Ahead of the UNIFIL mandate extension at the end of the month, Israel is urging the UN Security Council to reform the peacekeeping force, giving it greater freedom of movement and access to areas that are suspected of harboring terrorist activity.
Ambassador Gilad Erdan also urged the council to set up a mechanism to ensure that any Hezbollah violation of the 1701 resolution would be adequately documented and included in future review reports.
“The Security Council must realize that UNIFIL’s failure to enforce resolution 1701, and the attacks of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, could force Israel to respond and act against the terror infrastructure in Lebanon,” Erdan warned, saying that such a move could lead to a regional escalation.
“We urge the Security Council to enforce the 1701 resolution strictly and to significantly strengthen UNIFIL,” Erdan added. “We also demand that the Lebanese government take responsibility for what is being done on its territory.”
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was established in 1978 and beefed up in 2006 after the Second Lebanon War ended with the passing of Security Council Resolution 1701. UNIFIL’s mandate is renewed annually in August.
Erdan communicated the Israeli position to all member states, and specifically to France, which is coordinating the negotiations around the mandate renewal.
Israel insists on UNIFIL’s freedom of movement and demands that together with the Lebanon Army Force, the peacekeeping mission could inspect villages and houses in which there is a clear indication that Hezbollah is storing ammunition.
Other members suggested that given the economic crisis in Lebanon, UNIFIL would also provide assistance to the Lebanese Air Force. Erdan told UNSC members that any such aid should be under a proper mechanism to ensure that it is transferred to LAF, not Hezbollah or other organizations. He called on the Security Council to specify what the aid would include.
According to the Israeli Mission to the UN, Israel was also able to persuade other member states to block a Chinese draft that included wording about “Israeli violations of the Lebanese sovereignty.”
The Chinese draft comes at the heels of Israel’s recent decision to join the US and Canada, signing on to a condemnation issued at the United Nations Human Rights Council’s 47th session against China’s inhumane treatment and forced incarceration of its Uyghur minority.
"China has been taking positions against Israel at the UN for a while," Erdan told The Jerusalem Post. He went on to say that he made it clear to the Chinese Ambassador in the past that Israel will act according to its interests, "and for that reason, we joined the US in condemnation of human rights violations, and in support of the WHO missions." "I will continue to work against attempts to undermine Israel's stance on the world stage and I am satisfied that in the UNIFIL case, the UNSC member states accepted our position and removed this wording," he added.
Last year, the UNSC decided to extend the mandate for a peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon by another year, but to reduce the number of troops in the region amid US and Israeli criticism over the mission’s efficiency.
The council added in August 2020 several demands from the government of Lebanon to allow UNIFIL to operate more efficiently after efforts from Israel and the US to strengthen the force’s authority in the face of Hezbollah activity.
These demands include an enhanced reporting mechanism to the UN for violent incidents and violations; a call for the secretary-general to create a detailed action plan to optimize the force’s effectiveness; and a strong condemnation of attempts to hamper the force’s freedom of movement and of threats posed to UNIFIL troops.
Jonathan Schanzer, Vice President at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank in Washington told the Post that "UNIFIL remains one of the UN's greatest failures."
"It has stood by silently and fecklessly while Hezbollah has amassed an arsenal of some 150,000 projectiles," he said. "This does not include the precision guided munitions in its possession, thanks to Iranian assistance. Not does it include the tunnels Hezbollah has dug under the noses of UNIFIL."
"Some proponents, including some Israelis, say that the mechanism that supports dialogue between Israel and Lebanon is useful," he continued. "But that does not justify UNIFIL's bloated budget and payroll. That mechanism can be sustained without the rest of the failed entity, which perpetuates a dangerous fiction, namely that anyone other than Israel is seriously monitoring the weapons build up of Iran's most lethal proxy in Lebanon."