IDF to remain in Lebanon ‘as long as we need to protect our people,’ Netanyahu says

Netanyahu said “no country” would do a better job in Lebanon, noting that the ratio of terrorists to noncombatants slain in the war has been as low as 5 to 1.

By JNS

The Israel Defense Forces will remain in Southern Lebanon “as long as we need to protect our people” from Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the JNS International Policy Summit on Sunday night.

“The reason is perfectly understood; no country would be asked to do otherwise,” the premier said in his remarks at Jerusalem’s Waldorf Astoria.

“Now you imagine the United States, across the border, you have thousands, an army of thousands of terrorists who pellet your cities and your towns with rockets and ballistic missiles and killer drones. They kill your soldiers, they kill your citizens, they kill your children. And they threaten them every day. Well, what would America do?

“Would it say, ‘Well, there’s nothing we can do, let’s hold our fire’? Is that what America would say? No. You know damn well what America would do. It would cross the border, create a security zone, kill the terrorists and protect its people until the threat is removed,” he said. “That’s exactly what we are doing.”

Netanyahu said “no country” would do a better job in Lebanon, noting that the ratio of terrorists to noncombatants slain in the war has been as low as 5 to 1, despite Hezbollah’s use of human shields.

“Unheard of, because no army goes to such lengths as the Israeli army, who target terrorists and minimize civilian casualties,” he declared, exclaiming that Jerusalem “should be commended for it.”

The 2026 JNS International Policy Summit, which was preceded by a weekend VIP gathering and tours around Judea, comes one year after the inaugural JNS Summit also held in Jerusalem.

The three-day conference will include addresses and panels on U.S.-Israel relations, the war with Iran, Israel’s military, diplomatic and legal battles, the wave of global antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack as well as relations with the Christian world.