Former US official: Two-front war would be unpopular among Israelis

A two-front war in Gaza and Lebanon would be unpopular among Israelis, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Joel Rubin says.

Transcript

00:00Israel has deployed units around Gaza, where a separate ceasefire has also

00:06broken down. Does Israel have the capacity for wider military intervention

00:12in Lebanon? Well, in Lebanon, to your point, Israel's not built for long wars. I

00:20should say it like this. Israel's military is a popular military. All adult

00:26men and women serve, or those who are within the regulations do serve, but

00:33that's not a military built for long wars that continue without endpoints.

00:38And so to get a second front in Lebanon, while also a major front in Gaza, that

00:43would not be received very well amongst the Israeli population. But that said,

00:47Israel does want to defend its borders, and the Israeli people do not want to

00:53take incoming from Hezbollah. So I think the calibration of how much force to

00:58employ is an important discussion, but I don't think you'll see much opposition

01:03in Israel to responding to Hezbollah provocations.