Israel has begun its third invasion of Lebanon:
The Israeli military announced early Tuesday that its troops had begun crossing into southern Lebanon, saying that they would destroy Hezbollah military infrastructure in villages close to the Israel-Lebanon border.
The immediate consequence of Israel’s continued escalation in Lebanon is displacement of the civilian population on a massive scale. According to the United Nations, there are already a million people displaced from their homes because of the war that Israel is waging on Lebanon. There are now more displaced Lebanese civilians than there were during the 2006 war, and that number will only increase as the war drags on. The vast majority of the displaced have fled their homes in the last week since the start of intense Israeli bombing. The Third Lebanon War is already as destructive as the second war and it hasn’t even been two weeks yet.
It is worth remembering that Israel is escalating in Lebanon because its leaders absolutely refuse to consider a ceasefire in Gaza. The Netanyahu government has chosen more war rather than accepting an end to the fighting that might still rescue the remaining hostages. The Israeli government assassinated Nasrallah because he would not abandon the policy of supporting Gaza. In short, they chose to wage a new war because they would not end the atrocious one they have been waging for the last year.
The Israeli government presents this invasion as a “limited” one, but as many have pointed out the same was said about the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. That led to years of brutal warfare and an occupation that lasted nearly until the end of the century. The Israeli government often describes its aggressive operations as “limited” to gain support in the West, but somehow they never stay “limited.”
Read the rest of the article at Eunomia
Daniel Larison is a contributing editor for Antiwar.com and maintains his own site at Eunomia. He is former senior editor at The American Conservative. He has been published in the New York Times Book Review, Dallas Morning News, World Politics Review, Politico Magazine, Orthodox Life, Front Porch Republic, The American Scene, and Culture11, and was a columnist for The Week. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Chicago, and resides in Lancaster, PA. Follow him on Twitter.
Oct 2, 2024 Israel sees southern Lebanon as part of the 'single-state solution' says analyst
“It could be argued that the Israeli plan to broaden this war out was from the beginning part of the calculations.”
https://youtu.be/9UE5IRQ4rRA?si=x6z91_NFDidRc7WV
In the last generation, the term "Greater Israel" has come to the forefront. It is sometimes used in political or religious discussions about the ideal or future borders of Israel, often in the context of messianic or Zionist aspirations. Some interpret it as a call for the re-establishment of Israel’s biblical borders. However, the concept varies in meaning, ranging from symbolic or spiritual interpretations to literal geographical claims.
This term refers to the concept of the biblical boundaries of the Land of Israel as promised to the Jewish people in various parts of the Torah. It is often associated with the land described in the Covenant with Avraham (Brit Bein HaBetarim), which stretches from the "River of Egypt" (interpreted by some as the Nile or a smaller river in Sinai) to the Perat River. This expansive region includes parts of modern-day Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq.
When Hashem promised Avraham Avinu the Land of Israel at the Brit Bein HaBetarim, the pasuk says (בראשית טז): "On that day, Hashem made a covenant with Avram, saying: To your descendants, I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates."
At the blessing at the end of Parshat Ekev, Hashem tells us that we are granted every land we will conquer within the borders mentioned. In the north, the Torah states: "Every place where the sole of your foot will tread shall be yours—from the wilderness and the Lebanon, from the river—the Euphrates River—until the western sea shall be your boundary." This promise from the Creator clearly places the land of Lebanon within the Promised Land of Israel, or what some refer to as "the Complete Land of Israel", or “The greater Israel”.
The Ramban wrote that Lebanon is within the borders of Israel and adds that we were obligated and commanded to conquer it.
Sefer Yehoshua begins with Hashem speaking to Yehoshua and repeating the above command: "Every place your foot will step has been given to you, as I spoke to Moshe—from the desert and Lebanon until the great river, the Euphrates."
https://web.archive.org/web/20240925152307/https://www.jpost.com/judaism/article-821680#821680
This is why I'm busy at work on a lofty mythological document that says my genealogical line was promised all of North & Central America by a god (that I totally invented). So in 2,200 years or so, anyone with a fractional DNA link to me will be on the gravy train with biscuit wheels !
United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon remain in place – despite Israel asking them to move – and provide the only communications link between the countries' militaries, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said on Thursday.
"Peacekeepers continue to do their best to implement their Security Council mandate in obviously very difficult conditions," U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told reporters, adding that contingency plans were ready for both good and bad outcomes
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-peacekeepers-lebanon-stay-put-despite-israel-asking-them-move-2024-10-03/