Former DM Gantz calls for military pressure on Lebanon amid threats from Iran and Hezbollah

Former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity party and former War Cabinet minister, called on Tuesday for significant military pressure on Lebanon in response to escalating attacks against northern Israel by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization.

Gantz addressed the complex security situation during a tribute event for the Druze community in Israel, following the Hezbollah rocket attack that killed 12 children and youth in the northern Israeli town of Majdal Shams on July 27.

“We are stronger than our enemies. Israel has security superiority and strong regional alliances that will withstand any attack. But our use of force must not be wasted,” he stated.

Gantz called for targeting key Lebanese infrastructure to pressure the Lebanese government to intervene and put an end to Hezbollah's attacks against northern Israel.

“We must leverage the tension and involvement of international actors to achieve results that will provide security for the residents of the north,” he said, highlighting the importance of international involvement in stopping the attacks on Israel.

The former defense minister’s remarks comes as Israel continues to prepare defensive and offensive measures against an expected imminent “revenge” attack from Hezbollah and Iran for the eliminations of the top Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

On Tuesday, at least 19 Israelis were injured, one severely, in a Hezbollah drone attack against the Western Galilee region. One of the Israelis was reportedly seriously injured.

Some 80,000 Israelis who reside in the north have been displaced from their homes since the Hezbollah began attacking northern Israel on Oct. 8, the day after the terrorist organization Hamas invaded southern Israeli border communities and massacred 1,200 Israelis and abducted at least 253 into Gaza.

Gantz, a former IDF chief and a political rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he nevertheless stressed that the political opposition would support stronger military action against the Iranian regime and its terror proxies in the region.

“The government will have broad backing, even from the opposition, for any offensive and responsible action,” Gantz pledged during his speech.

There are strong indications that many in Lebanon fear the ongoing Hezbollah attacks on Israel will have potentially devastating consequences for the nation, however, it appears the Lebanese government is not able to intervene.

The foreign ministers of Lebanon and Jordan traveled to Iran this week in a diplomatic attempt to restrain Tehran and Hezbollah from launching an attack against Israel and potentially igniting a full-scale regional war.

Gantz praised the Druze minority in Israel.

“Despite language challenges, living in the periphery, and lack of resources, the Druze education system achieves unprecedented successes,” he said.

“The next government that needs to be formed, which I intend to form, must be a government of national consensus, and make the significant social correction in the state,” Gantz added.

The Druze population in Israel numbers around 150,000. While the community constitutes less than 2% of the Israeli population, they have been praised by Israeli leaders for their valor and excellence in serving and defending the Jewish state.