Israel's former ambassador to Washington, Michael Herzog, said his country's military operations in Lebanon have been put in a “straitjacket” by increased pressure from the US as it pursues a peace deal with Iran.
Mr Herzog, whose younger brother is Israeli President Isaac Herzog, said Israel had been restraining itself since the US signed a pact with Iran on June 17 that laid out the terms of negotiation for a lasting peace agreement.
The first of 14 points in the document calls for “the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon”, where Israel and the Tehran-backed Hezbollah group have been fighting since early March, while the US and Iran negotiate a peace deal over a 60-day window.
“[US President Donald] Trump asked Israel to restrain itself and not proactively take action in Lebanon, and Israel abided by that. We're really restraining ourselves,” Mr Herzog told The National.
Despite this, Israeli attacks have killed nearly 300 people in Lebanon since the agreement was signed, according to figures from the Lebanese Health Ministry, raising the overall death toll since Israel launched a bombing campaign and invaded southern Lebanon to 4,192 on Wednesday.
Last week, Mr Trump criticised Israel for its approach in Lebanon. “You don't have to knock down an apartment house every time you're looking for somebody,” he said at the G7 summit in France.
Mr Herzog, a retired brigadier general who served as ambassador to the US from 2021 until January last year, said Israel was holding back from bombing Beirut, weeks after its most recent attack this month. “Our hands are tied – we cannot bring the full weight of our forces because it might undermine a US-Iran deal, and this is very problematic for Israelis and puts us into a kind of straitjacket in Lebanon.”
Peace deal mediators Pakistan and Qatar announced that the US and Iran have agreed to establish a “deconfliction cell” for Lebanon after their first round of talks in Switzerland over the weekend. It would include the US, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar, but not Israel.
In parallel, the US is hosting direct talks between Israel and Lebanon, with the latest round held in Washington on Tuesday. Mr Herzog said he believes this is the path forward, not the one involving Iran.
“Decisions on the direction of things in Lebanon should be decided in the diplomatic channel between Israel and Lebanon and not through an Iranian dictate in Switzerland or elsewhere.”
Nuclear ambitions
Mr Herzog was sceptical about whether a US-Iran peace deal could curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions, despite Israel's greatest ally expressing optimism about achieving this. Mr Trump said on Tuesday that the deal would leave Iran with “no nuclear capacity”.
Stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons was one of the key declared goals of the war that the US and Israel launched on Iran on February 28, along with curbing its missile programme and proxy forces across the region, such as Hezbollah.
Mr Herzog expressed doubt that Iran would agree to the US demands and did not believe the Americans would attack Iran again if an agreement was not reached.
“Let's say the parties now have a dialogue for 60 days and don’t agree, and extend by 60 more days. What happens if there’s no deal? Would you believe that the US will resume the war with Iran? I’m sceptical. I don’t believe they’ll do so.”
Although the US and Israel began their war on Iran in lockstep, they are now at odds over how to proceed. The US push for a peace deal and curtailing Israeli military operations in Lebanon has been widely criticised in Israel by both political parties and the general public. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his government insist there will be no Israeli withdrawal from the “security zone” it has occupied in southern Lebanon until the threat from Hezbollah is eliminated.
Much of the blame for the deterioration in Israel's relationship with the US, its greatest ally, has been directed at Mr Netanyahu and the wars he has launched in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Syria and Yemen over the past three years.
Far-right members of his government, such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who called for the “burning” of Lebanon, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said it was time to “open the gates of hell”, are also seen as part of the problem.
With an election due by October, many Israelis are hoping to see his far-right coalition removed from power.
“Israeli society is traumatised after three years of incessant wars on numerous fronts. I hope that the new government won't include far-right figures like Ben-Gvir and Smotrich,” Mr Herzog said.
“I believe that any prime minister after the elections will prioritise a reset in the relations with the US and I think it’s critical for Israel to come to terms with the US,” he said.
The priority would be to “convince the US that Israel isn’t against a diplomatic outcome in and of itself, but what we care about is the critical national security challenged by Hezbollah and Iran”, he said. “That’s what bothers us, and I hope that after the elections any leadership in Israel will have a freer hand to broker a deal with the government of Lebanon.
In fact, Mr Herzog believes that after elections, Israel would be freer to “redeploy” in Lebanon, potentially relinquishing some control to the Lebanese army, particularly if a deal is struck with the Lebanese government.
