Ministers call to hit back hard after rocket massacre in Majdal Shams
“For the death of small children, [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah should pay with his head,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Eleven of the 12 children killed in a Hezbollah rocket attack on a soccer field in Majdal Shams on July 27, 2024
Most of Israel’s political establishment, both within and without the coalition, expressed outrage at the Hezbollah rocket strike in the Golan Heights on Saturday that killed 12 children. They demanded decisive military action.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir were two of the more prominent voices calling for a swift response against Hezbollah, joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who promised that the “horrific” attack would not “pass in silence.”
Smotrich called for the targeted killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, posting to X on Saturday: “For the death of small children, Nasrallah should pay with his head. Lebanon as a whole has to pay the price. My position regarding the necessary steps is known. The prime minister must return [from his US visit] immediately. It’s time for action!”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the targeted killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (pictured)
Ben-Gvir tweeted, “The heart is broken to pieces, innocent little children who just wanted to play football. We will not rest until we take revenge on the despicable terrorists, who mercilessly struck and slaughtered our children without pity.”
Knesset member Boaz Bismuth, voicing the opinion of the Likud Party’s rank-and-file, said: “The blood of children is not forfeit. The reaction should be very painful. There is no other option!”
Opposition parties largely shared the same sentiment.
Opposition leader and Yesh Atid Party Chairman Yair Lapid tweeted, “The Iranian-backed terror group, Hezbollah, killed innocent Israeli children as they played outside. We have a responsibility to defend our citizens and restore security. The situation in the north cannot continue. The world must stand with Israel as we defend ourselves.”
Benny Gantz, chairman of opposition National Unity party, tweeted that “the government will be afforded wide support from outside the government for any determined and effective response that will restore security to the citizens of the north.”
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement on Saturday, stated that the massacre “constitutes the crossing of all red lines by Hezbollah.
“This is not an army fighting another army; rather it is a terrorist organization deliberately shooting at civilians. Israel will exercise its right and duty to act in self-defense and will respond to the massacre,” the ministry said.
The rocket smashed into a soccer field in Majdal Shams, a Druze town in the southern foothills of Mount Hermon. It may have been intended for Mount Hermon, like the other projectiles Hezbollah fired on Saturday, but gone astray.
Given the proximity to Lebanon where the rocket originated, children at the soccer field had 15 seconds to seek shelter from the time the warning sirens sounded.
In addition to those killed, 40 were wounded, including six critically.
Hezbollah denied any connection to the attack, a denial that carried little weight given its responsibility for near-daily attacks on Israel since the start of the Oct. 7 war. It fired at least 100 rockets at Israel on Saturday.
The Lebanon-based terrorist group has tried to distance itself from the attack, which angered even its allies in Lebanon. Lebanese Druze politician Wiam Wahhab, who is close to Hezbollah, demanded an independent investigation into the incident. The Lebanese government condemned the “attack against civilians.”
The IDF said it has reliable information that Hezbollah was responsible and the projectile it fired was an Iranian-designed Falaq rocket with a 53-kilogram warhead.
“This is a Hezbollah rocket. And whoever launches such a rocket into a built-up area wants to kill civilians, wants to kill children,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said while visiting Majdal Shams on Saturday.
“We are greatly increasing our readiness for the next stage of fighting in the north,” he added.
Immediately following the attack, the IDF struck targets along the Lebanese border, including near the port of Tyre and at least one strike further north in the Bekaa Valley. A wider response is expected.
“Hezbollah will pay a heavy price which it has not paid up to now,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
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