By Batya Jerenberg
(November 28, 2024 / World Israel News) The head of a moshav along the border with Lebanon slammed the ceasefire deal with the Hezbollah terror group that went into effect Wednesday, in an interview Thursday with Radio 103FM.
Eitan Davidi pulled no punches when noting the deal’s main weakness.
“We repeatedly requested that the distance between us and the villages where Hezbollah terrorists live in Lebanon be extended to two or three kilometers. Everyone, including the military, told us this proximity couldn’t continue.”
It is “a colossal failure” that the government “didn’t deliver” on a buffer zone, he said, charging that this will “lead us to a fourth Lebanon war and to the disintegration of the northern communities.”
There is no exclusionary strip included in the agreement, but Israel has unofficially reserved the right – backed by the U.S. – to destroy any Hezbollah effort to reinstate its men or weaponry in southern Lebanon after the IDF pullout in 60 days’ time.
An Israeli official told Reuters Wednesday that the IDF has leveled enough of Hezbollah’s infrastructure near the border that any attempt to re-enter the area would be seen and there would be enough time for Israel to respond.
However, there is no clause in the deal stating that the Lebanese villages cannot be rebuilt, which would provide new hiding places for weapons and missile launchers, and the men to operate them.
In its two-and-a-half month foray into Lebanon, IDF forces found that Iran’s chief proxy had built up a formidable armory in every village they entered and a tunnel network that reached the Israeli border in several places.
Davidi does not believe that the government would follow through on its threats, due to past experience.
“I don’t trust the prime minister in anything he does—everything he touches fails,” he said.
Although all top officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, have warned that Israel will respond forcefully to every Hezbollah violation, he noted that “for 18 years — 14 of them under Netanyahu — we bought time at an exorbitant cost” instead of acting against the terrorists.
The government is “ruining everything” in its failure to “crush” Hezbollah “more effectively,” and has given the terrorist group “a second chance,” he said.
None of the nearly 70,000 residents who were evacuated from Israel’s north last October for their own safety should return home, he said.
“Don’t go back,” he said. “They’re sending us like sheep to the slaughter. Be careful. If the Radwan Force enters the North, the lucky ones will be killed outright.”
The government has acknowledged that many residents will not be able to return for months yet, because their homes have been partially or completely destroyed due to Hezbollah’s rocket fire and need to be rebuilt, but said that people can return to other communities that are intact, or where the damage is much more limited.
This article was originally published in World Israel News and can be viewed here.