JERUSALEM, Israel – The Israeli government is warning that the northern border ceasefire with Hezbollah may be falling apart as tensions there rise quickly. Also, Israel is shaking up its global messaging after a letter from the late Charlie Kirk to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The prime minister met with President Donald Trump's envoy for Lebanon affairs as border tensions continue to escalate in northern Israel.
Israeli leaders claim that last year's ceasefire with Hezbollah is unraveling, and without significant changes, "another round of fighting in the north is almost inevitable," according to one security official.
Jerusalem warns Lebanon's government that it is not moving to disarm the Iranian-backed Hezbollah as required, adding that the terror group has boosted its ranks and restocked rockets smuggled through Syria.
While visiting wounded troops in a hospital near Tel Aviv, Netanyahu repeated his goal to expand a demilitarized buffer zone along the Israel-Syria border. The prime minister indicates he's open to a Syria deal but will not allow any repeat of the October 7th, 2023, massacre by Hamas.
"I am here with the heroic IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) wounded after our last operation in Syria. After October 7, we are determined to protect our communities on our borders, including on the northern border, and to prevent the establishment of terrorists and hostile actions against us, to protect our Druze allies, and to ensure that the State of Israel is safe from a ground attack and other attacks from the areas adjacent to the border," he declared.
Last week's targeted counter-raid in southern Syria left six IDF soldiers wounded.
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Meanwhile, small remains of a body delivered by Hamas from the Gaza Strip are "not that of any remaining hostages," according to the Prime Minister's Office. The bodies of two hostages to be returned as part of the ceasefire deal include an Israeli and a Thai captive.
Forensics teams are now testing those remains, as the families of an Israeli and a Thai captive continue to wait for their loved ones' bodies.
In Jerusalem, Israel is overhauling its international communications, sparked by a warning in a letter from the late Charlie Kirk to Netanyahu sent days before his assassination.
In the letter, Kirk urged the prime minister to confront what he called a losing "information war" among young Americans.
Those concerns were echoed by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee when we spoke with him in September.
We asked, "If you were the P.R. consultant for (Israel), what would you tell them?"
Huckabee replied, "I'll be the first to say I feel that Israel has to do a better job of their own messaging."
Kirk shared polling data showing that nearly half of Gen Z Americans sympathized with Hamas.
In his letter, Kirk advised targeting Christian evangelicals to help spread accurate information in support of Israel.
Hananya, a digital media advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu, told us, "I think that Christian evangelicals play a pivotal role, and we have Christian evangelicals watching this – I say thank you from us as Israelis, we really cherish – you were called for such a time as this, to use your voice and to not be silent."
Israel has now adopted a more centralized messaging strategy modeled by the White House and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Shosh Bedrosian, the prime minister's spokesperson for foreign media, stepped into her role just days after Kirk's letter. She now issues daily briefings as Israel tries to regain control of its global narrative.
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