Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed on Wednesday that the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon “is holding” — disregarding numerous findings that Israel has violated the ceasefire dozens of times just in the week it’s been in place so far.
Touting an “oversight mechanism” developed with France to oversee violations of the ceasefire, Blinken said at a press conference that the “ceasefire is holding, and we’re using the mechanism that was established when any concerns have arisen about any alleged or reported violations.”
“Fundamentally, I think both parties — that is to say Israel and Hezbollah, through the Lebanese government — wanted and continue to want the ceasefire,” he said.
On Sunday, a report by Israeli outlet Ynet reported that France has said that Israel has violated the ceasefire at least 52 times since it was enacted last week, or 10 violations per day on average. Other counts have similarly found dozens of violations so far, with Lebanese officials having recorded 62 violations.
UN peacekeeping sources have reported an estimated 100 violations by Israeli forces. The Biden administration has said that it is working “closely” with UN peacekeepers in order to ensure the implementation of the ceasefire.
The State Department’s stance on the ceasefire is just the latest evidence of U.S. officials downplaying Israel’s violence in order to allow its massacres to continue. Israel’s attacks amid the ceasefire have been deadly, killing at least a dozen people in Lebanon, including one person in a drone strike in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. In all, Israeli forces have killed 4,047 people in Lebanon and wounded 16,638 others over the last year, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said Wednesday.
Blinken went on to offer sympathy for people who reside in north Israel who have not been able to reach the region amid the war, while making little mention of the thousands of people in Lebanon who were killed by Israeli forces and the over 1 million people displaced by Israel’s bombardments and attacks on Lebanon.
When asked directly about violations, Blinken said, “I’m not going to respond to, or get into any private diplomatic conversations we’ve had” about Israel’s reported attacks — a refusal to acknowledge the numerous violations reported by French authorities.
In a briefing on Tuesday, the deputy spokesperson for the State Department, Vedant Patel, said that Israel has the “right to defend itself” in attacking Lebanon during the ceasefire, appearing to offer an excuse for Israel to strike the country as it pleases.
When asked about whether or not Lebanon also has the right to self defense, he said, “we are going down a slippery slope of hypotheticals.” Then, when a reporter raised the fact that Israel has invaded Lebanon multiple times, Patel said, “I think these situations are not totally comparable.”
Meanwhile, Israeli leaders have outright threatened to continue Israel’s invasion and attacks on Lebanon if the ceasefire collapses — while also massively weakening the ceasefire with the Israeli military’s attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel is “enforcing this ceasefire with an iron fist” and has maintained that the war is still ongoing.
“We are currently in a ceasefire, I note, a ceasefire, not the end of the war,” Netanyahu said.
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