As Israel prepares for Lebanon war, northern residents finally take center stage
Over 60,000 have been displaced for over 11 months. But they’re willing to wait longer if it means the destruction of Hezbollah.
The northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona has become a ghost town since October
To say that war with Lebanon is still looming is somewhat misleading. A more serious conflict is indeed on the horizon, but for the residents of Israel’s northern border region, war has already been raging for the past 11 months.
Some 60,000 locals evacuated the region for safer areas to the south, and those who remained are subjected to daily rocket barrages resulting in sporadic casualties, severe property damage, rampant wildfires and power outages.
In short, war.
But it’s about to get worse. And the residents of the north are supportive of that fact, knowing that the only way they can return and live their lives in relative peace and security is to destroy the threat at their doorstep.
“Our homes have probably been destroyed, but that’s okay with us as long as it will lead to victory and survival,” one evacuee staying in Tel Aviv told JNS last week. She and other internal refugees from the north said they found terribly disturbing the weekly anti-government protest in Tel Aviv, which have of late been accompanied by an more “anti-war” tune.
The resident of northern Israel are frustrated by the fact that their plight elicits a less serious military reaction than a single drone striking Tel Aviv.
Their leaders have said repeatedly that the residents of the north will not return home until the Hezbollah threat is removed. A “diplomatic solution” that leave Hezbollah armed and in place is not acceptable.
So today’s news that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to declare the safe return of Israel’s northern residents a formal war goal is sure to provide some belated hope.
In a statement on Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office said that the goal “is agreed upon by all Cabinet members.”
Netanyahu has stated in the past that the safe return of residents evacuated from towns and villages along Israel’s border with Lebanon due to ongoing attacks by Hezbollah is a national goal, but has not yet made it an official government policy.
With the Gaza war now in its later phases, the attention of the political and military leadership is shifting to the north.
Opposition leader Benny Gantz last week told a gathering in Washington that “the time for the north has come. …we must go to war in the north and ensure that we can return the residents to their homes.”
Netanyahu was cited by Israel’s Channel 12 on Friday as saying, “The situation in the north cannot continue. We must change the equation.”
The Biden administration is predictably desperate to prevent a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon on the cusp of a US presidential election. US special envoy Amos Hochstein is set to arrive in Israel on Monday with that goal in mind.
But as Israelis have been saying since the black Shabbat of October 7, 2023 – “What once was will no longer be.”
Israelis will no longer let American political considerations dictate the way they live their lives and protect their families.
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