The Second War is About Palestine: Israel and the Palestinians Are Trying to Avoid an All Out-Way War, or Does Israel Need a Cold War?

Israel made it clear that it would retaliate for Saturday’s rocket attack. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant wrote on X that he had seen Hezbollah cross the red line.

It is the equivalent of two million Americans being forced out of homes by the threat of terrorism. The people who criticize Israel for adisproportionate response to Hezbollah and Hamas would be more insightful if they asked what they would ask of their own governments in the same situation.

The second war explains the first one. It’s about existence. The current conflict is about Palestine, the critics insist, because Israel has allegedly refused to grant a Palestinian homeland. But that’s a historically ignorant claim — and a dishonest one. Israel agreed to a Palestinian Authority in 1993, offered a Palestinian state in 2000 and vacated the Gaza Strip in 2005. The protesters at Princeton were not asking for Israel to accept a Palestinian state. They want Israel to be abolished.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, and TEL AVIV, Israel — A large explosion ripped through the streets of southern Beirut on Tuesday evening. Israel claimed responsibility for a targeted strike a short time later.

An Israeli official said that the Hezbollah commander was named Fouad Shukr. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, but was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

The U.S. support for Israel was “ironclad” even if it did defend itself against Iran-backed threats, a State Department spokesman told reporters. He said those included threats from Hezbollah.

As the international community urged restraint from both sides, the strike came.

The war is not what the White House wants, John Kirby told reporters on Monday. We don’t want to see another front open in the north. What we want to do and what we’re still focused on is finding a diplomatic solution here to reduce the tensions.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was also responded to questions about the strike in Beirut. “We do not believe that an all out-war is inevitable,” she said, adding, “we believe that it can still be avoided.”

U.S. diplomats believe it is in the best interests of Israel and the Palestinians to make a cease-fire in Gaza.

Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire across their shared border since the Gaza war began on Oct. 7 of last year, after the Hamas-led attack on Israel. The Israeli military did not deny or confirm that they carried out the strike in January that killed Hamas leader Al-Arouri.