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Israel’s continuous disregard of ceasefires is linked to its broader geopolitical ambitions in the region, which includes the dream of a ‘Greater Israel’.
By KURT NIMMO
Within hours of the ceasefire between Iran and the United States on April 9, Israel launched a massive attack, bombing multiple sites simultaneously in Lebanon.
Pakistan mediated the agreement, and Lebanon was included in the two-week ceasefire. Israel reacted predictably. It conducted more than 100 airstrikes within ten minutes on South Lebanon, Beirut, and the Bekaa Valley. The IDF said the attacks are the ‘largest coordinated strike across Lebanon’ since March 2.
Israel: a serial violator of ceasefires
Israel has previously violated ceasefire agreements in Gaza and Lebanon. In Gaza, it violated the ceasefire agreement at least 2 073 times from October 10, 2025 to March 18, 2026, according to the Government Media Office.
The office said Israel shot at civilians 750 times, raided residential areas beyond the ‘yellow line’ 87 times, bombed and shelled Gaza 973 times, and demolished people’s properties on 263 occasions. It added that Israel had also detained 50 Palestinians from Gaza. Israel has also continued to block vital humanitarian aid and destroy homes and infrastructure across the Strip.
In Lebanon, Israel violated the ceasefire with Hezbollah 10 000 times, according to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
‘For a year now, airstrikes and shelling have persisted despite the ceasefire agreement. This is not what a ceasefire looks like,’ said Maureen Philippon, the country director in Lebanon for the Norwegian Refugee Council. Additionally, the IDF remained at five points inside Lebanon despite the ceasefire agreement.
Ceasefires and Greater Israel
For Israel, the maximalist and ultranationalist objective is Eretz Yisrael Hashlema, or Greater Israel. Lebanon, along with Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt are considered part of the land promised to Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 15:18–21), and this represents the cornerstone of Revisionist Zionism. Ceasefire and peace deals delay the expropriation of land and ethnic cleansing to make way for settlers.
When interviewer Sharon Gal with the Israeli i24NEWS channel asked Benjamin Netanyahu if he subscribed to a ‘vision’ for a ‘Greater Israel’, Netanyahu said ‘absolutely’. Asked during the interview aired on August 15, 2025 if he felt connected to the ‘Greater Israel’ vision, Netanyahu said: ‘Very much.’
The forerunner to Netanyahu’s Likud party was Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s Revisionist Zionism. Born in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1880, Jabotinsky founded the Alliance of Revisionists-Zionists, and its Zionist youth paramilitary organisation Betar, in 1925.
Dr Ramzy Baroud, a Palestinian author, historian, and academic, writes: ‘Some of the founding fathers of Zionism, especially revisionist Zionists, regarded themselves as ideological fascists, and their progression from Fascism to Zionism was a logical one, necessitated by political expediency only… Benito Mussolini, in 1936… said a degree of affinity existed between Zionist and Fascist leaders… By 1934, Jabotinsky and his Betar youth movement had allied with Il Duce.’
Benjamin Netanyahu’s father, the historian Benzion Netanyahu (Mileikowsky), served as Jabotinsky’s personal secretary during his time in New York. Benzion’s son identifies as Jabotinsky’s ideological successor and adheres to Jabotinsky’s 1923 doctrine, which advocates for the establishment of a formidable military force (‘Iron Wall’) that the Arab world cannot overcome.
The original Revisionist definition of Greater Israel emphasised Jewish sovereignty over the entire territory of the British Mandate for Palestine, encompassing both sides of the Jordan River (modern-day Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and Jordan).
However, after the capture of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, Likud’s focus shifted to Eretz Yisrael Hashlema. This idea, supported by right-wing nationalists within and beyond the Likud party, has significantly contributed to the ongoing expansion of settlements in the West Bank, the effort to ethnically cleanse Gaza, and capture land up to the Litani River in Lebanon.
Trump: slave–master relationship with Israel
The election of Donald Trump, largely funded by the billionaire Zionist Miriam Adelson, was ideal for Israel and Netanyahu. In 2025, during a White House Hanukkah event, Trump proudly announced that Adelson had contributed approximately $250 million to his campaign. He also permitted the extraordinary access that she and her late husband, Sheldon Adelson, had with him during his presidency.
‘Trump was appearing weak and subservient to Israel, with a significant portion of Republicans beginning to view the US–Israel relationship as a slave-to-master agreement, whereby their president is bowing down to the demands of a foreign government,’ writes Robert Inlakesh.
The popular podcaster and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has criticised the president for steadfast loyalty to Israel. Carlson brought up a number of issues, including war crimes (he denounced the destruction of civilian infrastructure as a ‘moral crime’), warned the administration was moving in the direction of using nuclear weapons, pointed out that the war was not declared by Congress (as mandated by the Constitution), and highlighted that the conflict is increasing domestic inflation. On April 7, he urged government officials to oppose any effort to authorise large-scale attacks that would harm Iranian civilians.
Israel will continue to interrupt and sabotage any ceasefire or peace agreement between Iran, Lebanon, and the United States, as any such move will conflict with the Greater Israel project and the effort of Israel to become the uncontested hegemon in West Asia and the Levant.
Short of breaking ties with the Zionist state and rolling back the bounty of US taxpayer money given to Israel, there is little incentive for Israel to stop its expansionist violence. The United States has provided $3.8 billion per year in military aid, and $300 billion, adjusted for inflation, in total economic and military assistance since 1948.
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Kurt Nimmo is a journalist, author, and geopolitical analyst, New Mexico, United States. He is a research associate of the Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG). This article was first published by Global Research
