The day after a barrage of more than 200 rockets were launched from Lebanon, Moshe Davidovich, head of the Mateh Asher Regional Council in northern Israel, told Ynet on Thursday, "Anyone who looked at the northern skies on Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, would have thought it was Independence Day."
The attack on northern communities during the festival of Shavuot came in response to the killing of Taleb Abdallah, the highest-ranking Hezbollah commander killed since the war began.
Sirens blared across the Galilee, and for the first time since October, an alert was activated in the city of Tiberias. Several rockets hit buildings directly, others exploded in unpopulated areas and some caused fires. Overnight, the IDF struck southern Lebanon, but sirens continued to sound in the western Galilee and Kiryat Shmona Thursday morning.
Giora Saltz, head of the Upper Galilee Regional Council, recounted, "On the eve of the holiday, I stood with my grandson at the Shavuot ceremony in Lehavot HaBashan, looking up to see dozens of rockets and interceptions. We are eight communities on the front line with zero warning time for evacuation. Then you see hundreds of children and adults lying on the grass, covering their heads with their hands. All this is happening in the State of Israel, which celebrated its 76th Independence Day a month ago."
Saltz added, "Our greatest challenge is that on the other side of the border, there is a leader who says what he will do and does what he says, while on our side, we have a government that is either unable or unwilling to make decisions. Let's not be mistaken, the relatively minor damage caused by those 200 rockets wasn't due to military preparedness, but because that’s what Nasrallah intended. He didn't want to cause damage. On one side of the border, there's someone we need to listen to and heed his warnings, while on our side, there's no one guiding us on where we're headed, what the goals are, and what the missions are."
Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Kiryat Shmona, while Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued strongly worded threats against Hezbollah. But is it all just talk?
“The prime minister wasn’t really ‘in the north,’” said Davidovich. “He was in one place and didn’t meet with the people he was supposed to. Posing for photos with the heads of regional councils in Mateh Asher, the Upper Galilee or Shlomi and hearing about the difficulties here is not enough. Instead, he stayed hidden in one small location, and we only learned afterward that he was even here.
“The defense minister’s warlike statements don’t impress anyone on our side, and certainly not on the other side. What needs to be done right now is to make decisions. There are only a few weeks, no more, in which the Israeli government must make the right decisions and ensure that northern residents can return safely to their homes this summer. They also need to advance an economic plan that will keep us here. Even among the frontline residents who haven’t been evacuated, cracks are beginning to show, patience is running out and despair is growing.”
Davidovich added, “We are alone here in the Galilee. When you mention the prime minister and defense minister’s statements, the Arabs say ‘kalām fādī’ (empty words). After 200 rockets yesterday, I woke up at 4:45 this morning to sirens in Yehiam and Klil. This is my ‘good morning.’ We are nearing the end of the year, and there is no government. The north doesn’t interest them. They see people fleeing on a holiday, and we are in a serious crisis. The government is not with us; the north has been abandoned by them. After what happened, not a single minister called to address these horrific scenes.”
Gabi Naaman, head of the Shlomi Local Council, who is aligned with Netanyahu's Likud party, expressed his frustration. “In recent days, we have truly been forgotten. We are bitter. The residents of the north, including Shlomi, are very angry at the government for its incompetence. For eight months, we’ve been under rocket fire, drones and other threats, constantly at risk. What’s worse, our residents have moved to Nahariya, Acre, Tiberias, and they’re also being hit by rockets there. The local authorities must pressure the government to adopt a decisive plan.”
Naaman added, “This situation can't go on. Maybe we’re not even realizing that the country is possibly avoiding war for economic reasons, which leaves me very disheartened. I have doubts about this government’s commitment to eliminating Hezbollah and ensuring the safety of our residents. Shlomi’s population has doubled in five years. Where will they return to? A grim reality? Look at the images from October 7; that’s what the north will face if the government doesn’t deal with Hezbollah. The time for decisive action has come.”