ZAR’IT, on the Israel-Lebanon Border – Northern Israel and the Galilee is a beautiful and inviting place to live.
One drawback, however, is the presence of Iranian-backed terror groups just across the Lebanese border.
On Passover this year, Hamas in Lebanon launched 36 rockets toward northern Israeli communities. While the Iron Dome defense system intercepted 25, one landed on a border warehouse.
Sarit Zehavi of the Alma Research and Education Center lives near the border in northern Israel. She said, “It was just an empty warehouse. Nothing happened, but you can see that across the street it’s a kindergarten and it’s a home over here. I think this explains (to) us, in the best way, the contradiction between the beautiful day, normal life, happy children – and what could have happened if it was not a holiday.”
Zehavi’s organization, the Alma Research Center, is focused on security challenges in the region.
“Now I believe that Hezbollah (the large, Lebanese-based terror group which is a proxy for Iran) helped Hamas to find the locations, you know, to find where exactly to launch, Zehavi explained.
Hezbollah is a powerful, long-time enemy of Israel in Lebanon. In effect, the group controls most of the country and has tens of thousands of increasingly sophisticated rockets aimed across the border in order to carry out the Iranian regime’s main goals, including wiping Israel off the map.
From the Israeli side of the border it is easy to see towers on the hills that belong to Hezbollah. In one location they are building a road, illustrating just how close the threat is to Israeli communities.
Zehavi recently captured photos of Hezbollah operatives surveilling the area within just yards of the border.
Some 268,000 Israelis live within 12 miles of the 49-mile-long shared border. About 250 of them are in Zar’it, a community founded in 1967. It lies less than 700 feet from Hezbollah lookout posts.
Yosi Baranes is the security officer for Zar’it. He told us, “In general, it’s good for us here. Quiet, relaxed, good atmosphere. Everything is green, everything is beautiful.”
Born and raised here, 54-year-old Baranes shared his biggest worry: the thought of Hezbollah potentially reaching into the community.
“That Hezbollah would infiltrate and I would have to deal with (them). Against this, we are on high alert all the time,” he said.
Another Zar’it resident, 52-year-old Rinat Carmel, told us, “I really was born here. I feel that this is my only home,” she explained. First of all, it’s Zionism, because if we won’t be here, there will be no (other) people, which will come and settle here. This is the most beautiful place in the earth. The political issues and the security issues are very disturbing, but we’re trying to live our lives safe and good.”
Carmel says Hezbollah’s advanced weaponry frightens her the most.
“Bombing us with new rockets and the things we cannot, avoid or really get sheltered from them, or be safe. I think the next war will be more sophisticated and we don’t know enough,” she said, and added, “We know a lot about the programs, about this settlement. They want to occupy us and then to kill our people or to take some refugees (kidnapping people) and then to negotiate (for their release).”
Part of the border is walled, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are building more each day.
The decision to build the wall was taken a few years ago, but in the past year, the project was accelerated.
Several years ago, the IDF uncovered a massive Hezbollah terror tunnel at Zar’it – intended to bring death and destruction to the people along the border.
And recently, at the edge of Zar’it by the community’s mushroom factory, Hezbollah carried out a drill just meters away, simulating an attack, including kidnapping Israelis.
Zehavi recalled that when black towers first appeared on the Lebanese side of the border, the IDF published an explanation that the towers belonged to the Lebanese army. But residents can see Hezbollah military operatives on top of the towers – many times, on a daily basis.
Although it’s not clear whether Lebanese civilians live in the nearby buildings, Zehavi believes they do.
“How come mothers like myself agree to put the rockets inside the homes?, she asked. “And the answer is clear. Hezbollah is not only a terrorist organization, it’s also a political party in the Lebanese Parliament and government. And it’s also a social movement. And as a social movement, it provides to these people. All the social services, financial services, medical services, educational services, whatever you can imagine of services by the government are provided by Hezbollah.”
Zehavi continued, “And the bottom line is that the people on the other side of the border are actually dependent on Hezbollah – in a way, dependency, and in a way that Hezbollah can indoctrinate.”
All of this happens under the watchful eye of the United Nations, which creates another dilemma for Israel.
“And it’s the same dilemma with the human shield issue. What do you do if there is a launcher next to this UN position over there and it is launching to Yossi’s house in Zar’it? And if you destroy the launcher, you may destroy the UN position as well. If you don’t destroy the launcher, it’s Yossi’s family.”
Even though Hezbollah and Iran are not as interested in a Palestinian state as others are, a nearby water tower is created to look like the Dome of the Rock on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
“There is a reason why it’s decorated like the Dome of the Rock,” Zehavi explained. “This is exactly building the narrative that where we are standing, In their point of view, this is Palestine. In their point of view, the whole area from the Galilee to Eilat, from the River to the Sea – it’s Palestine.”
So, for now, Israelis living on the border continue their daily lives under this growing threat from Iran and Hezbollah, knowing that at any moment they could be attacked by a brutal enemy that desires their destruction.
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