Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu gave full backing on Monday evening to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s call to “ignite Lebanon,” arguing that Beirut must be held fully responsible for Hezbollah’s actions. Speaking to Radio Kol Hai amid rising tensions in the north and reports of a Trump administration “understanding memorandum” with Iran, Eliyahu said the only way to restore calm is to make the Lebanese government pay the full price for Hezbollah.
“We cannot keep playing by rules in which the campaign is not decided,” Eliyahu said, adding that Hezbollah is no longer just a local militia but a military organization embedded in Lebanese state institutions. He said the needed approach is similar to Jordan’s “Black September” in 1970, when, in his telling, the kingdom was forced to remove terrorist groups from its territory by force.
Eliyahu also attacked the US outreach to Iran, comparing it to agreements signed on the eve of World War II. “The United States is racing toward a terrible mistake and surrendering to narrow interests. Making peace with an absolutely evil regime is a diplomatic disgrace, and whoever chooses it will eventually get a much harder war,” he said.
Despite his harsh criticism of the American proposal, Eliyahu said his party is not considering a political ultimatum or leaving the government. He said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking a tough line on the deal, and that Otzma Yehudit is helping keep that stance in place. “There is no reason for threats, the prime minister is moving in the right direction and we are strengthening him from within,” he said, adding that without his party in the government and the small cabinet, Israel would not have approved entry into Rafah, maneuvering in Lebanon, or the killings of Yahya Sinwar and Hassan Nasrallah.
