Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Israeli parliament on Nov 13, 2024. Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90
The Israeli Security Cabinet is scheduled to convene on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. local time to approve a ceasefire deal with the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon. In anticipation of the meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly scheduled a full day of one-on-one meetings with senior ministers to secure their support for the deal after several publicly expressed opposition.
“We think we have a deal. We are on the goal line but we haven’t passed it yet. The Israeli cabinet needs to approve the deal on Tuesday and something can always go wrong until then,” a U.S. official told the Axios news outlet.
Netanyahu reportedly met senior ministers and confidants on Tuesday morning, including Defense Minister Israel Katz and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, both of whom are certain to approve the proposed deal.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, also a member of the Cabinet, had signaled cautious approval of the truce . “The test of any arrangement will be this – not in words or wording, but in enforcement,” he said.
“Enforcement of two main points: One, preventing Hezbollah from moving south of the Litani [River]. Two, preventing Hezbollah from rebuilding its power and rearming in all of Lebanon.”
Sa’ar vowed that the government would not allow a return to the situation before the war.
“Any violation will be dealt with immediately. We will no longer agree under any circumstances to sell the future, in exchange for temporary peace in the present.”
The disapproval of the deal by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was expected, while Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, a member of the Likud party, unexpectedly refused to commit to supporting the deal.
Dichter, a former Shin Bet security chief, said he didn’t have enough details yet to decide on his vote.
“If the agreement with Lebanon is a ‘copy-paste’ of [UN Resolution] 1701 – I will not support it. That deal prepared Hezbollah ahead of the third Lebanon war, which it opened on October 8 to help the Hamas murderers in Gaza.”
He emphasized that his statement was meant to “calm and give clarity” to the residents of the north, many of whom sharply criticized the ceasefire deal.
On Tuesday morning, Metula Mayor David Azoulay called on the government not to “surrender to terrorism.”
“Do not make this shameful agreement. This is a sad arrangement, an agreement of surrender by the Israeli government to Hezbollah, an arm of Iran,” he told Channel 13.
“The reconstruction will take at least two years. For as long as there is no real security here, not just a ‘sense of security,’ we will do everything to not return,” Azoulay added.
Moshav Margaliot Chairman Eitan Davidi said it was inconceivable that Israel “will be relying on Lebanon to guarantee our safety,” criticizing the lack of a security zone inside Lebanese territory.
“Northern residents didn’t leave their homes for over a year, just to return to having Hezbollah as neighbors,” Davidi charged.
Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu is also planning to meet with the northern mayors and local council leaders to explain the terms of the deal and convince them to support it.
The formal decision is expected to be made in the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening.
Among the key critics the prime minister will need to persuade are Ben Gvir and Smotrich, who have already publicly opposed the deal.
After Ben Gvir was among the first to call the deal “a grave mistake,” his faction colleague Smotrich joined him on Monday, declaring that “no agreement, if signed, will be worth the paper it is signed on – it is not relevant.”
“What’s relevant is that we destroyed [Hezbollah] and will continue to dismantle it,” Smotrich continued.
In addition to Ben Gvir and Smotrich, who have a vote in the Security Cabinet, several of Netanyahu’s Likud party colleagues who don’t have a vote also came out strongly against the deal.
For example, Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli explained his opinion in a sharply-worded tweet on 𝕏, demanding that the “IDF control in a narrow buffer zone in the vital areas that control fire and observation of Israeli settlements… which must remain under Israeli control permanently.”
“The sequence of blows against Hezbollah’s leadership and the ground moves have brought tremendous operational achievements. It is forbidden under any circumstances to sell them in exchange for peace, which is like the [biblical] lentil stew. We have already learned firsthand what the interest rates are for buying quiet in the Middle East bazaar,” Chikli added.