Alma Center thinktank<\/a>.<\/p>\nAcross northern Israel, the number of civilian casualties caused by Hezbollah rocket and drone strikes has been small. Nuriel Dubin, 27, was killed in a rocket attack on 24 March, though there have also been attacks from Iran, sometimes in coordination. Four died in the city of Haifa this month after an Iranian ballistic missile smashed into an apartment building. The total number of those recorded killed in Lebanon since early March is more than 1,700.<\/p>\n
But as the dash to the shelter demonstrates, the war, for Israelis in the north, is constantly disruptive. Residents at Cabri say every decision to leave home, work in the fields, walk a dog, is a matter of \u201crisk management\u201d \u2013 in an open space, where there is no shelter, people are supposed to lie down until the danger has passed.<\/p>\nMoshe Davidovich, the chief of the local Mate Asher Regional Council, is happy for Israel\u2019s war in Lebanon to continue. <\/span> Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum\/The Guardian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMoshe Davidovich, the chief of the local Mate Asher Regional Council, argues starkly that he is happy for Israel\u2019s war in Lebanon to continue, because it is not acceptable for Hezbollah, \u201ca terrorist organisation for 40 years, to hit us when they want, or when a proxy of Iran wants\u201d. Polling for media outlet Channel 12 reported that 79% of Israelis supported the continued strikes into Lebanon.<\/p>\n
It raises the question of how the cycle of violence can be stopped if the mood is to continue bombing. Davidovich calls for international engagement, with support for the Lebanese government from the US, the UK, and France to act as \u201ca big brother in Lebanon, to make sure that Hezbollah will not grow again as a threat\u201d.<\/p>\n
Israel, now under pressure from Donald Trump to scale back its offensive against Hezbollah after Wednesday\u2019s mass strikes, has shown a willingness to talk to the Lebanese government directly. But it would take a major political commitment for other countries to become more deeply involved \u2013 and already Israel has rejected the idea of France acting as a mediator.<\/p>\nAmir Yarchi hopes Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government, lagging in the polls, will fall at the next election.<\/span> Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum\/The Guardian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIn Cabri, Yarchi argues a military only solution is unrealistic. \u201cWe might find ourselves in an endless war in which soldiers are being hit on a daily basis,\u201d he says. Yarchi hopes Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government, lagging in the polls, will fall at the next election, due later in the autumn, having launched a series of wars since the Hamas attack on 7 October but failed to resolve Israel\u2019s regional security.<\/p>\n
Gili Moria, who now runs the kibbutz\u2019s business activities, was an Israeli soldier during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon that led to a traumatic and ultimately unsuccessful 18 year occupation of the south of the country. In the latest campaign, Israeli soldiers are operating several kilometres inside southern Lebanon, clearing border villages, as well as bombing Hezbollah forces and launch sites.<\/p>\n
The veteran argues there should be a winding down of military activity. Israeli soldiers should stay in Lebanon \u201cfor the shortest time possible\u201d. A longer occupation would be \u201crisky for the soldiers, bad for the Lebanese\u201d though he also sees some ground for optimism, a view not widely shared among kibbutz members.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that the weakening of Iran and its support for Hezbollah might have created some dynamics that will reduce the motivation of Hezbollah to attack Israel. I think it\u2019s possible, the best case scenario we can wish for,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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