one day before Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire to halt fighting in Gaza and release hostages as part of a phased deal.
Algemeiner publisher and chairman Simon Jacobson also spoke on Tuesday night and laid out the stakes of the current conflict, arguing that the events of today will shape the world of tomorrow in profound ways.
“We’re living in historic times. Events that are happening now are not just going to shape today, tomorrow, but the entire future,” Jacobson said during the event in New York City. “Every one of us senses it, whether it’s events, the different countries around the world, leaderships in crisis, but especially, which is close to our hearts, the Middle East, Israel, the Jewish people.”
Past Algemeiner gala honorees and participants have included the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel; actors Sharon Stone, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Jesse Eisenberg; human rights activist Garry Kasparov; the late entertainer Joan Rivers; media mogul Rupert Murdoch; former Czech President Miloš Zeman; the late TV host Larry King; Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad; and Natan Sharansky, the famed refusenik and international campaigner against antisemitism.
Founded in 1972 as a Yiddish broadsheet by the late veteran journalist Gershon Jacobson, The Algemeiner today runs this news website.
The post Algemeiner Unveils 11th Annual ‘J100’ List at Gala Featuring Douglas Murray, Matisyahu first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Dovid Efune: ‘The Jewish State Has Doused Iran’s Ring of Fire’
Dovid Efune speaking at The Algemeiner’s 11th annual “J100” gala in New York City on Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: FotoBuddy
At The Algemeiner‘s 11th annual “J100” gala on Tuesday night, the event’s co-chair, Dovid Efune, described Israel’s recent military successes.
“Fifteen months have now passed since the Jewish state went to war, since the Jewish people went to war. A terrible price has been paid,” Efune said. “But it is a different world now. Israel has out-maneuvered its foes at every turn in a complex, multi-front war.”
The crowd applauded.
Efune said that Israel “has firmly reestablished in the eyes of all, a role as a regional superpower. Israel’s young soldiers have shown themselves to be more valiant and more committed to their cause than their fanatic terrorist enemies. Its vaunted intelligence agencies have seized the initiative, reminding the world that the Jewish state’s knack for innovation has multiple applications.”
Invoking Israel’s series of hits against the heads of Hamas and Hezbollah, Efune said “we watched in awe, the systematic elimination of a line-up of Middle East terror chiefs. Those who remain are in hiding. The Jewish state has doused Iran’s ring of fire and replaced it with a ring of Israeli iron. The walls of David’s citadel again stand tall and firm.”
The post Dovid Efune: ‘The Jewish State Has Doused Iran’s Ring of Fire’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Algemeiner Publisher Simon Jacobson: ‘Times Like This Define Who’s Standing Up for Moral Clarity’
The Algemeiner’s publisher and chairman Simon Jacobson speaking at the 11th annual “J100” gala in New York City on Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: FotoBuddy
At The Algemeiner‘s 11th annual “J100” gala on Tuesday night, publisher and chairman Simon Jacobson issued a call for action.
“We’re living in historic times. Events that are happening now are not just going to shape today, tomorrow, but the entire future,” Jacobson said during the event in New York City. “Every one of us senses it, whether it’s events, the different countries around the world, leaderships in crisis, but especially, which is close to our hearts, the Middle East, Israel, the Jewish people.”
Jacobson continued, “So, as chairman of The Algemeiner, I feel especially honored that we are part of making history because it’s times like this that define who’s standing up for moral clarity amidst all the confusion, for values that we all cherish, that are the foundations and the basis of all civilization. That’s the time we’re in, literally every day.”
Describing three types of people — those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who ask “what happened” — Jacobson said “all of you right here and The Algemeiner, are people who make things happen. We don’t just stand at the sidelines and react but are pro-active. This is the time.”
The post Algemeiner Publisher Simon Jacobson: ‘Times Like This Define Who’s Standing Up for Moral Clarity’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.