FM says Israel seeking international ‘support and legitimacy’ to act against Hezbollah

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

File - Foreign Minister Israel Katz speaks during a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 29, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
File - Foreign Minister Israel Katz speaks during a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 29, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Foreign Minister Israel Katz tells The Times of Israel that Hezbollah has “crossed all red lines” — repeating language he used in an interview earlier in the day — “and we will respond accordingly.”

“This is not an army against an army,” Katz continues. “It is an Iranian terrorist organization against civilians and children.”

Israel is “approaching the moment of an all-out war against Hezbollah and Lebanon,” he says, pledging that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah will be destroyed along with his organization, and that Lebanon will be severely damaged.

He says that the Foreign Ministry is preparing for an international campaign “to obtain support and legitimacy for Israeli action in Lebanon and to point the finger directly at Iran.”

He also calls on the world to impose heavy sanctions on Hezbollah “and to stop [the organization] before it’s too late.”

Most Popular