‘All of Lebanon must burn,’ says minister after Hezbollah kills 4 IDF soldiers

Both President Trump and Vice President Vance have criticized Israel for ongoing operations against Hezbollah.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for a harsher Israeli response in Lebanon on Friday after the Israel Defense Forces announced that four soldiers, including a battalion commander, were killed in a Hezbollah attack in southern Lebanon.

“With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not up for bargaining. All of Lebanon must burn,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement.

The comments came after the IDF confirmed that Lt. Col. Dor Ben Shimhon, commander of Battalion 52, and three additional soldiers were killed in a combat incident in southern Lebanon.

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the battalion commander’s tank was struck at approximately 12:30 a.m. The military is still investigating the incident and has not determined whether the tank was hit by an explosive device or an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah terrorists.

The deaths occurred as senior U.S. officials publicly criticized Israel’s continued military operations in Lebanon and opposition to the memorandum of understanding signed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday to end the conflict with Iran.

Under the memorandum, the ceasefire extends to Lebanon, a provision opposed by Israeli officials because of the threat posed by Hezbollah along Israel’s northern border.

In an interview with The New York Times on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance criticized Israeli concerns about the agreement.

“There is this weird panic almost in the Israeli system that I’ve picked up on, where they assume that everything that is contemplated that is good for Iran will happen — but that will happen without the Iranians changing any behavior. And I just don’t know why anybody would think that’s true,” Vance said.

While noting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not directly criticized the memorandum, Vance pointed to officials including Ben-Gvir who had condemned the agreement.

“It’s clear that large segments of the Israeli political system and population are very sensitive about this deal,” he said. “But I also think they’re picking up on some misinformation about the deal and running with it and sort of panicking about it.”

Addressing Israeli critics, Vance added: “I guess my response to them would be: What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of nine million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.” (Vance incorrectly stated the population of Israel as nine million; the correct figure is 10 million.)

President Donald Trump also criticized Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon during the G7 conference.

“We have a little dispute over Lebanon,” he told reporters. “I say, ‘You can do a little softer touch, Bibi. You don’t have to knock down a building every time somebody walks into it that’s from Hezbollah.’”