| THE LIE Israel’s military operation in Lebanon is an attempt to annex Lebanese territory as part of the “Greater Israel Project.” |
| THE TRUTH No “Greater Israel Project” exists. Israel has willingly given up most of the territory it captured in the Six-Day War in1967 to achieve peace with neighboring countries. |
| BACKGROUND On June 15, 2026, Curt Mills of The American Conservative appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room and claimed that Israel is occupying Lebanon as part of a “Greater Israel Project” — a supposed plan to conquer Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. (Israel Truth Network) |
| TRUTH EXPLAINED The claim has no basis. No Israeli official, political party, or military leader is calling for conquering Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, or Saudi Arabia. There is no movement, no manifesto, no battle plan. It exists only in the minds of anti-Israel podcasters.Israel’s track record is one of withdrawal. Since 1967, when Israel won a defensive war after being attacked, Israel has voluntarily surrendered over 93% of the land it captured. It returned the entire Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. It expelled every single Jew from Gaza. It withdrew from parts of Judea and Samaria under the Oslo Accords. Nations that secretly plot regional conquest do not behave this way. (JNS), (JVL) Israel has entered Lebanon to stop attacks on its civilians, not to seize territory. Every Israeli military operation in Lebanon has been a response to rocket fire, terrorist infrastructure, or cross-border attacks — first from the PLO, then from Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy force embedded among Lebanese civilians. Israel has never tried to annex Lebanese territory. (Israel Truth Network), (Grokipedia) The entire conspiracy theory rests on one Bible verse. Genesis 15:18 describes God promising Abraham’s descendants land “from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates.” Promoters of the Greater Israel myth treat this as a modern Israeli battle plan. But that interpretation ignores how the Bible itself defines and describes the Promised Land. (Rabbi Pesach Wolicki), (Genesis 15) The Bible itself does not support the “Nile to Euphrates” interpretation. After leaving Egypt, the Israelites spent forty years in the wilderness between those two rivers, yet they were not considered to be in the Promised Land. Moses himself died before entering the Promised Land, even though he stood geographically within the territory that Greater Israel theorists claim was already promised. The biblical narrative makes clear that the Promised Land was a specific destination, not the entire area between the Nile and the Euphrates. (Exodus 13), (Deuteronomy 34) God gives a detailed map of the Promised Land and it looks nothing like “Greater Israel.” In Numbers 34, God gives Moses an explicit description of the land promised to the Jewish people. It covers modern Israel, Judea and Samaria, Gaza, parts of southern Lebanon, and a sliver of southwestern Syria. It does not include most of Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, or anything near the Euphrates. The boundaries bear little resemblance to the vast territory claimed by Greater Israel conspiracy theorists. (Numbers 34) The Book of Joshua shows what Israel actually conquered. When the Israelites entered Canaan under Joshua, they secured modern Israel, parts of Judea and Samaria, the Negev, and Galilee. They stopped nowhere near the Nile or the Euphrates. At no point does the biblical conquest approach the sweeping geography the conspiracy theory requires. (Joshua 13), (The Interactive Bible) |
| QUOTES “The ‘Greater Israel Project’ is a figment of your imagination. There’s no such thing as the ‘Greater Israel Project.’ Israel seeks to defend its borders. It’s unbelievable — the only country in the world that has ever surrendered land for peace multiple times is now getting accused of wanting to expand itself.” — Rabbi Pesach Wolicki |
| TAKEAWAY Israel is the only country on earth that has repeatedly surrendered territory it won in wars it didn’t start — handing back land to enemies who tried to annihilate it, dismantling its own communities, uprooting its own citizens, all in the name of peace. It gave Egypt the entire Sinai. It gave Gaza to people who elected Hamas. It withdrew from Lebanon. It conceded chunks of Judea and Samaria. Over 93% of what it won, gone — offered up in good faith, again and again. And what did it get in return? Rockets. Suicide bombings. October 7. And now, apparently, a reputation as a would-be empire plotting to conquer the Middle East. No other country on earth faces this particular absurdity: the more land you give up, the more expansionist you are accused of being. At some point, the lesson has to land. Restraint has not bought Israel security, and it has not bought Israel goodwill. It has bought Israel nothing but more demands, more attacks, and more conspiracy theories about its secret ambitions. |
