Nettanel Slyomovics in Haaretz: ‘In June 2024, at the height of the war in the Gaza Strip, hundreds of right-wing activists gathered on Zoom to discuss a new border for Israel. The First Lebanon Conference, as it was called, barely aroused public interest or serious media coverage. The event featured a speech by Dr. Hagai Ben-Artzi, the prime minister's brother-in-law, who told the participants that the Lebanon border is "completely artificial," asserting that, "the Galilee extends as far as the [river] Litani."

The organization behind the virtual gathering – Uri Tsafon ("Awaken, O North – The Movement for the Settlement of Southern Lebanon") – had been founded only two months earlier, but its ambitions were bombastic on an almost biblical scale.’

In Israel, what used to be on the fringe has become rather mainstream. Expand the borders of Israel to the Litani River.

War is an opportunity.

A new world order? New borders.

(a sf 2085)