Israeli ground invasion would ‘remove all military presence’ on border, says national security adviser

We speak to Orna Mizrahi, who spent 26 years in the Israel Defense Forces and was a deputy national security adviser for Foreign Policy.

She is now a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University and is speaking to us just hours before the invasion in Lebanon.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: If Israeli forces are crossing into southern Lebanon tonight, what is the strategic goal? When do they stop?

Orna Mizrahi: Okay. The distinguished guest, that you have just asked the question, was so cynical by saying that Israel is the one that slaughters and wants this war. But he forgot one thing to mention – that the one that started this war was Hezbollah on the 8th of October. Israel did not do anything to attack Hezbollah till the 8th of October, as retaliation for their own attack. So it’s all upside down. This argumentation is totally wrong. Anyway, if you are asking about this ground manoeuvre that maybe will start tonight, its goal is very clear and the government was stating its goal. The goal is to bring back the 60,000, 70,000 Israelis – evacuated people from their homes – from the northern border because of this attacks of Hezbollah.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: But when will you be able to do that? That is a rhetorical goal, isn’t it? The question is, when will you actually be able to move people back. At what point would you stop the war?

Orna Mizrahi: It’s not rhetorical at all because it’s the lives of these people. These people cannot go back to their home to live the normal life that they had before, because of this attack. The northern part of Israel was under attack for one year.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: And neither can the Lebanese.

Orna Mizrahi: So the Israeli army has to do something. We are fed up with that. We are fed up with all these lies. And we decided that we have to do something to protect ourselves and protect our people. And this is why the Israeli army is going – I don’t know if it’s going to happen tonight – and maybe it will take a while, but the intention is not to invade, or anything like that. Just to clear, to remove, all the military presence that is very new to the border and to give the feeling of security. The people of the northern part of Israel will feel secure to go back to their homes. That’s all.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Right. So when you say it’s just about clearing that area close to the border, are you saying that it will just be a few miles and then the Israeli army stops and then what? How do you then bring about peace that allows people to go home?

Orna Mizrahi: I wouldn’t tell you exactly what are the plans of the IDF because I don’t know what is now prepared. There are several scenarios for what they can do. And, according to what I understand, there is no reason or intention to go deep inside into Lebanon. What we want is just to clear the area very adjacent to the border from the presence of Hezbollah and its missile launchers that are amongst the civilian population. And this is why civilians, very little civilians are being injured because of the collateral damage. Israel has no intention to do anything to the Lebanese people – just running after the Hezbollah militants that attack Israel for one year. Daily attacks. Just yesterday, 100 missiles to the northern part of Israel. And today, there were two UAVs, dozens of missiles that were launched from Lebanon to Israel. So we cannot suffer it any more. I don’t know if any state in the world would suffer these attacks. And this is the reason that the IDF, it’s maybe the only solution is to go in and do what is needed to do that.