Images of occupying Israeli troops seizing a historic hilltop fortress in Lebanon on Sunday have provoked a breathless reaction among Israel’s political and military elite.
Army spokesman Col Avichay Adraee said the country’s soldiers were “writing a new chapter … by planting their flag at Beaufort Castle”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the Crusader castle's capture as a "dramatic stage" in the war with Hezbollah. Defence Minister Israel Katz sang the praises of the military’s notorious Golani Brigade, “who wrote another chapter of Israeli heroism in the place where our heroes fell for the homeland”. And Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the capture of Beaufort Castle was a reminder of past “national mistakes”, arguing that Israel’s withdrawals from Lebanon in 2000 and Gaza in 2005 had strengthened Hezbollah and Hamas.
For almost everyone outside of Israel, the fervour with which Israel captured the castle betrays a different reality. Israel’s deepest ground advance into Lebanese territory in 26 years should not be described euphemistically in terms of buffer zones or security operations – it is an invasion.
In its invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Israel's initial military gains – accompanied by mass death and displacement for Lebanese civilians – were soon overshadowed as the country became bogged down in an 18-year quagmire of occupation. Now, as then, there is little evidence of a realistic plan apart from the use of increasingly indiscriminate force.
Indeed, Israel’s leaders appear to again be gambling that more violence will deliver security. Yesterday, just hours before the UN Security Council was to meet to discuss Lebanon, Mr Netanyahu and Mr Katz said in a joint statement that the military had been instructed to strike new targets in Beirut's southern suburbs. Civilians immediately began fleeing the Lebanese capital, fearful that a repeat of Black Wednesday – Israel’s unprecedented bombing campaign on April 8 – was about to take place.
In a televised address on Saturday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accused Israel of pursuing a “scorched-earth” policy in southern Lebanon. Beyond land-grabbing, the wanton destruction seen so far has yielded few discernible strategic gains. Hezbollah has continued its attacks on Israeli positions, including rocket fire towards the Meron base’s air traffic control unit inside northern Israel and strikes on Kiryat Shmona near the border.
Meanwhile, US-brokered talks between Lebanon’s government and Israel appear unable to stop the fighting, which has left a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in tatters. In April, US President Donald Trump has said he had “prohibited” Israel from bombing Lebanon. However, he has not recently intervened. This is a bleak situation. Mr Smotrich and those who share his extremist outlook are wrong to believe that by seizing more Lebanese territory and bombing its cities, Israel is correcting past mistakes. Rather, it is repeating them.
