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President Herzog on Fox News: “Iran cannot be involved in Lebanon because they’re weakening the leadership of Lebanon, which wants to make peace with us, and we want to make peace with Lebanon.”
On June 21, 2026, President Isaac Herzog addressed regional diplomatic efforts, Iranian involvement in Lebanon, and U.S.-Israel relations in an interview with Fox News.
President Herzog stressed that Israel does not oppose a diplomatic solution to the war with Iran, but is committed to discussing its security concerns: “We don’t object to a diplomatic outcome of the war, but we are raising concerns which are legitimate, and we’re speaking about them.”
On the issue of Lebanon, President Herzog stated: “On Tuesday, Israel and Lebanon will resume another round of talks in Washington in order to reach a peace agreement, but a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon cannot be reached if Iran has so much leverage and they’re trying to squeeze themselves into this conflict in Lebanon through a recognized terror organization, their proxy Hezbollah. It has to be made clear that Iran cannot be involved in Lebanon, because otherwise they’re weakening the leadership of Lebanon, which wants to make peace with us, and we want to make peace with them.”
President Herzog added: “Hezbollah violated the ceasefire that was declared by President Trump a few weeks back, over and over and over again. We have dozens of casualties. They fired on 50 sites in the last few days. I tell the whole world: How do you want to get to peace between Israel and Lebanon when you have Hezbollah hijacking Lebanon? Somebody needs to do the work. Unfortunately, it’s our soldiers. You know, I don’t see anybody else doing it unless there will be a diplomatic outcome, which makes clear that Hezbollah is disarmed and removed from their capability of limiting the ability to get to peace.”
Referring to U.S.-Israel relations, President Herzog said: “There is a very good rapport and dialogue between Israel and the United States on all levels. We can have our differences. I think that raising legitimate concerns is very legitimate because we, Israel, are on the front line of this war. We have been the ones bombarded by Iranian missiles and by their proxies. We are the ones who are out there as a very close ally, intimate ally, and loyal ally with the United States in trying to make sure that Iran does not reach any nuclear capability or becoming a nuclear-threshold state. And therefore, I think the dialogue should be held in closed rooms.
