Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

27 April 2026

3-minute read

In an interview with Ml Junaid Kharsany, Professor Jeff Halper, director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, stated that Israel, in its endeavour to implement the Abrahamic Accords, is on a campaign to “pacify the Palestinian resistance”.

According to Prof Halper, “Hamas represents the last bastion of Palestinian resistance,” Iran supports the Palestinians and Hezbollah controls Lebanon. For Israel, Lebanon is a country north of the Litani River, and they do not consider the southern area of Lebanon as part of the country and thus continue to bomb it, insisting that “everywhere the Shiite live is fair game.”

Lebanon has been turned into a battlefield with Beirut starting to look like Gaza. Israel sees Hezbollah as illegitimate and will never deal with them as a political organization, while the non-Shiites in Lebanon view Hezbollah as a resistance organisation. The question currently is balancing Palestinian resistance with the good future of Lebanon, but at what cost?

Hezbollah is very much a part of the Lebanese government, with many of its ministers in its cabinet it. It is difficult for a “Lebanese political interest” to be secured due to the president being Christian, the Prime Minister Muslim and the head of the parliament Shiite, with no common interest among them.

“Hezbollah has its own agenda,” Prof Halper mentioned, and posed the question, “does Lebanon have to become the head of a resistance which isn’t succeeding in many ways?” While it continues to pressure Israel, it is not liberating Palestine in any way. If Hezbollah is effective and not merely symbolic, Lebanon would not be sacrificed the way it is being.

Although there is resistance to what is happening in Palestine from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and the Arab and Palestinian people themselves, there is no strong support for the Palestinians among the Arab governments and regimes. Once the PLO was dismantled by the Palestinian authority whom the Israelis captured, they no longer had any liberation organizations or any proper leadership.

The situation remains fluid, said Professor Jeff, but Israeli troops do realize that maintaining territorial control in Lebanon is temporary. “Israel still believes that this is its opportunity to destroy Hamas” – the reason they are “pushing the envelope.” If Trump leaves the situation ambivalent, he concluded, Israel assumes that it will be able to disarm Hezbollah.

Listen to the fullinterview with Ml Junaid Kharsany and Professor Jeff Halper here.