"Salting the Earth" is saying with ancient roots. It refers to inflicting desolation on a defeated enemy so complete that nothing can be regrown and the enemy can never recover or rebuild. Israel is using modern herbicides and defoliants in Southern Lebanon to do exactly that. /1
Not a single Israel defender has ever been able to defend this. They just pretend it doesn't exist, even though it defies any of their supposed 'arguments'.