Benjamin Netanyahu must be stopped. The horror unfolding in Lebanon is another crime, to add to all the others. Are Britain, the US, the UN and everyone else who supposedly cares about civilian lives, human rights and international law really going to look away while Israel’s out-of-control prime minister does it again? That shocking prospect beggars belief.

“Again” in this context means Netanyahu turning southern Lebanon, maybe the whole country, into a sort of second Gaza. More than 41,000 Gazan Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died since the 7 October Hamas atrocities. Nearly 500 people were killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon on Monday, including many children. Tens of thousands fled their homes. How many more innocents is this man going to kill before he’s out of office?

Netanyahu says this latest massacre is necessary to “restore the security balance”. But it’s Netanyahu himself who is unbalanced. With his peremptory order to south Lebanon residents – citizens of a sovereign country – to evacuate immediately, he signalled that Israel’s unprecedented air attacks will intensify further. A military ground incursion may follow.

That didn’t work in 2006 and it won’t now. Netanyahu’s “strategy”, as always, is self-defeating. Despite 1,300 Israeli strikes on Monday, Hezbollah is firing more rockets than before into Israel, and extending their range. Displaced Israeli residents cannot safely return – ostensibly his primary aim. Violence begets violence. It does not bring security, just more hatred and vengeance.

As........

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