By Justine Hemmestad
As a Major in the IDF reserves, my dear friend Itamar Ben David has his hands full this week, as the activity of Hezbolla has heightened. On August 25, sirens blared across northern Israel. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Israel’s military spokesperson, later revealed that 100 Israeli planes had conducted a preemptive strike, hitting 270 Hezbolla targets in Lebanon and destroying thousands of rocket launchers that were aimed toward northern Israel. Israel had identified Hezbolla preparing to conduct an imminent attack on its border. Hezbolla sent 320 missiles and drones into Israel in response, the most in one day since the war in Gaza began, but most were thwarted. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said there was little damage in Israel, and that an intelligence base near Tel Aviv was not hit. Shoshani additionally told ABC news about the pre-emptive strike, “We saw Hezbolla preparing to carry out an attack of hundreds of rockets toward Israelis; we carried out a strike in self defense to remove that threat of an attack on Israeli citizens and to prevent an larger attack by using an active defense to attack these rocket launchers and also use our arial defense systems to intercept the rockets coming into Israel…it was solely an Israeli operation.” Shoshani added that Israel had great communications with counterparts throughout (including America), “backing us up.” Ben David shared a picture on Facebook Stories of Hezbolla’s missiles destroying a chicken on an Israeli farm. His humor has not wavered. Something I’ve learned writing this series is that public humiliation in this region of the world is as bad as the bombs themselves, which Israel uses with great effective- ness. Fears of a broader war in the region were raised with the activity, though both Israel and Hezbolla pulled back after the attack. The “heavy firepower and lack of civilian casualties [one Israeli and three Hezbolla killed] might allow both sides to claim a sort of victory and step back from a long-feared war,” the Associated Press re- ported. The regional tension is of course connected to the ongoing war in Gaza, though the exchange between Israel and Hezbolla was the largest since the war began. Hezbolla’s leader Hassan Nasrallah said their attack had been delayed to give the cease-fire talks a chance to succeed, but he failed to say the retaliatory strikes had ended. Hezbolla’s intended attack was in response to Israel’s killing of Hezbolla commander Shukr in Beirut last month, which was in response to Hezbolla’s bombing of a soccer field in Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights that killed 12 kids. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “this is not the end of the story.” He also said, “Whoever harms us, we harm them.” Bringing Israeli citizens back to their homes amidst peace in the north is an ab- solute must for Israel. After centuries upon centuries of prejudice and turmoil, Jews have a safe haven in Israel and it must be so - there’s no other option. To reach that outcome, Israel prefers to use diplomacy through the U.S., but the use of force will not be ruled out if needed. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin reaffirmed America’s commitment to Israeli security. Hezbolla, on the other hand, has said through officials that they also don’t want a wider war. They’ve said that they’re prepared for one, though Israel has vowed to devastate Lebanon’s civilian infrastructure and struggling economy if their provocation ensues. South Lebanon, where Hezbolla’s forces operate, would be crushed. The U.S. had rushed a carrier strike group (a navy formation composed of approximately 7,500 service personnel, an aircraft carrier, a cruiser, two destroyers, and a carrier air wing of at least 65 planes) to the region to deter Iran and its proxies. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani affirmed, “This is not a war we started; we’re protecting our country and our civilians; we’re fighting for our existence. Our goal is to bring back peace for our people.” I’m reminded of Avigail Gimpel (author of Hyper Healing, on Amazon) telling me that she felt like the world wants Israel not to fight back but offer up “Jewish sacrifices.” Rather than be sacrificed, Israel fights back.
Comentários