An Israeli official stated that "France's behavior over the past year, including initiatives aimed at limiting Israel's ability to operate in Iran, and the complete lack of willingness to take concrete steps to help Lebanon disarm Hezbollah, has led Israel to view France as a biased mediator." Israel's decision comes amid growing dissatisfaction with France's behavior in recent months, particularly following the joint Israeli-American strike on Iran. France refused to allow American aircraft transporting weapons to Israel to pass through its airspace. Additionally, since Hezbollah began attacks the day after the Israeli-American strike on Iran, French President Emmanuel Macron and other senior French officials have pressured Israel not to launch a ground operation in Lebanon. In recent weeks, Lebanon itself has sought to establish direct negotiations with Israel, primarily to prevent a major Israeli military operation in the country. These efforts have been facilitated through high-level officials of the Donald Trump administration, as well as representatives of the French government. While the Trump administration told the Lebanese: "First take serious steps to disarm Hezbollah, and then we will talk to Israel," the French government, led by President Macron—who has also spoken multiple times with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the issue—has attempted to promote direct negotiations. However, Israel has shown little interest, arguing that the Lebanese government is not acting against Hezbollah and that Israel therefore has no choice but to operate independently on Lebanese territory. The shift in Israel's stance and the decision to proceed with negotiations with Lebanon comes after massive attacks, as well as requests from the United States—including during discussions between Netanyahu and Trump—to "scale back" military activity in Lebanon to allow progress in negotiations with Iran. The representatives in the negotiations, set to begin on Tuesday at the State Department, will be Israeli Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador to the United States Nada Hamadeh. The American mediator will be Michel Issa, the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon.