{"id":1432,"date":"2024-09-24T00:12:06","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T18:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/"},"modified":"2024-09-24T00:12:06","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T18:42:06","slug":"do-the-israelis-want-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Do the Israelis want war?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Most citizens of this Middle Eastern country favor a military solution to the conflict with Hezbollah, and some even hope to \u201cresettle Lebanon\u2019s south\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Israel is on the offensive. Since\u00a0Monday morning, the IDF has carried out more than 800\u00a0strikes on military targets in Lebanon in its pursuit of Hezbollah, a Shiite\u00a0political party and paramilitary group linked to Iran. Last week, Israel conducted a precision strike in Beirut\u2019s Dahiya neighborhood, killing the head of Hezbollah\u2019s elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil, along with other top commanders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier,\u00a0explosives placed in communication devices detonated in two waves, killing dozens of the Shiite group\u2019s operatives and injuring thousands of others. Israel hasn\u2019t taken responsibility for the attacks, but Lebanon blames officials in\u00a0Jerusalem. Hezbollah has vowed to take revenge.<\/p>\n

Those threats have not fallen on deaf ears. Following the elimination of Aqil and the barrages on Israel\u2019s north, communities close to the northern border were advised to avoid gatherings. Residents were instructed to stay close to bomb shelters in the event of yet another salvo; and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy approved a number of action plans in preparation for a looming full-fledged war.<\/p>\n

Many Israelis are waiting for such a confrontation. According to a recent poll<\/a>\u00a0conducted by channel 14, associated with the country\u2019s right, 71 percent of Israelis backed a military operation in Lebanon. Only 18 percent rejected the move. Another survey showed<\/a> that 65 percent of Israelis believed their country would win the war.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

What does Putin have to do with Israel\u2019s attacks on Lebanon?<\/a><\/p>\n

Yisrael Keller is one of those people. Representing a group called \u201cFighting for the North\u201d<\/em> that unites various organizations linked to the right, Keller is a staunch supporter of an offensive on Lebanon and he says that only a war will be able to change many Israelis\u2019 \u201cgloomy reality that includes 15 seconds\u2019 alert before a Hezbollah rocket explodes in one of the towns.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOur organization was formed several months after Israel went into Gaza,\u201d<\/em> he said in reference to the ground incursion that kicked off on October 27. \u201dMany people of the north have left their houses due to rockets [emanating from Hezbollah – ed.], others were sitting in shelters and we understood that something needed to change for us to be able to go back and live in peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the beginning of the war, Hezbollah has launched more than 8,000 rockets towards Israel. As a result, 62,000 Israelis residing up to five kilometers away from the northern border have been evacuated by the government. Thousands of others have left their homes voluntarily, fearing the waves of daily barrages.<\/p>\n

Israel has always retaliated. Over the course of the war, the IDF has struck thousands of targets in southern Lebanon and Beirut. It killed commanders and leaders, eliminated launch pads and bases, and disrupted the supply of weapons. That, however, wasn\u2019t enough for the activists of \u201cFighting for the North.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAll Israel has been doing was retaliating by attacking the sites from which Hezbollah carried out attacks on our civilians. But what\u2019s the point of this approach?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0asked Keller. \u201cThe next day Hezbollah would resume fighting, attacking us from a different site. We felt that our response was too mild. It was a plaster, it didn\u2019t uproot the problem, and that needed to change.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

According to Keller, Hezbollah must not only be pushed away from the current border, deeper into the Lebanese territory and beyond the Litani River. It also needs to be disarmed to the extend that it no longer poses a threat to the State of Israel.<\/p>\n

The catch is that Hezbollah\u2019s arsenal of weapons might be more than Israel can digest. According to reports<\/a>, the Shiite group boasts more than 200,000 missiles, rockets and mortars. On top of that, they also have thousands of drones, an impressive system of sophisticated tunnels and an army of 50,000 well-trained and well-equipped fighters, not to mention reservist forces which also comprise 50,000 combatants.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Pager explosion scandal: Will Hezbollah unleash a new war in the Middle East?<\/a><\/p>\n

Although some Israeli experts have already warned<\/a> that a full-fledged war with Lebanon is a bad idea primarily because the Jewish State would find it difficult to cope with several fronts simultaneously, Keller is certain that Israel \u201chas the intelligence, the military might and the technology\u201d<\/em> to win the battle. The only thing that is missing, he says, is\u00a0\u201cpolitical will.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

During his tenure of more than a decade, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of looking the other way while Hezbollah was accumulating weapons and technology. Keller does not consider himself to be a staunch Netanyahu critic, but he does believe that the group he represents needs to continue to exert pressure on the prime minister and his government \u201cto bring about the much needed change.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe made it clear to the government: we will no longer accept any short-term solutions. The only possible resolution to this conflict can be the disarmament of Hezbollah and its ouster beyond the Litani. What we also need to do is to make sure that the south of Lebanon will be in Israeli hands.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Israel has long accused<\/a> Beirut of allowing Hezbollah to act as masters in Lebanon, creating \u201ca state within state,\u201d<\/em> in the country\u2019s south, known for being a stronghold of the Shiite militia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Keller is certain that that area should now be turned into a buffer zone. It should be managed by the military, he says, and it might even have Jewish settlements, along the lines of what Israel has erected in the West Bank and in Gaza before the official pullout in 2005.<\/p>\n

We no longer believe in\u00a0a Lebanese government that can restrain Hezbollah. They have failed time and time again. Now we will take matters into our own hands and make sure Hezbollah is no longer a threat.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Keller and\u00a0like-minded individuals are not afraid of the international isolation and the economic abyss such a move \u2013 a full-fledge war and the potential occupation of southern Lebanon \u2013 could bring. For them, Israel\u2019s security comes first.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael has the money to handle it, and our finance minister [Betzalel Smotrich – ed.] is knowledgeable to steer us through. We are willing to wait several months if we know that the goal to wipe Hezbollah off the map materializes. For us, it is a matter of survival because if we don\u2019t eliminate them, the events of October 7 will repeat themselves. This time in the north,\u201d<\/em> he concluded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Israel and Lebanon have been at war twice. The First Lebanon War kicked off in 1982 and finished two years later, but Israeli presence in the south of the country only came to an end in May 2000, after the IDF\u2019s total pullout. Six years later, the two nations locked horns again, in what is commonly known as the Second Lebanon War, after the Shiite group killed ten Israeli soldiers.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most Israelis favor a military solution to the conflict with Hezbollah, and some even hope to \u201cresettle Lebanon\u2019s south\u201d Read Full Article at RT.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\nDo the Israelis want war? - Leading the AI News Frontier<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do the Israelis want war? - Leading the AI News Frontier\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most Israelis favor a military solution to the conflict with Hezbollah, and some even hope to \u201cresettle Lebanon\u2019s south\u201d Read Full Article at RT.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leading the AI News Frontier\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-23T18:42:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Do the Israelis want war?\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-23T18:42:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/\"},\"wordCount\":1161,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Top News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/\",\"name\":\"Do the Israelis want war? - Leading the AI News Frontier\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-23T18:42:06+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Do the Israelis want war?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/\",\"name\":\"Leading the AI News Frontier\",\"description\":\"Empowering You with AI Intelligence\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Leading the AI News Frontier\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/AInews.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/AInews.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":72,\"caption\":\"Leading the AI News Frontier\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Do the Israelis want war? - Leading the AI News Frontier","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Do the Israelis want war? - Leading the AI News Frontier","og_description":"Most Israelis favor a military solution to the conflict with Hezbollah, and some even hope to \u201cresettle Lebanon\u2019s south\u201d Read Full Article at RT.com","og_url":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/","og_site_name":"Leading the AI News Frontier","article_published_time":"2024-09-23T18:42:06+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Do the Israelis want war?","datePublished":"2024-09-23T18:42:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/"},"wordCount":1161,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Top News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/","url":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/","name":"Do the Israelis want war? - Leading the AI News Frontier","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-09-23T18:42:06+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/do-the-israelis-want-war\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Do the Israelis want war?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/","name":"Leading the AI News Frontier","description":"Empowering You with AI Intelligence","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/#organization","name":"Leading the AI News Frontier","url":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/AInews.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/AInews.png","width":300,"height":72,"caption":"Leading the AI News Frontier"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ainews.prativad.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}