JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A Washington Post report claims that Israel is hurrying to reach a cease-fire deal in Lebanon in order to present President-Elect Trump with his first foreign policy achievement.
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Prime Minister Netanyahu’s close aide Ron Dermer, who serves as Minister of Strategic Affairs, spoke with Trump this week and updated him on the war in Lebanon and on the ongoing talks regarding a possible cease fire.
“There is an understanding that Israel would gift something to Trump … that in January there will be an understanding about Lebanon,” an Israeli official told the Post.
Trump has said he wants to bring an end to the wars in the Middle East, but he also told Netanyahu in a call last month to “do what you have to do” against Hezbollah and Hamas. It is unclear what impact, if any, the Lebanon proposal discussed at Mar-a-Lago would have on stalled cease-fire and hostage-release talks in Gaza.
“Netanyahu has no loyalty to Biden and will be focused entirely on currying favor with Trump,” said Frank Lowenstein, a former special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations under President Barack Obama who served during the transition to the first Trump administration. If 2016 is any indication, he added, “Trump won’t hesitate to act like he’s already president when he sees an opportunity.”
Netanyahu said in a video statement Sunday that he had talked to Trump three times in recent days and that the two saw “major opportunities ahead for Israel, especially in advancing peace”.
The Israeli prime minister was planning for a new era in Washington well before Election Day on Nov. 5. Netanyahu had been in regular contact with Trump, according to the Israeli official, and Dermer with Kushner, who helped broker normalization agreements between four Arab nations and Israel during Trump’s first term and maintains personal and financial ties to the region.
Kushner is expected to play an advisory role in the event of future negotiations over Israeli normalization with Saudi Arabia, even if he is not appointed to a formal White House position, according to a former Trump official.
On Sunday, the Israeli official said, the conversations at Trump’s Florida residence focused on an Israeli cease-fire proposal for Lebanon involving Western and Russian cooperation. An Israeli military official said plans were also being created to ramp up ground operations in Lebanon if talks were to ultimately fall apart.
The terms of the evolving deal, according to Israeli officials, would require Hezbollah to retreat beyond the Litani River — the northern edge of a U.N.-monitored buffer area established after the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Since October 2023, following the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, Hezbollah has used the region to rain down thousands of rockets and missiles on Israel, killing 45 civilians and 31 soldiers and forcing some 60,000 people from their homes.
During this period, Hezbollah has lost some 3,300 of its fighters and its military capabilities have been significantly eroded. Currently the terrorist organization is willing to retreat beyond the Litani as part of a cease fire, with the disputed points regarding who will be overseeing Southern Lebanon in the interim, and whether Israel can continue to operate in the region if there are violations of the demilitarization its is demanding.
Israel is also demanding that Russia prevent Hezbollah from rearming via the Syrian border, where Russia still has influence. Russian officials visited Israel on Oct. 27 to discuss the plan, according to Israeli officials, and Dermer, who is functioning as a shadow foreign minister for Netanyahu, (as Gidon Saar has yet to make his mark in his new role) made a secret trip to Russia last week for follow-up discussions.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comment. U.S. officials have denied that Russia will be involved in the implementation or supervision of a cease-fire agreement, but the Trump administration may be more amenable to including Russia in Middle East peace procedures.
In parallel with Dermer’s diplomatic blitz, the IDF is preparing for a second phase of its ground operation, according to an Israeli military official, in case talks fall apart. And in recent days, Israel’s air force has pummeled Lebanon with strikes.
“We have taken away Hezbollah’s ability to attack us as it could have before the war”, said the military official. But there is always more to do, he added.
Both the IDF and Hezbollah have asserted that the battlefield remains the main front in negotiations. It is the only factor, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Monday, that can “change the political equations.”
Hard to know the emes these days. It might be true. Or it might be an Israeli leftist plot to put the pressure of expectations on the Netanya govt and force his hand.
To trump? It would be a fair well gift to Biden if it could be achieved before January of 2025. But let it be a conspiracy theory of a leftest news paper that has lied about trump since he became president in 2016
It is a big mistake for Israel to accept a Cease Fire with the Labonese Government when the Hizbollah is still in charge in Lebanon and not destroyed by the State of Israel. You are playing with fire!!!