Ben Gvir says Lebanon should be 'Israel's playground', urges Netanyahu to defy Trump

Ben Gvir says Lebanon should be 'Israel's playground', urges Netanyahu to defy Trump Submitted by Mera Aladam on Mon, 06/22/2026 - 12:50 The far-right minister also threatened Beirut, likening its future to that of north Gaza's Beit Hanoun which has been largely destroyed by Israel Lebanese women mourn victims of an Israeli strike, in the village of Qennarit, in southern Lebanon, 21 June 2026 (Aziz Taher/Reuters) Off Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir rejected a potential ceasefire in Lebanon on Monday, saying that the country should instead be "Israel's playground". During his Otzma Yehudit party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Ben Gvir called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to communicate the rejection of any peace deal with Lebanon to US President Donald Trump. "Netanyahu needs to go to President Trump, embrace him and say to him: ‘President Trump, thank you, but what can we do, we cannot fulfil this agreement,'" he said.