“I see the Lebanese government as directly responsible for this violent provocation against Israel,” he said. “Israel responded, and will respond aggressively in the future, to all efforts to disturb the quiet on the northern border and harm the citizens of the North and the soldiers protecting them.”Netanyahu will convene the security cabinet on Wednesday to discuss both the Lebanon incident and Monday’s rocket attack from Sinai on Eilat.Amid concern in recent weeks regarding tension in Lebanon over reports of an imminent indictment of Hizbullah by an international panel examining the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, Israel has sent messages through third parties to both Syria and Lebanon not to allow any party to try and divert attention by provoking Israel.Diplomatic officials said it was too early to determine whether Tuesday’s incident, which government officials said was a “deliberate ambush,” was designed to divert attention from the Hariri probe, or was merely a “localized incident.Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman directed Israel’s envoy at the UN, Gabriela Shalev, to file a protest with the UN secretary-general and the Security Council.In addition, Israel was talking to the countries that have representatives in the UNIFIL force in southern Lebanon, saying that it was a deliberate ambush on Israeli forces inside Israel’s sovereign territory.Israel, according to diplomatic officials, was also telling these countries that weaponry the international community provided the Lebanese army in the hope it would be used against terrorists, was instead being used against Israel.The IDF’s activities Tuesday in the area of the attack near Kibbutz Misgav Am – an area that Jerusalem stressed was between Israel’s border fence and the international border – had been coordinated with UNIFIL in advance. Israeli officials said there were three areas on the border where for topographical reasons, the fence could not be built on the border, only west or south of it – but all in Israeli territory.Defense Minister Ehud Barak, meanwhile, warned Lebanon against continued provocations, and called on the Lebanese government to probe who was responsible for Tuesday’s attack. He also called upon UNIFIL to act with determination to prevent similar incidents, and called for the international community to condemn the attack.
PM: Lebanon responsible for border clash
Israel tells European countries: Arms sent to Lebanon used against us.
“I see the Lebanese government as directly responsible for this violent provocation against Israel,” he said. “Israel responded, and will respond aggressively in the future, to all efforts to disturb the quiet on the northern border and harm the citizens of the North and the soldiers protecting them.”Netanyahu will convene the security cabinet on Wednesday to discuss both the Lebanon incident and Monday’s rocket attack from Sinai on Eilat.Amid concern in recent weeks regarding tension in Lebanon over reports of an imminent indictment of Hizbullah by an international panel examining the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, Israel has sent messages through third parties to both Syria and Lebanon not to allow any party to try and divert attention by provoking Israel.Diplomatic officials said it was too early to determine whether Tuesday’s incident, which government officials said was a “deliberate ambush,” was designed to divert attention from the Hariri probe, or was merely a “localized incident.Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman directed Israel’s envoy at the UN, Gabriela Shalev, to file a protest with the UN secretary-general and the Security Council.In addition, Israel was talking to the countries that have representatives in the UNIFIL force in southern Lebanon, saying that it was a deliberate ambush on Israeli forces inside Israel’s sovereign territory.Israel, according to diplomatic officials, was also telling these countries that weaponry the international community provided the Lebanese army in the hope it would be used against terrorists, was instead being used against Israel.The IDF’s activities Tuesday in the area of the attack near Kibbutz Misgav Am – an area that Jerusalem stressed was between Israel’s border fence and the international border – had been coordinated with UNIFIL in advance. Israeli officials said there were three areas on the border where for topographical reasons, the fence could not be built on the border, only west or south of it – but all in Israeli territory.Defense Minister Ehud Barak, meanwhile, warned Lebanon against continued provocations, and called on the Lebanese government to probe who was responsible for Tuesday’s attack. He also called upon UNIFIL to act with determination to prevent similar incidents, and called for the international community to condemn the attack.