Netanyahu discusses “opportunity” for “historic peace agreement,” but rejects Hezbollah demands

Benjamin Netanyahu | MGN

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck a positive tone about the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, but also said he rejected the two conditions for peace made by Iran-backed proxy Hezbollah.

“We have an opportunity to make a historic peace agreement with Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in a Thursday night video address, translated from Hebrew. “President Trump intended to invite me and the president of Lebanon to try to advance this agreement. This opportunity exists because since the War of Independence, we have fundamentally changed the balance of power in Lebanon.”

Netanyahu said he began receiving calls from Lebanon a month ago to hold direct peace talks.

“I responded to this call and agreed to a timeout, or rather a temporary ceasefire, of 10 days to try to advance the agreement that we began discussing with the ambassadors’ meeting in Washington,” he said. “For these peace talks, we have two fundamental demands: one, the disarmament of Hezbollah. Two, a sustainable peace agreement, peace from strength.”

Netanyahu, though, said Hezbollah requested two things: Israel withdraw from all Lebanese territory and “a ceasefire in the form of silence for silence.”

“I agreed to neither of these, and indeed both of these conditions are not being met,” he said.