Smotrich Calls for Israel to Annex Southern Lebanon to the Litani River

Bezalel Smotrich said the bombardment of Lebanon needs to end with a different reality entirely. He means a different map. The Litani River, 30 kilometres inside Lebanon, should be Israel’s new border, he said. The international community said nothing useful in response.

Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Israeli radio on Monday that the military campaign in Lebanon "needs to end with a different reality entirely" — and then made clear what he meant. "The new Israeli border must be the Litani," he said, referring to the river that cuts through southern Lebanon approximately 30 kilometres north of the current border.

It is the most direct call for the annexation of Lebanese territory by a senior member of the Israeli government since the assault on southern Lebanon began on March 2, following Hezbollah's attack on northern Israel. Smotrich is not a backbencher. He is the finance minister and a key coalition partner whose support is essential to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing majority.

The Military Reality

The IDF has already established effective control over much of the territory south of the Litani. Bridges have been destroyed, civilian infrastructure has been systematically targeted, and more than 1.2 million Lebanese civilians have been ordered to flee north of the river. Israel's military operations in the area are not temporary incursions. They are the infrastructure of a long-term occupation.

Smotrich's comments put into words what the military has been building on the ground. The question is whether the rest of the Israeli government will follow his lead or maintain the fiction that the operation is a limited security measure.

The Legal and Diplomatic Fallout

The annexation of sovereign Lebanese territory would violate UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Lebanon War and established the Litani as the boundary of a weapons-free zone — not a new Israeli border. It would also violate the UN Charter's prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force, a principle that has been the bedrock of international law since 1945.

The international response was predictable in its impotence. The EU called for "restraint." France, Lebanon's traditional diplomatic patron, summoned Israel's ambassador. The United States said it was "monitoring the situation." None of these responses will change anything on the ground.

What Smotrich Actually Wants

Smotrich has long advocated for the expansion of Israeli sovereignty into territories that Israel controls militarily. He has pushed for the formal annexation of the West Bank and has described Palestinian statehood as an existential threat. Southern Lebanon is the latest front in a vision of Greater Israel that treats international law as an obstacle to be overcome, not a framework to be respected.

The danger is not that Smotrich is an extremist on the fringe. The danger is that he is an extremist in the cabinet, and the policies he advocates have a way of becoming the policies Israel implements. The settlements in the West Bank started as "temporary security measures" too.