Over the past hours, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has intensified his use of military developments in southern Lebanon in his campaign messaging, posting videos on his X account related to Hezbollah and the control announced by Israeli forces over Ali al-Taher Heights.
Netanyahu presented control of the heights as a military and political achievement, as he sought to narrow the gap with his rivals in opinion polls in Israel. He also reposted a video by a Hezbollah opponent discussing the significance of losing the site, pointing to Lebanon’s political divisions over the group and its weapons.
Israel’s enemies want Netanyahu to fall—we cannot allow them to win
Researcher tracks political use of Lebanese file
Academic and political researcher Hayat al-Hariri said the Lebanese file is one of the main tools in Netanyahu’s campaign, particularly efforts to weaken Hezbollah and establish operational control in southern Lebanon following developments at Ali al-Taher Heights. Al-Hariri said Netanyahu is appealing to the collective Israeli memory linked to the conflict with Lebanon and seeking to reinforce an image of military superiority among Israeli voters.
She added that the use of force, the displacement of residents from the south and the policy of gradual advances in villages carry, in her reading, messages to Hezbollah, Israel’s domestic audience and Israeli hardliners. She said Lebanon’s divisions over restricting weapons to the state, along with growing opposition voices within Hezbollah’s support base, provide Netanyahu with additional material to present the developments as the result of weakening the group.
Al-Hariri said posting a video of a Hezbollah lawmaker speaking about bringing down Netanyahu at the polls helps the Israeli prime minister portray the election as an extension of the confrontation with the group and present himself to voters as a target of Israel’s adversaries.
Researcher links military advance to negotiations and elections
Al-Shamaa said Ali al-Taher Heights had become an electoral card before the Israeli public, noting that Hezbollah’s media discourse had attached great importance to the site before Israeli forces took control of it, then played down its field and military significance afterward.
Hezbollah has remained silent over the control of the Ali al-Taher site without announcing a military response, while Netanyahu continues to highlight developments in southern Lebanon in his political and electoral messages directed at Israel’s domestic audience.
