The first debate between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, his predecessor and now chief rival, is Thursday night. Rosenberg, a news publisher, author and expert on Israeli policy, hopes Israel will be a key topic on the debate stage.
The Jewish country is geared for war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the third Lebanon war for Israel; and most Americans don’t understand the looming threat. When the war begins, Israel will in effect be going toe-to-toe with Iran.
“Effectively, Iran has taken over Lebanon. Lebanon is not really a sovereign nation state anymore. It’s essentially a province of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The whole country has been taken over by this terror army known as Hezbollah,” Rosenberg said on American Family Radio Tuesday.
Hezbollah, funded by Iran, has long been a threat to Israel. In the first Lebanon war in 1982, Israel fought against the Palestine Liberation Organization and its allies for two months after an assassination attempt against Israel’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov.
Hezbollah was coming to power then, and its cross-border attack on an Israeli army patrol sparked the second war in 2006. That war lasted 34 days.
It’s a much different Hezbollah this time.
The Hezbollah arsenal
“In the second Lebanon War, Hezbollah fired 4,000 missiles in a month at Israel. That was really bad. Today Hezbollah has 150,000 missiles in its arsenal, all aimed at Israel. They could fire 4,000 missiles a day for four months and have 30,000 missiles left over. That’s what Israelis fear and what Israelis are having to prepare for,” Rosenberg explained for show host Jenna Ellis.
While Israel tries to finish its elimination of Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah fires into northern Israel daily, attacks ranging from two dozen to 200, Rosenberg said.
Hezbollah’s sheer firepower – courtesy of Iran – necessitates an Israeli ground invasion into Lebanon, Rosenberg said.
“We’re going to have to invade Southern Lebanon to take out all these missile positions and defeat all these terrorists on our border. Otherwise, we’re going to have a repeat of Oct. 7 but in the north instead of the south.”
Aware of a looming Israel-Hezbollah war, national security expert Bob Maginnis tells AFN the IDF will face a bigger threat in the north than its Hamas war in Gaza.
"I don't have any question that they have the means to accomplish the Rafah mission," Maginnis says. "The problem is --- and I think others are beginning to pick up on it --- Hezbollah is a very, very capable armed forces."
Hezbollah fighters fought for Syria's leader, Bashar al-Assad, in that country's successful defeat of ISIS fighters in Syria's border regions, Maginnis points out.
Rosenberg: Biden says Israel escalating war
Rosenberg has been in the U.S. in recent weeks trying to shed light on the threat facing Israel – and the difficulty of the Israeli response because of Biden administration policies.
Biden is warning Israel against an invasion of Lebanon, Rosenberg said.
“He keeps telling us not to do it. He keeps telling us not to escalate … US! The Israelis are not escalating this war. The Israelis are responding to Iran’s aggression.”
Israel could end the war with Hamas – which killed more than 1,200 Israeli citizens and kidnapped others last Oct. 7 – and could be successful against Hezbollah if it had the full support of the U.S., according to Rosenberg.
“The best way to end these wars is to have the United States 100,000% with us, not slow-walking the resupply of ammunition to us, not slow-walking the resupply of missile interceptors to us, not putting us in a diplomatic headlock and telling us WE are supposed to play nice in the sandbox,” he said.
He hopes the debate on Thursday night brings light to Israel’s precarious position.
“Look, I’ve had some significant disagreements with former President Trump, but when it comes to the Middle East, if you look at his record compared to Biden’s, it’s not even close. President Trump always stood with Israel,” Rosenberg said.
Commander in chief looks ‘weak, frail, infirm’
Trump led from a position of strength, and because of that Israel, aside from “skirmishes” here and there, was largely at peace with its neighbors during the Trump administration.
It’s far different under Biden who “looks personally weak, frail and infirm,” Rosenberg said. That’s why there are rising threats from Russia, China and North Korea, he added.
Trump was strong not only in his policies, but America’s enemies “were scared of Trump because they thought he was a little crazy. [They were thinking] ‘God only knows what he might do to us if we were to cross a line,’” Rosenberg said. “That was helpful for America’s allies, and it created a world of stability.”
