That's Israel's own defense minister, today.
Trita Parsi's read, after 25+ years studying this region: don't believe it.
"The Israelis are not going to happily agree to this. They're going to do so kicking and screaming.
But I suspect that at the end of all of this, they will be out of Lebanon, or there will not be a deal between the U.S. and Iran."
The directives quietly handed to Israeli troops this week tell a different story from the public defiance:
-No demolishing buildings without senior approval.
-No warning shots at returning civilians.
-No acting on a threat without sign-off from the chief of staff.
Iran's influence in southern Lebanon is no longer something the U.S. is trying to erase. It's something it now accepts.
That reversal alone, he says, is enough to justify the "full on panic" gripping Israel right now.
Great discussion with @tparsi
