On July 5, 2026, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News that some Christian villages in southern Lebanon had asked to become part of Israel. Two days later, fifteen of those towns issued a joint statement saying this was false Al Jazeera.

"Christian villages in Lebanon, some of them have actually asked to be annexed to Israel, because we protect them against Hezbollah, Hezbollah fanatics who want to kill them," Netanyahu said on "The Sunday Briefing" France 24. He suggested Israel offers these communities protection from Hezbollah, an armed group based in Lebanon. Le Monde reported his comments as well Le Monde.

Lebanese experts rejected the claim. Karim Emile Bitar, a professor at Saint Joseph University of Beirut, called Netanyahu a "pathological liar" Al Jazeera. They saw his words as an attempt to divide Lebanon along religious lines—something the country is already vulnerable to, since its government divides power among different religious communities.

This dispute comes during an active military conflict. On March 2, 2026, Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel. Israel responded by attacking across Lebanon and sending troops into the south. By July, Israel occupied about six percent of Lebanese territory Al Jazeera.

The violence has hurt many people. More than 1.2 million were forced to leave their homes. Most of them were Shia Muslims—the same community that Hezbollah draws from. This makes Netanyahu's claim that Israel is protecting Christians harder to believe.

Several incidents have made Lebanese people skeptical of Netanyahu's protection claim. A Lebanese priest was killed by Israeli tank fire in early March. In April, an Israeli soldier broke a statue of Jesus in south Lebanon, which angered people worldwide. Also that month, a Christian political leader was killed in a suburb of Beirut. Netanyahu did not mention any of these events when making his claim.

Netanyahu's statement also contradicts what his own government said before. On June 10, 2026, his office released a message: "Israel is not at war with you. We're at war with Hezbollah, that has taken your country" Israeli PMO. That message treated Lebanese people and their government as separate from Hezbollah. Saying villages want to join Israel sends a very different message—it suggests breaking away from Lebanon entirely, not just fighting one group.

There is a bigger reason why Netanyahu's claim does not fit the current situation. The United States helped negotiate an agreement between Lebanon and Israel meant to stop the war. In that deal, Israel promised it does not want to take any Lebanese land. When Netanyahu made his annexation claim on American television instead of through official channels, it confused this agreement.

Lebanon's political system makes religious divisions especially sensitive. Power is divided among different religious communities, so any hint that one group might side with a foreign military power against the others sparks deep concern. Netanyahu's claim—that Israel protects Christians from "Hezbollah fanatics"—follows a playbook Israeli leaders have used before. Lebanese analysts see it less as a truthful description and more as an attempt to split people along religious lines.

The fifteen towns' denial settles one question but leaves others open. They answered Netanyahu's specific claim about annexation requests. But they did not address the bigger issue: Israel's troops still occupy six percent of Lebanon, and nobody knows what comes next with the ceasefire agreement.