On Tuesday, November 26, President “Genocide” Joe Biden and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (aka Netan-nazi) announced a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a reactionary Islamic fundamentalist organization backed by Iran. The two had been fighting since October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rocket attacks against Israel in retaliation for Israel launching its genocide in Gaza. Israel responded with missile strikes of its own, and then launched an all-out war on September 17 of this year.¹

The ceasefire, which took effect on November 27, calls on Israel and Hezbollah to halt their attacks. Israel’s military, which invaded southern Lebanon, is to withdraw over the next 60 days. Hezbollah, whose forces have long dominated and operated in southern Lebanon, would move some 18 miles north, away from Lebanon’s border with Israel. (Israel is not required to move its forces away from its border with Lebanon.) Lebanon’s U.S.-backed army and some UN forces would deploy to the border areas of southern Lebanon with the task of preventing Hezbollah from returning. The U.S. and Israel would oversee the implementation of the agreement, along with France and other countries.

A Ceasefire to Lock In Gains and Prepare for Even More Horror

The people of Lebanon urgently need an end to Israel’s onslaught, which has killed nearly 4,000 Lebanese, wounded more than 16,500 and wreaked enormous devastation. But Netanyahu and Biden’s remarks made it clear that this “ceasefire” had nothing to do with ending the horrors of war in Lebanon or anywhere else in the Middle East. 

Just the opposite. The ceasefire is designed to legitimize Israel’s mass murder and lock in its military gains in Lebanon, advance its genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian West Bank, and—very ominously—pave the way for more U.S.-Israeli wars and atrocities across the region. 

Biden Piles on the Bullshit While Netanyahu Goes for the Jugular

After a war-mongering defense of Israel and condemnation of Hezbollah, Biden uttered a few deceitful words of “hope,” declaring that this ceasefire agreement “reminds us that peace is possible. Say that again: Peace is possible.” 

In Israel, Netanyahu didn’t bother with the “peace talk.” He went right for the jugular, issuing a bloodcurdling call to Israelis to seize this moment of military dominance to expand its seven-front “War of Redemption”² across the region, and explaining why this “ceasefire” was key to doing that.³

• Netanyahu promised to continue Israel’s genocide in Gaza and to “obliterate” Hamas, and to step up Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the West Bank as well, declaring “we are taking out terrorists, we are destroying terrorist infrastructure and we are operating in all of the terror strongholds. There is no place out of our reach.”
• He hailed Israel’s decimation of Hezbollah and its indiscriminate bombings of apartment buildings and the slaughter of Lebanese civilians, declaring “we have brought down dozens of terror high-rises in Beirut's Dahieh. The ground in Beirut is shaking.” 
• He praised Israel’s attacks on Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.⁴

Netanyahu’s Three Murderous Reasons

Then Netan-nazi spelled out three reasons that this ceasefire would further Israel’s regional war objectives (including because if Hezbollah even tried to rearm itself, Israel would attack—as it already has several times at this writing): 

• “The first reason is to focus on the Iranian threat, and I won't expand on that.” 

Moments earlier Netanyahu had called Iran “the head of the octopus”—the main source of opposition to Israel and the U.S. in the region. “I am determined to do anything needed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. That threat has always been my top priority and is even more so today… For me, removing that threat is the most important mission to ensure the existence and future of the State of Israel.” 

First off, it has to be noted that Israel already IS the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East. Though it has refused to confirm or deny it, Israel is generally thought to possess between 100 and 200 nuclear weapons.

Even more important, this statement amounts to a very ominous threat, especially given that this year, for the first time, Israel and Iran have openly and directly attacked each other. Now Israel has crippled two armed forces that Iran had relied on as a buffer against Israel—Hamas and Hezbollah—and this presents a much clearer path for major escalation against Iran, if Israel should so choose. We should note as well Israel’s history of taking advantage of the “transition period” between different U.S. presidential administrations to launch major aggression.

• “The second reason is to give our forces a breather and replenish stocks.” He talked of delays “in weapons and munitions deliveries,” which would soon be resolved, giving Israel “more strike force to complete our mission.” 

In other words, the ceasefire would help Israel prepare to escalate the broader regional war it’s been fighting. 

• “And the third reason for having a ceasefire is to separate the fronts and isolate Hamas.” 

Hezbollah’s decision to agree to this ceasefire—after promising it would keep up its rocket attacks as long as Israel was assaulting Gaza—means that Israel now has more freedom to continue its campaign of genocide in Gaza and its simultaneous brutal, ethnic-cleansing onslaught in the West Bank. 

“I promised you victory, and we will achieve victory,” Netan-nazi declared. “In the past year, we turned the tables. We were attacked from seven fronts and we fought back with might. We are changing the face of the Middle East.”

This is a warning, not rhetoric. It’s a declaration of the massive, reactionary violence Israel is preparing to unleash—with full U.S. backing—in an attempt to take down any obstacles and take U.S.-Israeli dominance of the Middle East to a whole other level—a dominance which is key to the global power and functioning of U.S. capitalism-imperialism, and to Israel’s stability and regional hegemony.

Biden Plays Godfather to Israel’s Genocide, Mass Murder and Regional Ambitions

Biden for his part once again dispelled any illusions that the U.S. imperialists aren’t fully behind Israel’s genocide in Gaza, its murderous rampage in Lebanon, its assaults on Iran and its allies, and its plans to reshape the region. 

• Biden condemned Hezbollah as a “terrorist” organization seven different times while praising Israel’s campaign of terrorizing literally millions of Lebanese.⁵  
• Biden welcomed Israel’s indiscriminate assassination campaign against Hezbollah leaders, posing ghoulishly, “How many of Hezbollah’s senior leaders are dead, including its longtime leader Nasrallah?”
• Biden called for continuing to carry out U.S.-Israel’s war aims, declaring Hezbollah “will not be allowed to threaten the security of Israel again.” And he explicitly gave Israel permission—under this so-called ceasefire— to attack inside Lebanon if it felt the agreement was being violated.
• Biden claimed the ceasefire deal “heralds a new start for Lebanon.” He means a major push by the U.S. and Israel to diminish or destroy Iran-backed Hezbollah, and bring the country under the control of pro-U.S. and pro-Israel forces. This includes building up the U.S.-backed Lebanese Army (which has received over $3 billion in U.S. military aid since 2006) to play a key role.⁶

Bob Avakian: “What more do you need to know, to say this whole damn system’s got to go?!”

This ceasefire, and Netanyahu and Biden’s remarks—with the open threat of even worse war beneath the talk of “peace”—underscore the urgency of the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian’s warning in in his social media message @BobAvakianOfficial REVOLUTION #99:

Now this support for Israel in carrying out wanton slaughter has been extended to involve Lebanon and other countries and people in the Middle East—including Iran. This is heightening the danger of a wider and even more destructive war.

And let there be no doubt or confusion about this: The responsibility for the serious escalation of military conflict in the Middle East, and whatever results from this, lies with Israel—and the U.S. government, which continues to fully back Israel.

What more do you need to know, to say this whole damn system’s got to go?!