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JERUSALEM—Amid the start of a cease-fire on Wednesday between Israel and the Iranian regime-backed Hezbollah terrorist movement in Lebanon, some leading Republican lawmakers accused President Biden of browbeating Israel into a temporary suspension of the war as the Jewish state staged a near-takedown of the terror group’s leadership and military structure.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reached the Litani River in Lebanon on Tuesday, with a key war goal to push Hezbollah forces north of the Litani River. Under the cease-fire deal, Hezbollah is required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border.
However, the reported threat of Biden imposing a weapons embargo on Israel pulled the plug on Israel’s penetration of Hezbollah-controlled territory in southern Lebanon, according to regional experts and several lawmakers.
“The cease-fire agreement does not diminish what Israel managed to achieve in short order against Hezbollah,” said Tony Badran, analyst and news editor at Tablet Magazine. “What the Obama-Biden team did on their way out was to coerce the Israelis, reportedly with the threat of an arms embargo at the Security Council, into signing onto Obama’s vision for the U.S. role in Lebanon, which is part of his broader pro-Iran realignment.”
Several lawmakers, including Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, accused the Obama-Biden administration of exerting “enormous pressure” on Israel to accept the cease-fire, using threats such as withholding weapons and imposing an international arms embargo.
The cease-fire deal has been met with criticism from many sides, with some arguing that it does not ensure the safety of Israelis who were forced to flee their homes due to Hezbollah’s rocket attacks. The deal also does not address the issue of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure and weapons in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump’s adviser, Amos Hochstein, brokered the deal and informed the Trump team about its tenets, saying it was “very important for them to understand and support it, because they are going to have to carry it forward and implement as they took office in just a few weeks.”
The cease-fire deal has also received criticism from some in the Israeli government, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides saying that Biden threatened to stop delivering weapons to Israel if it continued to prosecute its war in Lebanon.
The Biden administration has denied these allegations, with a senior administration official saying that the president never threatened to sanction Israel at the UN Security Council. However, the official also acknowledged that the administration did not threaten to veto a potential UN Security Council resolution that could have helped Israel.
The deal has also sparked concerns about the Obama-Biden administration’s legacy in the Middle East, with some arguing that it has created a framework for the U.S. to exert control over Israel’s actions against Hezbollah.
As the cease-fire takes effect, many are left wondering what the future holds for the region. Some, like Lt. Col. (Res.) Sarit Zehavi, president and founder of the Israel-based Alma Research and Education Center, believe that the deal will not prevent Hezbollah from recovering and re-arming, while others, like Sen. Ted Cruz, are concerned about the threat of Islamic Republic of Iran proxies in the region.
The Trump administration has been critical of the deal, with National Security Adviser-designate Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., attributing the cease-fire to the “Trump effect,” saying that Israel achieved its military objectives, the stakeholders in Lebanon decided they didn’t want war anymore, and relentless American diplomacy led by President Biden, driven by his envoy Amos Hochstein, coordinated in the White House.
The deal has also sparked concerns about the role of the United Nations in the region, with some arguing that the UN has failed to disarm Hezbollah and other terrorist groups in Lebanon. The deal has also raised questions about the role of the U.S. in the region, with some arguing that the U.S. has created a framework for itself to exert control over Israel’s actions against Hezbollah.
