In a post on X Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar responded to warnings made by leaders of five Western countries, that "a major Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon could have severe consequences" - "Unfortunately, this is a distorted view of reality. On March 2nd, as on October 8th, 2023, Israelis were attacked unprovoked from Lebanese territory by Hezbollah. These are the same Israelis who for an entire year were forced to leave their homes due to relentless Hezbollah fire, yet the statement ignores their suffering."
Sa'ar continued to say that, "In the last two weeks, Hezbollah has fired approximately 2,000 missiles, rockets, and drones at Israeli civilians. Would the citizens of the countries that signed this statement agree to live under such terror? If these democracies were attacked in this way, would they accept a distorted symmetry between “all parties" - equating a democratic state defending its citizens with a terror organization that has taken control over a neighbouring state?"
"The statement includes no demand on the Lebanese government to stop the fire on Israel - or even to remove Hezbollah ministers from the government. The Lebanese government failed to disarm Hezbollah, and now it must take steps to immediately stop the firing towards Israel," he concluded his post.