Jewish leaders hail deal as ‘historic opportunity’

Australian Jewish leaders have welcomed a landmark trilateral framework agreement signed between Israel, Lebanon and the United States on Friday, following months of fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The framework states, “Israel and Lebanon affirm the right of each state to exist in peace, and their mutual desire to live in security as neighbouring sovereign states. Israel and Lebanon hereby declare their intent to conclusively end the conflict, address its underlying causes, and to therewith formally conclude any state of war between them.”

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) executive director Colin Rubenstein described the framework as a “historic opportunity to advance peace and stability for both Lebanon and Israel, while recognising the legitimacy of Israel’s actions to defend its citizens from sustained attacks by Hezbollah”.

He noted that Israel and Lebanon have no significant territorial dispute, and that “repeated rounds of conflict between them are almost solely the result of the fact that outside forces, especially Iran, have been determined to put Lebanon on the front line as part of their strategy of surrounding Israel with a ‘ring of fire’.”

Rubenstein added, “The key to both a short-term stable ceasefire and longer-term peace hopes will be progress on an already agreed program of disarming the Iran-backed terror organisation Hezbollah.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-CEO Peter Wertheim said the agreement demonstrated that “the legitimate elected government of Lebanon shares Israel’s desire for normal peaceful relations to exist between the two countries as neighbouring sovereign states.”

“It is only Hezbollah, acting in the interests of the theocratic dictatorship in Tehran, which continues to try to destroy Israel and is the obstacle to peace,” Wertheim said. “There are no issues between Israel and Lebanon which cannot be resolved by peaceful means – but this cannot occur while Hezbollah has the declared intention and capacity to attack civilian population centres in the north of Israel.”

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said the framework recognised that “there can be no lasting security while an Iranian-backed terrorist organisation operates as a state within a state. Israel’s conflict has never been with the Lebanese people. It has been with Hezbollah. A sovereign Lebanon, with one government and one army, would be a positive development for both countries.”

The framework includes a pilot program in which Lebanese soldiers take control of small areas currently held by Israeli troops, alongside a process to disarm Hezbollah. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it “the beginning of the beginning”.

Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter said the buffer zone in southern Lebanon would be maintained until the Lebanese Armed Forces demonstrate they can dismantle Hezbollah, with further handovers tied to measurable progress.

Lebanese ambassador Nada Hamadeh called the framework “the first step on the road to restoring Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would remain in the buffer zone “until Hezbollah disarms and as long as there is a threat to the State of Israel”.

Hezbollah itself is not a party to the agreement, its lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah warned Lebanese authorities would not be able to enforce the framework unless “they go to civil war”, Al Mayadeen reported. Fadlallah said Hezbollah will confront any measure taken by Lebanese authorities and will hold on to its weapons even more.