US announces Lebanon ceasefire deal, but gives Israel green light for war crimes

Former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant

Faced with resistance in Lebanon and international revulsion at its crimes, Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is looking for ­breathing space before slaughtering more people.

United States president Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that a ceasefire would begin the following morning. 

The ceasefire agreement would see Israeli forces withdraw from southern Lebanon over the next 60 days. 

But so would Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah, which has put up stiff resistance since Israel launched a ground invasion on 1 October.

In negotiations, Israel demanded the right to intervene in Lebanon regardless of a ceasefire.

Netanyahu said, “If Hezbollah violates the agreement and tries to arm itself, we will attack. If it tries to rebuild terrorist infrastructure near the border, we will attack.” 

And Biden confirmed, “Israel “retains the right to self defence consistent with international law.” 

In practice, this means Israel can do whatever it wants with the backing of the US. 

The lack of a realisable “end goal” in Gaza and Lebanon—where Israel hasn’t crushed the resistance—drives divisions within Israel over how best to secure domination.

The deal will deepen those ­divisions. Israel’s far right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir opposed the ceasefire deal. “It will be a historical missed opportunity if we stop ­everything and go backwards,” he said.

Those divisions drive Israel’s ­genocidal logic. Despite ceasefire talks, Israel continues to bombard Lebanon. Over the weekend, Israel murdered at least 29 people in the capital Beirut. Hezbollah responded, firing over 340 rockets into Israel.

Even after Israel looked set to accept the ceasefire, its forces issued another evacuation warning in Beirut on Tuesday.

But Israeli divisions are part of a crisis for the Zionist project. Global revulsion has forced Israel’s Western backers to make concessions.

That pressure pushed the ICC court last week to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant. It charged them with “crimes against humanity and war crimes”.

All 124 member states of the ICC are now obliged to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they set foot on their soil.

US president Joe Biden reiterated his support for Israel, saying, “There is no equivalence—none—between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”

Other Western leaders are now caught in a bind. A spokesperson for prime minister Keir Starmer said, “Britain will always comply with its legal obligations as set out by domestic law and indeed ­international law.” But they made sure to back Israel, saying, “There is no moral equivalence between Israel, a democracy, and Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah, which are terror groups.”

It shines an even brighter light on the West’s hypocrisy. To defend their interests in the Middle East, Western leaders will now have to sink even further into complicity in genocide and war crimes.

Israel is ramping up its siege on northern Gaza, where 130,000 children are trapped by Israeli forces and winter is approaching. It’s essential to keep mobilising the Palestine movements in the West to end all arms sales to Israel.

Netanyahu, Gallant, Biden, Starmer and all the West’s leaders should be in the dock for war crimes.