US Pressure and Cabinet Rift Over Lebanon Response Intensify

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has turned to former minister Ron Dermer, one of his closest confidants, to calm ministers demanding tougher action in Lebanon. According to a report aired Friday on N12’s “Ulpan Shishi,” the closed-door talks became especially tense and confrontational over the past day, amid American pressure to soften IDF activity, even before the pressure that led to today’s ceasefire.

Dermer was brought into the smaller meetings to explain why Israel should not push too hard against Washington. He warned that Israel must avoid worsening the diplomatic situation and said, “This is a real time of emergency.” He added, “The situation is not simple, we must not make it worse. It must not be that Trump sees Israel as responsible for the failure of efforts to reach a final agreement with Iran.”

Netanyahu and Dermer are reportedly relying on the hope that President Donald Trump will eventually understand that the Iranians cannot be trusted. Under that approach, Israel should “bite its lip” and wait for the current pressure to pass while still trying to preserve its red lines in Lebanon.

On the other side, ministers in the political-security cabinet, especially in the small forum, say Israel is acting passively. The line is being led by Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, along with other Likud ministers. Three ministers familiar with the details said that an event like last night’s, in which four soldiers were killed, requires new rules of engagement. “With all due respect to the redhead (Trump), he will not go to the funerals of the four fallen,” they said. “This kind of event requires different equations, and if we do not set them now, we will not be able to set them later.”