Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that some Christian villages in southern Lebanon have asked to be annexed by Israel for protection from Hezbollah, a claim that several of the villages themselves have since firmly denied.
Speaking with Fox News on The Sunday Briefing, Netanyahu said that some Christian villages in Lebanon have actually asked to be annexed to Israel, because Israel protects them against Hezbollah fanatics who want to kill them, adding that Israel does the same thing with Christians everywhere. Netanyahu did not name the villages or specify whether the requests were made publicly or privately. He went further in the same interview, claiming that it is not only Christians in Lebanon who have sought Israeli protection, but Druze, Sunni Muslims, and even some Shiite Muslims who would like to see Lebanon freed of Hezbollah, though he offered no evidence for that broader claim either.
The response from Lebanon was swift. Christian villages in the Marjeyoun area of southern Lebanon issued a statement Friday denying reports that they had sought annexation, saying they have no power nor the legal right to make decisions of such magnitude, and reaffirming their determination to stay on their land and their loyalty to their national identity and the Lebanese flag. Hanna al-Amil, mayor of the Christian village of Rmeish, was quoted by Lebanon's national broadcaster NNA calling the idea absolutely out of the question, and said 15 Christian towns had issued a joint statement two days earlier denying the allegations.
Netanyahu's comments come as Israeli forces continue operating in parts of southern Lebanon despite a US-brokered agreement between Israel and Lebanon meant to pave the way toward ending hostilities. Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, visited troops stationed near Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon on Sunday and vowed the army would continue to operate decisively to remove threats from Lebanese territory.
Netanyahu separately said at a state ceremony that Israel's military would remain in southern Lebanon as long as necessary to protect the residents of the north and all citizens of Israel. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar and Defense Minister Israel Katz have both said Israel has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon, while maintaining that Israeli forces will not withdraw from the security zone in southern Lebanon so long as Hezbollah remains a threat.
Since the war with Hezbollah began after the group fired rockets at Israel in March following the killing of Iran's supreme leader in joint US-Israeli strikes, Christian villages in southern Lebanon have themselves endured Israeli shelling, airstrikes, displacement, and infrastructure damage, a fact several outlets covering the denials noted alongside Netanyahu's claim.
