Israel’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, has insisted that Israel remains committed to the ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon, while warning that the country will not hesitate to respond to any imminent threats against its citizens and military personnel.
Speaking during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, Freeman defended the reported Israeli military action in southern Lebanon that Lebanese state media said killed two people in Nabatieh during road-clearing operations.
“We are abiding by the ceasefire. We’ve made it very clear that Israel will abide by that ceasefire,” Freeman said.
“We will also act to protect our citizens and our troops like any country would. In this incident, there was an immediate threat to our troops on the ground, so we took action in order to prevent that attack on our troops.”
“That’s the incident. We are certainly abiding by the ceasefire and we hope the ceasefire holds.”
Pressed on the nature of the threat, Freeman said the Israeli military had identified an immediate danger.
“We’ve just been told by our army that there was a direct threat and an imminent threat to our troops, and I’m sure that over the coming days that information will come out.”
“But at the moment, we know that it was a direct and imminent threat, and obviously with a direct and imminent threat we act because we know that certainly in terror organisations like Hezbollah, when they’ve got a threat they carry it out.”
Freeman maintained that Hezbollah remained the principal obstacle to long-term peace in Lebanon.
“The fundamental problem here is Hezbollah. Hezbollah is the cancer that is destroying Lebanon’s future, and the reality is that until you take Hezbollah out of the picture and disarm Hezbollah, remove them, that’s the issue here.”
“That’s the issue that will solve the conflict. Lebanon wants Hezbollah gone, Israel wants Hezbollah gone. That’s the problem, and so we need to work towards a total dismantling, or certainly a removing of the arms of Hezbollah.”
On whether mounting international pressure could force Israel to change course, Freeman reiterated that Israel had no territorial ambitions in Lebanon.
“Israel’s made very clear we will abide by the ceasefire. My foreign minister made very clear yesterday that Israel has absolutely no territorial ambitions over Lebanon.”
“We are there to protect our citizens, to protect the people living in Israel from Hezbollah, and we will do what is necessary to protect them.”
“But if Hezbollah holds their fire, if Hezbollah begins to disarm, if Hezbollah moves northwards, then there is no reason for there to be a problem with a ceasefire.”
He rejected arguments suggesting Hezbollah was merely defending itself.
“We should remember how this started. It started by Hezbollah, unprovoked, attacking Israel with rockets and missiles, and Israel has acted to remove that threat. That is what we’ve done.”
“We’ve said very clearly that we will abide by the ceasefire. We have full intention to abide by the ceasefire.”
“The problem is that Hezbollah are terrorists. Terrorists lie. Terrorists don’t abide by ceasefires.”
“If they don’t do that, then we will act. But we very much hope that they will abide by the ceasefire because we have every intention of standing by the ceasefire.”
Freeman also said Israel’s presence inside a security zone in Lebanon was temporary and based solely on security considerations.
“We have no territorial ambition over Lebanon. None whatsoever. We’re in the area now, in the security zone, in order to protect our citizens.”
“When we see that Hezbollah are no longer a threat, when we see that Hezbollah are no longer aiming and preparing to attack Israeli citizens, to invade Israel, to fire rockets and missiles, then there’ll be no need for us to be in the security zone.”
Addressing speculation over tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, Freeman described the US leader as one of Israel’s strongest allies.
“Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu know that President Trump is a great friend of Israel.”
“We’ve seen over all of the time that he’s been president the incredible relationship between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump.”
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is the leader that has visited President Trump more than any other leader in the world. They have an excellent relationship. They talk on a regular basis.”
“And President Trump cares for the future of Israel.”
“And so I’m not worried about there being tensions. I’m not worried about any of those things, because ultimately Israel will worry about its future and defend its citizens and will do so in partnership, where necessary, with the United States of America.”
On reports of disagreements between Israel’s political and military leadership over the ceasefire, Freeman dismissed suggestions of a rift.
“I wouldn’t, again, look at necessarily stories in the press.”
“There’s no question that the Israeli government is defending our troops and making sure that our troops and our citizens are safe.”
“No government will allow its army or its troops to be in danger.”
“We have certainly got an army that knows how to defend itself, knows how to defend the State of Israel and the people of Israel.”
“And I’ve got full faith and full confidence that there are no issues there.”
Freeman further argued that Washington’s engagement with Iran reflected a firm commitment to preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“I think what we’re seeing in these talks is a very clear message from the United States of America and the leadership of President Trump.”
“He’s saying to Iran: you will never have a nuclear weapon. You cannot have a nuclear weapon because you threaten to use that nuclear weapon to destroy other countries.”
“We’ve seen the way Iran has behaved over the last couple of months through the activities of its proxies.”
“Everybody can see, everybody can understand, and I don’t think there’s any doubt about the strength of that relationship.”
Commenting on opinion polls showing declining support for Israel among Americans, Freeman said public sentiment was likely to evolve.
“When we look at opinion polls, opinion polls certainly today more than ever are very fluid. They’re very changing. It depends what’s in the headlines. It depends what’s in the news at the time.”
“And I think that over time, that opinion poll will shift, that opinion poll will change.”
“It will change not because of who our prime minister is, but rather because people will understand what Israel’s been doing over the last number of years.”
“Israel has responded to a vicious attack by Hamas on the 7th of October.”
“It’s responded to a seven-front war from attacks by Hezbollah, by Iran, by the Houthis, by all of these different organisations that Iran has been running with their proxies.”
“And when people realise and understand that Israel has been defending itself, then I am convinced and confident that those opinion polls will shift.”
On Israel’s upcoming elections, Freeman stressed that voters alone would determine the country’s political future.
“Israel’s a democracy. Israel’s got elections that have to happen by the end of October this year.”
“We will see what happens in those elections. But that election will be decided by the Israeli population, by the Israeli people.”
“Israel is the only full democracy in the Middle East.”
“It’s where every single person, whether you are Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Circassian or Druze, gets the right to vote.”
“Every Israeli citizen has that opportunity. We’ve had that opportunity since Israel was founded in 1948.”
“And I’m confident that the Israeli public will go to the polls, they will vote freely and fairly based on what they think is the best future for Israel.”
“And we’ll see what those election results will bring. And when those election results come in, then we’ll be able to talk about them.”
Freeman concluded by insisting there was no contradiction between Israel’s security objectives and its alliance with Washington.
“I don’t think there’s a contradiction between Israel defending itself and Israel maintaining its partnership with the United States of America. I think those two things go hand in hand.”
“We’ve seen over the last couple of months, in the clearest way, Israeli fighter jets wing to wing with American fighter jets.”
“We’ve seen that Israelis have been working with America in every single way, that the whole operation was carried out jointly.”
“There was unprecedented cooperation as we degraded this Iranian force.”
“Since Israel’s founding, America has been our greatest ally. I’m convinced that that will continue to be the case, that we have shared values and shared interests.”
“And so I don’t see any contradiction.”
Boluwatife Enome
