Israeli soldiers have admitted that their mission is to destroy villages and prevent inhabitants from returning home, which directly contradicts their Zionist government’s claims that they are only targeting Hezbollah.
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In an interview with Haaretz, Israeli soldiers said:
The only mission is to continue the destruction. There is no other mission.
They added:
At the end of every day, there’s a report on how many homes were destroyed.
One commander even told Haaretz that Israel’s claims of only targeting “terrorist infrastructure” are false:
It isn’t terrorist infrastructure – we’re destroying everything.
Israel has been destroying homes and other civilian property, such as schools and churches, in more than 55 towns that it is illegally occupying in Southern Lebanon. The villages are predominantly Shia Muslim, and inhabitants are unable to return home.
Israel agreed to a ‘ceasefire’ in Lebanon on April 16. However, since then, it has violated that agreement almost every day. Even Netanyahu posted a video of IOF attacks in Lebanon with the caption “Lebanon – continuing.”
No ceasefire
Israel has displaced more than 1m people and killed over 2,500 since the beginning of March.
The Israeli government’s official line has always been that the IOF is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
Yet we have heard IOF soldiers, more government officials than I can count, Israeli journalists and influencers, and so many more inciting genocide. Actors, footballers, heads of CEO’s, settlers and mayors – the list is endless.
To make matters worse, we have an almost endless supply of video evidence on social media, which proves that Israel has a somewhat precarious relationship with the truth.
The IOF has repeatedly been seen destroying the olive trees of Palestinians. When did they become terrorists?
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Despite all of this evidence, Western governments and media outlets parrot the ‘official Israeli line’ about targeting Hezbollah. It’s amazing what money and the fear of being nuked can do to your editorial process.
‘Greater Israel’
Contrary to the illegal settler state’s government, Israel’s goal has always been the complete and systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure. After all, its goal is a ‘Greater Israel’ – which Zionists first mentioned in 1967.
It is used to refer to the territories Israel illegally stole in 1967: the Palestinian territories, the Golan Heights in Syria, and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
However, Zionists have also referred to it as including all of Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan, along with significant parts of Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
In 2024, Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, advocated expanding Israel’s borders. He said:
It is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus, invoking the “Greater Israel” ideology.
According to Middle East Eye, he then suggested that:
Israel would gradually grow to encompass not only all Palestinian territories but also parts of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Additionally, during Israel’s genocide in Gaza, an IOF soldier wore a patch showing a map of “Greater Israel” on his uniform. This map included parts of Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
Of course, that goal will not be possible without Israel destroying everything in its path.
For a long time now, Israel has made its intentions clear. It’s textbook colonialism wrapped up in ‘never again’.
International law?
United Nations (UN) experts have repeatedly warned that destroying civilian housing and infrastructure is a war crime. According to the UN:
systematic or widespread bombardment of housing, civilian objects and infrastructure are strictly prohibited by international humanitarian law, criminal law and human rights law.
Moreover, under international law, every person living in occupied territories has the right to engage in armed resistance.
Hezbollah literally only exists because Israel invaded and illegally occupied Lebanon in 1982.
Hezbollah’s main foundational goal was to fight the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. The group’s resistance to Israeli occupation was instrumental in the IOF leaving Lebanon in 2000, after 18 years.
Importantly, armed resistance is legal under international law. A United Nations General Assembly resolution states:
The General Assembly,
Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial domination, apartheid and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle;
Israeli definition of terrorism
The Israeli government decides someone is a terrorist, and normal rules of international law do not apply. That’s pretty convenient. Of course, the rest of the world follows. If Israel says they’re terrorists, then they must be. At this point, if Netanyahu told most Western leaders to jump off a cliff for the good of Israel, I think they would.
From where I’m standing, there’s only one terrorist group indiscriminately killing children and bombing hospitals – and that’s the Israeli government.
Featured image via Adri Salido / Getty Images
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