Netanyahu and Israel are not hiding their "Greater Israel" Middle East ambitions:
- IDF soldiers have been wearing this patch on their uniforms since June 2024 - The map is labeled in Hebrew as "The Promised Land" or "Greater Israel".
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- In an August 2025 in an interview with Israeli channel i24NEWS, Netanyahu stated he felt "very much" connected to the vision of a "Greater Israel" (Eretz Yisrael HaShlema) and that he considered himself on a "historic and spiritual mission" to fulfill it.
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- On Thursday, Netanyahu vowed to continue attacks against the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, but he said his government would begin direct talks with Lebanon's government. Netanyahu apparently instructed "the Cabinet to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon to achieve two goals: First, the disarming of Hezbollah. Second, a historic, sustainable peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon" in a video address Thursday. It will be interesting to see how this plays out because at this point, Israel:
-- Continues to bomb densely populated residential areas far from Hezbollah's strongholds, such as along Beirut's seaside Corniche promenade and has issued evacuation orders for the Beirut's suburbs, but then attacked central Beirut
-- Is likely firing projectiles that include white phosphorous in civilian areas in Southern Lebanon which can cause severe burns including burning through bone (Iran is not innocent and is using cluster bombs on Israel which are similarly bad)
-- Has been accused of having its aircraft spraying an agricultural herbicide (laboratory tests confirmed the substance is glyphosate, a chemical used to destroy vegetation) over southern Lebanese village crop fields at concentrations authorities described as dangerously high, raising concerns for food and environmental security
-- Has already killed Lebanese Christian priests and bombed Christian Churches there
- It will also be interesting to see how this plays out because it seems pretty apparent that Israel has no intention of returning the Southern Lebanese buffer they now control and will likely start applying the Gaza playbook to the territory and using settlers and IDF to attack and expel Lebanese from these areas
- Lastly, Israel is known for and great at participating in negotiations but then finding ways to make the other party look like they're not negotiating in good faith and that the other party is asking for things that are not possible to justify Israel continually walking away from the table only to continue to bomb, harass, and expel - It's their playbook as seen plenty in Gaza. It's called the Pretend and Extend playbook... Pretend to negotiate in good faith while continuing to carpet bomb and attack and expel the countries inhabitants.
Netanyahu just today was on the ground in Southern Lebanon, ordering the military to "further expand" this zone to push back threats.
Key Statements & Actions on the Ground:
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Expansion of Buffer Zone: Netanyahu confirmed that operations are being widened to "definitively neutralize" Hezbollah's ability to operate near the border, aiming to stop anti-tank fire and rocket attacks on northern Israeli communities.
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War Continues: He stated that despite the gains, "the war continues" and "there is still more to do" to achieve the full security objectives, suggesting a potential long-term presence.
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Message to Troops: While visiting troops in a flak jacket, he stated, "We are not waiting for threats, we are removing them," emphasizing the transition from defensive to offensive action, according to Facebook posts and Al Arabiya.
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Focus on Hezbollah's "Residual Capabilities": Netanyahu maintained that while Hezbollah has been severely crippled by Israeli airstrikes and ground advances, the military would continue to target their remaining capacity to threaten Israel.
I'm sorry but all these points and actions will be deceptively used to actually continue to bomb residential areas in the name of routing out Hezbollah and to have soldiers and soon settlers abuse, attack, and expel local Lebanese a la the same playbook used in Gaza
The problem is that as you can see with Netanyahu's and Israel's grand "Greater Israel" roadmap and plan, these efforts won't be stopping in Southern Lebanon and will eventually cause issues, including with Gulf States that are allied with the US like Saudi Arabia (notice a large swath of northern Saudi Arabia is part of this acquisition plan; and again, Israel does not limit their bombings to muslims, but also regularly bombs Christian Churches and kills clergy (remember, Lebanon is the ME country with the highest percentage of its population that is Christian (roughly 30-40%) and has the second largest population of Christians in the ME behind Egypt), which should be something that doesn't sit too well with Trump and his admin.
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