Tensions in North spike as IDF’s Gaza invasion preparations roll on
One killed in Hezbollah attack • PM meets with families of hostages
The IDF and Hezbollah on Sunday had one of the most tense days in the North during the war, which to date has mostly been focused on Gaza.
Reports circulated of Hezbollah systematically firing at targets to destroy IDF border surveillance equipment so as to blind its early warning invasion capabilities, much as Hamas made sure to eliminate many IDF border surveillance capabilities on October 7 as it invaded Gaza border communities. The IDF returned fire, but Hezbollah claimed publicly that it is hitting Israel harder than it is being hit.
Hezbollah took responsibility for the firing of antitank missiles at IDF outposts near the Lebanon border, killing one man and wounding four. As a result, the IDF announced on Sunday the creation of a four-kilometer “security zone” on the border to prevent any nonresidents from entering the area.
Sirens were also heard in Western Galilee on Sunday afternoon close to the Lebanon border in Nahariya, Rosh Hanikra, Hanita, Gesher Haziv, Betzet, and Shlomi. Hamas in Lebanon – not Hezbollah – took responsibility for the rocket fire, which wounded eight, according to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
As of press time, two were in serious but stable condition, both suffering from shrapnel wounds, while one person suffered similar injuries but was in moderate condition. The remaining five were
in light condition and had undergone tests in the ER mainly for smoke inhalation and head injuries.
In response, the IDF attacked military infrastructure in southern Lebanon with helicopters.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned Hezbollah to calm down, and that Israel’s patience is wearing thin, but that it also did not want to escalate to war. A Hezbollah spokesperson said that “there are incidents on the border; this does not mean that Hezbollah has decided to fully enter the war.”
Peacekeeping force UNIFIL said on Sunday that its headquarters in south Lebanon had been hit by a rocket: “Our headquarters in Nakoura was hit by a rocket and we are working to verify from where. Our peacekeepers were not in shelters at the time. Fortunately, no one was hurt.”
There have, in the past, been repeated periodic incidents where Hezbollah or its supporters attacked UNIFIL personnel, with the peacekeeping group nearly always turning the other cheek and downplaying the incidents.
UNIFIL has been deterred
visit is a demonstration of support from US lawmakers. He said, that upon returning to Washington, he will propose a resolution – which he hopes will be adopted by unanimous consent – condemning Hamas and supporting Israel’s actions in response. The visit allows the lawmakers to hear directly from the Israeli leaders what exactly Israel needs in terms of assistance, so the lawmakers can begin moving legislation forward inside Congress.
The visit is significant on several different levels. First, because of the message it sends to the Israeli people.
As the war enters its second week, as Israel prepares for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, as the IAF bombing runs continue to pound Gaza, as the casualties mount there, more and more voices are being raised inside the US calling for Israeli “restraint and proportionality.”
These voices are being aired in the media and given voice in letters, such as one sent by 55 progressive congressmen to Blinken on Friday.
The Schumer delegation, and its bipartisan nature, tells the Israeli people that those voices are still the minority, and that support for Israel in the Senate and Congress remains strong.
The delegation is also important because of the message it sends to the American people, who are increasingly being exposed to arguments that, as vile as Hamas’s atrocities were, Israel is unjustly punishing innocent civilians in Gaza.
There is a concern that, as the war drags on, the victims will be presented as the perpetrators for taking action to destroy the organization that carried out the massive October 7 pogrom.
While in Israel, the senators are being exposed to videos of the atrocities to ensure that they don’t lose the thread and that their constituents understand that Israel is battling unadulterated evil.
Further, the delegation sends a message to radical leftists and progressives in the US – including those in Congress – that they will not be silent or silenced. On the eve of his visit, pro-Hamas protesters demonstrated in front of Schumer’s apartment in Manhattan as he was having a Shabbat meal with his family. Similar pro-Hamas protests will certainly repeat themselves at events held by visibly pro-Israel US lawmakers in the coming days and weeks. The Schumer delegation trip sends them the message that they will not be intimidated.
And finally, the visit – like other visits here over the last couple of days, not only by Blinken and Austin but also by the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy, and Canada – sends a message that the country is not standing alone and that the West is not indifferent.
Former president George W. Bush, at a private event in Santa Barbara, California, last week, predicted, however, how world attitudes toward Israel would inevitably shift. In a video obtained by the political website Axios, he said, “It’s going to be chaotic... There is going to be a weariness. You watch, the world’s going to be: ‘OK, let’s negotiate.’ You know, ‘Israel’s got to negotiate.’ They’re not going to negotiate. These people [Hamas] have played their cards.
“They want to kill as many Israelis as they can,” he continued. “And negotiating with killers is not an option for the elected government of Israel. And so, we’re just going to have to remain steadfast. But it’s not going to take long for people to say, ‘Surely there is a way to settle this through negotiations. Both sides are guilty.’ My view is one side is guilty, and it’s not Israel.”
That is also the message brought by the Schumer delegation. And it’s an important message for many different audiences to hear from a bipar