Benjamin Netanyahu presented the ceasefire in the context of what he said were Israel’s “unprecedented achievements” in the past year of a seven-front war.
He said Israel has set Hezbollah back “decades” and that it is not the same group as before.
Much was made of Israel’s power to do what it believed needed to be done – in Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere – despite international opposition.
And there was also plenty of justification for the ceasefire — it would allow Israel to “focus on the Iranian threat,” Netanyahu said, emphasizing that his country would retain full military freedom to counter any new Hezbollah threat.
The Israeli army said on Tuesday it had hit 180 targets in Lebanon in the past 24 hours. Here on the Israeli side of the border, there have been constant warnings of rocket fire and drone attacks from Lebanon.
Neither side wants this ceasefire to be seen as a surrender.
But surrender is exactly what Netanyahu is accused of by his political rivals – and also by some of his political allies.
An opinion poll yesterday showed that more than 80% of Netanyahu’s supporters opposed a deal, and many residents in Israel’s north – many of whom have been evacuated from their homes – are also angry.
Shelley, an English teacher in Shlomi, said a ceasefire was an “irresponsible and hasty political decision.”
Rona Valency, evacuated from Kibbutz Kfar Giladi on October 8 last year, told me that she wanted to go home and that a ceasefire was necessary, but that the idea of Lebanese residents returning to these villages made her “a real feeling.” of uneasiness and fear. ”.
From Kfar Giladi you have an unobstructed view of the Lebanese village of Odaisseh on the other side of the valley.
“All I can hope for is that Hezbollah will not infiltrate these villages and build a new network,” Rona told me. “Apart from these villages being completely wiped out and there being no people left, there is nothing physical that can make me feel safe. It’s just, you know, hope.”
Her husband, Onn, said the key to security lay not in the terms of the ceasefire, but in the fact that people “understand[ing] again, where we live; understand[ing] some things that many of us have forgotten.”
He said he did not trust the Lebanese army, nor the Americans, to restore security along the border.
“I only trust our military,” he said. “I think if the military is not there, it will be very, very difficult to get the civilians back.”
Many Israelis are urging Netanyahu to continue the war in Lebanon [EPA]
This war has brought many military achievements to Israel: Hezbollah has been weakened, its arsenals and infrastructure depleted, and its solidarity with Hamas broken.
But Israel’s armed forces are tired, the economy is suffering and tens of thousands of residents have been displaced.
Yet many here are urging Benjamin Netanyahu to continue the war in Lebanon – and wondering why the prime minister, who has pledged to continue fighting in Gaza until “total victory,” is calling for a ceasefire in the north draws?
