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Israelis Tell Netanyahu to Keep Fighting in Lebanon to Eliminate Hizbullah
(Washington Post) Gerry Shih - Rani Ben Dov, 77, a farmer in Moshav Betzet in northern Israel, was tired of seeking shelter from incoming Hizbullah fire, but even now the last thing he wanted was for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pull the plug on the military offensive in Lebanon, just a mile away. "We need to let the generals do what they need to do and eliminate Hizbullah," he said. "We can't just leave." The sentiment is pervasive. In war-weary border villages, on prime time talk shows, within the political opposition and among Netanyahu's supporters, Israelis are pushing their prime minister to fight - and stay - in Lebanon. A poll by the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv in late May found that 60% of Israelis and an overwhelming majority of the government's supporters say Israel should intensify its fight against Hizbullah. 60,000 residents of northern Israeli were targeted and displaced for 14 months by missiles launched by Hizbullah beginning in Oct. 2023, and have held protests demanding that Netanyahu eliminate the Hizbullah threat. Today, the mood in Israel is a far cry from 2000, the last time Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon. At the time, mothers of Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon regularly led protests demanding that Israel pull out. At Moshav Shtula, Avi Ben Chitrit said he, too, worried about the threat of Hizbullah munitions raining down. Hizbullah rockets over the last 30 months have destroyed homes and a community sports center in the village. Drones target nearby Israeli troop positions on a near-daily basis. He said, "What are we supposed to do, stop all the activity in the north and let them kill us? We need to continue to defend ourselves until everything is quiet."