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Known for his right-wing stance, Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir rejected any ceasefire agreement in Lebanon on Monday.
He declared that Lebanon "should be Israel's playground," as opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman separately described the U.S.-Iran agreement as "the biggest political disaster" in Israel's history.
"Lebanon should be the playground of the State of Israel," Ben-Gvir said in an interview on Israel's public broadcaster Kan's "HaBoker HaZeh" program. His remarks are widely seen as a veiled criticism of recently signed agreements and plans to reduce Israeli troop levels in southern Lebanon.
Ben-Gvir argued there should be no limits or compromises in confronting what he called the "axis of evil" in the region.
"Every house where there is terror must be fought and destroyed," he said.
"If the terrorists hide among the civilian population, my only interest is to protect the lives of our heroic soldiers, not the lives of enemy civilians. Even with a smaller number of soldiers and a reduced troop presence, we can achieve tremendous operational results, provided Lebanon is defined as our free 'playground,'" he added.
Ben-Gvir said he had delivered a direct message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the rising diplomatic tension between Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump.
"I tell the prime minister that Trump is a true friend of the Jewish people and we must treat him with the utmost courtesy and embrace him, but at the same time we must stand guard and tell him in the clearest possible terms, we cannot agree to a ceasefire in Lebanon," Ben-Gvir said.
"We are a sovereign state, and we are the ones who decide our own fate," he continued.
"Our soldiers are achieving excellent results in the field, does it seem normal to anyone that they should fold and now retreat to Israel's border, while Hezbollah uses the quiet to rearm and rearm again?" the Israeli minister said.
Ben-Gvir dismissed the sharp public criticism he had faced over a controversial tweet about Lebanese mothers, stating firmly: "Lebanon is, in every respect, a state that supports terrorism. It is a country that has, for years, pursued a revolving-door policy for terrorists."
Later in the interview, Ben-Gvir turned to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and senior judicial officials, criticizing them in the context of military conscription decrees and the blocking of a law concerning the Haredi community's seminaries.
Ben-Gvir accused the attorney general of attempting a governmental coup.
"When it comes to an attorney general who wants to criminally skew the results of the election, the left will try with all its strength to steal the upcoming election through the Supreme Court and the legal bureaucracy," he said.
"The people of Israel are right-wing and traditional, and therefore the people simply do not fit the agenda of the left, and they are trying to force it through the power of the judicial system," the Israeli minister added.
Opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beytenu party, separately criticized the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding in sharp terms.
"The agreement between Iran and the U.S. is the biggest political disaster since the establishment of the state," Lieberman wrote on X.
"We must act in accordance with Israeli interests and not in accordance with fuel prices on world stock exchanges," he added, referencing what experts view as one of the motives behind Trump's push to end the Iran war.
"What is being established in Lebanon is not a security mechanism—it is a mechanism for strengthening Hezbollah," he said in another post on X.
Israel's military offensive in Lebanon has killed more than 4,100 people and injured over 12,000 since March 2, according to Lebanese authorities.
Israel continues to occupy areas in southern Lebanon, some held for decades and others seized during the 2023-2024 war.
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