Israeli Prime Minister Declares No Ceasefire With Hezbollah Amid Rising Tensions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking Friday morning to the United Nations General Assembly, said there would be no immediate cease-fire with Hezbollah, as the United States, France, and other nations have called for, and he urged all nations to decide whether they will stand with Israel or with terrorists.

Netanyahu began his speech Friday by saying he had not planned to attend, "but after I heard the lies and slanders leveled at my country by many of the speakers at this podium, I decided to come here and set the record straight."

According to Lebanese officials, nearly 700 people have been killed in Israeli rocket strikes and attacks on alleged Hezbollah positions in the last several days. U.S. officials, including members of Congress, are watching the escalating conflict in Lebanon closely, hoping it doesn't turn into an all-out war.

Netanyahu pushed back on the notion that Israel needs to rein in its aggression, reiterating what he said to citizens of Lebanon earlier this week: it's not Israel, but Hezbollah that has put them in danger.

“As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war,” Netanyahu said, “Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their homes safely.”

Oklahoma Senator James Lankford agrees. “Hezbollah has fired more than 9,000 rockets at Israel in the past year,” Lankford said in an interview Wednesday.

Senator Lankford says, understandably, most of the world has been focused on the fighting in Gaza, but tens of thousands of Israelis living in the north near Lebanon have been displaced. “When I was in Israel several months ago, meeting with senior leaders there, they were very clear with me: when they finish up with Gaza, they have to make a decision on what's happening in the north and Hezbollah,” Lankford said. “Israel wants their people to be able to live back at home again.”

Lankford says Israel is close to achieving its objectives in Gaza. “They still have to get their hostages home, and they still have to get Sinwar, that actually started this war for Hamas,” Lankford stated. “Those are the two main targets there.”

While many people continue to protest Israel's heavy-handed military operations, both in Gaza and now in Lebanon, Lankford says the Biden administration and other Western leaders have failed to adequately punish Iran, the primary backer of both Hamas and Hezbollah. “We've got to be able to make it very clear that's the path where the weapons are coming through, the money is going through Iran,” Lankford emphasized. “The sanctions have not been strong enough against Iran to be able to make this stop. That's been my greatest frustration.”

“The world has appeased Iran,” Netanyahu declared to the General Assembly. “It turns a blind eye to its internal repression; it turns a blind eye to its external aggression.”

But, Netanyahu said, “Enough is enough.”