Tel Aviv vs. the North – Residents fume over IDF’s double standard

“The State of Israel launched a pre-emptive attack to protect the residents of the center, while for ten months the residents of the north have been living under fire,” says activist from northern town.

By World Israel News Staff

Residents of Israel’s embattled north expressed their anger with the government and military, after what they say is a clear demonstration of the double standard applied to Tel Aviv regarding security threats.

For 10 months, residents of communities near the border with Lebanon have been displaced from their homes due to incessant missile, rocket, and explosive drone attacks by the Hezbollah terror group.

Those who have stayed behind face daily dangers from barrages. Dozens of Israeli civilians – including 12 children and teens from Majdal Shams – have been killed by Hezbollah bombing.

Many of the residents feel that the Israeli military’s response, which has mostly focused on tit-for-tat strikes, has been lackluster. By responding with minimal force to the aerial assaults, the residents say, Israel has failed to deter the terror group.

But on Sunday morning, Israel carried out a massive pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah, bombing some 40 locations in southern Lebanon. Hundreds of rocket launchers aimed at Israel’s central region were destroyed, the IDF said in a statement.

While some celebrated the pre-emptive strike as a long-overdue change of pace, many residents of the north said they were angry that similar steps are not taken to protect the lives and homes of Israelis who live near the Lebanese border.

“The law of Kiryat Shmona is supposed to be the same law of Tel Aviv. But the State of Israel launched a pre-emptive attack to protect the residents of the center, while for ten months the residents of the north have been living under fire, [or have been displaced] far from their homes and family,” said Matan Davidian, an activist representing residents of Shlomi, a mostly-evacuated town in northern Israel, in a press release.

“Unfortunately, dozens of dead and wounded have no value for the prime minister, who hides behind a failed defense minister, abandons the northern border and the residents, and simply does not care that our blood is spilled,” Davidian added.

The Chief Rabbi of Tzfat, prominent Religious-Zionist Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, called on the government and military to take decisive action to protect the north.

“Not just the residents of Tel Aviv matter. Our blood is also red,” he said in a public statement. “We expect you to enable us to live in all of the north safely, without dangers to our lives.”

Dror Gavish, a member of northern advocacy group the 1701 Lobby, told Ynet that residents of the north “need to recognize the reality – we don’t count.”

Gavish added that “the government only operates according to what is politically good for it. Because the abandonment of the north doesn’t hurt them politically, they’re fine with the situation.”

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