Israel allows Lebanese farmers to cross into Israel amid crisis

The agricultural work will take place under supervision from Israeli security forces.

By World Israel News Staff

As an embattled Lebanon slogs through an unprecedented economic crisis that’s seen its currency plummet in value by more than 90 percent, shortages of gas, medicine, and other essentials, and widespread blackouts, Israel has offered a surprising respite for some agricultural workers.

The IDF announced on Tuesday that it is permitting olive growers from Lebanon to cross into Israeli territory for olive harvesting. The agricultural work will take place under supervision from Israeli security forces.

“In light of the economic situation in Lebanon, and as a gesture of goodwill to the Lebanese people, the IDF opened the border to agricultural workers from Al Jabal, Itaron and Balida,” read the statement from the Israeli military.

“The IDF allowed the workers to cross the Blue Line, to a certain extent, allowing them to harvest olive trees in Israeli territory. This gesture was reported to the Lebanese side by UNIFIL.”

Although Lebanon and Israel are currently engaged in a dispute over their maritime border, the IDF did not classify the entry of the agricultural workers as a threat to national security.

The chaos currently engulfing Israel’s neighbor to the north has the potential to pose a serious security risk to the Jewish State.

Professor Mordechai Kedar, a scholar of Arabic culture at Bar Ilan University, recently told ILTV News that Israel should be prepared for hordes of starving Lebanese citizens storming the border.

“Thousands of Lebanese, men and women, will start marching [southward[ in order to get food, gas, and drinking water from Israel, because everything in Lebanon is deteriorating…in the stores in Lebanon, you can’t find infant formula…

“Even the most basic things cannot be found in stores in Lebanon. This is the main issue.”

Israel should be prepared with a lot of food in the north, and establish refugee camps for those unfortunate Lebanese, on Lebanese soil, in order to take care of them. Otherwise they will die of hunger. This is what Israel should do.”