Northerners slam Israeli ‘surrender agreement’ with Hezbollah

“It’s time to put the people of Lebanon in bomb shelters. We are in a war, and we need to win it,” says group advocating for northern evacuees.

By World Israel News Staff

Residents of northern Israel blasted a potential ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group, with one advocacy group referring to the proposal as an Israeli “surrender agreement.”

Reports including details about the agreement, which is being pushed by the Biden administration’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Amos Hochstein, have sparked backlash among the tens of thousands of Israelis who have been forced to evacuate their homes.

The deal would see a “mutual withdrawal” of forces from both sides of the border, meaning that both the Israeli army and Hezbollah terrorists would need to vacate the area, according to Arabic-language reports.

International peacekeepers – who have been proven to be woefully ineffective at preventing Hezbollah from firing on northern Israel – would be responsible for maintaining order.

Many residents of northern Israel have said that they do not trust Hezbollah to abide by the terms of the ceasefire for the long-term and will not return home, unless the terror group’s capabilities are severely crippled by an IDF offensive.

“The word ‘victory’ has been erased from our vocabulary,” Rafael Salb, a resident of Kiryat Shmona, told Ma’ariv.

“This week, the Defense Minister [Yoav Gallant] said ‘with great force, we will achieve a [diplomatic] settlement.’ If the goal is an agreement [and not a military victory over Hezbollah], the [security] situation will only deteriorate,” he continued.

He said that “there is zero chance that we will return to destroyed Kiryat Shmona” without a military campaign against Hezbollah, and added that he believed a ceasefire would lay the groundwork for a large-scale terror attack.

“Any diplomatic solution will surely bring the next massacre in the north, It will be 10 times worse than the [October 7th terror onslaught] we experienced in the south. And the blood will be on this government’s hands.”

The Fighting for the North NGO, which represents hundreds of displaced people from the region, issued a withering statement calling on Israel to change tactics and move from diplomacy to military might.

“While the Golan and Galilee mourn the murder of the two parents…in a Hezbollah attack, the Israeli government and the IDF continue talk about a surrender agreement,” Fighting for the North said in a media release.

“It’s time to put the people of Lebanon in [bomb] shelters. We are in a war, and we need to win it.”