Version imprimableIt is very hot in Gaza, and Israel continues to bomb despite the “ceasefire”. Since it came into force, the Israeli army has killed an average of one child per day. In Lebanon, since the ceasefire of 2 April, it has also killed 4,000 people. Israeli ceasefires have this particularity: Israel continues to fire, while its victims are ordered to cease.
“All of Lebanon should burn”
“For every tear shed by an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers should cry. All of Lebanon should burn.” This was the message published by Ben Gvir, Israel’s Minister of Security, after the death of several soldiers from his army in southern Lebanon. By repeatedly flouting the ceasefire, Israel has tried to establish strongholds there. But, as it has done for several years, he is struggling to maintain them in the face of Lebanese resistance. This is not limited to Hezbollah: it also involves other movements and, more broadly, displaced populations, whose families have been murdered and whose homes have been destroyed.
An army unaccustomed to human losses
Israel is not known to be an army that seeks direct combat: it prefers to rely heavily on its air force. This is also why it is not used to losing soldiers.
Nor is Israel used to opposition from the United States — especially in recent years — and the “Lebanon” clause of the ceasefire with Iran partly ties its hands.
In the same message, Ben Gvir insisted: “With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must send a clear message to the world that the blood of our sons and the safety of our citizens are not negotiable. All of Lebanon should burn. Our supreme duty is to protect Israeli citizens and soldiers of the [Israeli army], and this commitment takes precedence over all other considerations.” Yet he speaks of soldiers killed in a tank, on a territory that is not theirs.
The same was true at the United Nations, where the Israeli ambassador held up a plastic drone, presented as the weapon of “terrorists” against his soldiers. In fact, the use of small drones — a tactic successfully employed by Ukraine against Russian infantry — is putting the Israeli army in difficulty. The latter had to release $700 million urgently to respond to this new guerrilla tactic.
“Erase”: the watchword of total domination
Ben Gvir again: “I say to the Prime Minister, especially during our meetings: for every tear shed by an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers should cry. Enough of this ping-pong game. In the Middle East, measured responses and restraint are not won. We have to go wild. Clear. Defeat terrorism.”
“Erase”, “go wild”: it is difficult to find words that express a more clearly genocidal desire than those of this sinister individual. Israel has been blacklisted as a country that sexually abuses its prisoners. However, this does not prevent European states from continuing to support it. Associations can even organise a festival of Israeli music in Paris in complete tranquillity, with the slogan: “supporting Israel is an act of resistance”.
But there are also other issues. According to Netanyahu: “What has to be done is to have alternative routes instead of going through the choke points of the [Strait of] Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb in order to have the flow of oil… Just have oil pipelines, gas pipelines going west through the Arabian Peninsula right up to Israel, right up to our Mediterranean ports, and you’ve just done away with the choke points forever.”
In other words, Israel wants to become an economic bridge to the West. But this presupposes the normalization of its relations in the region and, above all, the absolute imposition of its domination. You don’t run an oil pipeline through a permanent war zone. To allow this, we must first “erase”.
23 June 2026
Translated by International Viewpoint from l’Anticapitaliste.
