Evacuees from northern Israel expressed anger at being neglected after Israeli forces thwarted Hezbollah attacks on Tel Aviv.
After Israeli intelligence observed early Sunday that Hezbollah was about to launch its largest attack of the ongoing war, targeting the areas of Tel Aviv and central Israel, among others, Israeli forces preemptively and independently attacked targets where Hezbollah was about to fire on Israel.
“The fate of Kiryat Shmona should be the same as that of Tel Aviv,” said Matan Davidian, a coordinator of the Shlomi evacuees and organizer of the “Fighting for the North” forum.
“The State of Israel has carried out a preemptive attack on the residents of the center, while the residents of the north have been living under fire for ten months, far from their homes and families.”
“Unfortunately, the dozens of dead and injured mean nothing to the Prime Minister. He hides behind a failing Defense Minister, abandons the northern border and the residents, and simply does not care if our blood is shed.”
The chairman of the Forum of Regional Councils along Israel’s northern border and chairman of the Asher Regional Council, Moshe Davidovitch, also pointed to the frustration of many people in the north who saw an attack targeting Tel Aviv provoke a reaction they had not experienced in attacks on the north.
North demands equal protection
While welcoming the attack by Israeli forces, Davidovitch stressed that the fate of the north and the center must be the same and that the state should not intervene only when there is a targeted threat to Tel Aviv or the center.
Addressing the government and cabinet, Davidovotch stressed: “The ultimate goal is to find a solution for the north and bring the uprooted residents back to their homes.”
“We feel like they are playing Russian roulette with us,” said Moriyah Reder, a resident of Nahariya and member of the Fighting for the North forum.
“Our reality is absurd,” she said, adding that she didn’t think her children knew what a red alert was, and now they experience it every day.”
Yonah Jeremy Bob, Mathilda Heller, Tovah Lazaroff and Reuters contributed to this report.
