Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant demagogically and falsely declared during a visit to Washington that his country does not want war in Lebanon, but at the same time is prepared to inflict “enormous damage” on Hezbollah if diplomacy fails. “We don’t want war, but we are preparing for every scenario,” Gallant told reporters, trying to conjure up an image of a dove of peace and mislead the world. “Hezbollah understands very well that if war breaks out, we can inflict enormous damage on Lebanon,” the defence minister said ominously.

Israeli defence minister’s visit to the US

Israel’s defence minister spent three days in Washington meeting with officials in an attempt to resolve differences over US arms supplies in a quiet and peaceful manner, in contrast to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s more confrontational and brash approach to the issue. After Gallant’s meeting with Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, the US press wrote that “significant progress was made, obstacles and bottlenecks were removed” during the talks. The Israeli was so impressed with his achievements in the talks that he spoke truthfully and unvarnished about the significant progress made on “a number of issues”, including “the issue of the military build-up and the supply of ammunition that the US should supply to Israel”. “I would like to thank the US administration and the American public for their unwavering support for the State of Israel,” he said loyally.

But in recent days Netanyahu has rudely and publicly accused the Biden administration of slowing down arms shipments to........

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