Fear of Hezbollah grips Israel’s northern settlements

AhlulBayt News Agency: The Yedioth Ahronoth daily quoted sources from the “Israeli” military’s Northern Command and their assessment that a war with “Israel” is not in Hezbollah’s interest and therefore a conflict is avoidable.

The newspaper pointed out that “local mayors and authorities are the ones asking the ‘Israeli’ army to stop trying to prevent war and work to resolve the threat by removing it.” In other words, they want an open battle and the elimination of Hezbollah.

“We are facing an existential threat to ‘Israel’. […] The weak response against the enemies who want to destroy it from the south and from the north has implications for the end of the Jewish ‘state’ [...] This is an opportunity for a resolution, and we in the ‘home front’ are strong and prepared, and we give full support to the ‘Israeli’ army to engage in the battlefront,” the mayor of 'Kiryat Shmona', Avichai Shatrin, was quoted as saying.

The head of the Upper Galilee Regional Council, Giora Zaltz, recently urged local residents there to go to safer places, and added, “About 80% of the council’s residents have left their ‘homes’.”

“We have an opportunity to create a new reality in which all residents of ‘Israel’ can live in security without any threat. We are prepared and ready with preparedness groups. At this stage, most of these groups have completed their preparations with weapons. However, when an incident occurs, the army will operate behind the border. Also in this case, the main people protecting the settlements are the residents of the settlement itself. The military doesn’t know the settlement better than they do, so it’s very important to have people prepared,” Zaltz said.

For its part, the ‘Kibbutzim’ of Regional Councils offered its residents options for housing in remote ‘kibbutzim.’ Yedioth pointed out that the settlers of ‘Shlomi’ and ‘Kiryat Shmona’ needed to find safe shelter.

“Years of struggle to fortify the north did not bear fruit, and the residents found themselves unfortified,” the daily explains.

The mayor of ‘Kiryat Shmona’, Avichai Shatran, said, “In ‘Kiryat Shmona,’ they see that there are neighboring settlements whose residents are being evacuated, and they wonder why they did not evacuate us? We feel abandoned. The state must create harmony. I have a large number of unprotected residents, and if the state can’t provide protection, it must get them out of here.”

'Shlomi' Council Chairman Gabi Naaman, for his part, said, “What is happening here is a big joke. There are a thousand families without protection. This is complete chaos and a major failure.”

According to Yedioth, dozens of settlements along the border with Lebanon, from ‘Har Dov’ [Shebaa Farms] to Ras Naqoura, look like ghost towns. Very few residents remain, and those who left were replaced by military forces. Members of preparedness groups in the settlements guard the entrances and, under the direction of the army, prevent the entry of non-residents.

Yedioth reported that the head of the so-called Forum of Front-line Communities on the northern border, Moshe Davidovich, is managing the evacuation efforts from the situation room located in the 'Mateh Asher' Regional Council building at the 'Ragava' junction.

“Army officers asked me to give directions to evacuate the population, but they are not prepared to take responsibility for the repercussions of this request and to activate the 'national' plan to move the population to fortified hotels and guest houses, due to the financial cost associated with that,” Davidovich stated.

He said it is “necessary to have any long weapon in the readiness groups affiliated with the Mateh Asher settlements and the adjacent councils.”

Yedioth indicated that the heads of the regional councils on the Lebanese border are also concerned due to the significant shortage of weapons to protect them.

The mayor of the 'Mevo’ot HaHermon' Regional Council Beni Ben-Movhar also said: “Indeed, there was great chaos in the settlements over the issue of weapons, especially in rear settlements. In the front-line settlements, we received an additional share, but it is still not enough. It nevertheless, provides protection for trained readiness groups for the moment of truth.”


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