Today I am thinking about the historic diplomatic breakthrough between Israel and Lebanon that may bring peace to communities in North Israel and Southern Lebanon, and how we got here.
After the horrible events of October 7th and its ongoing aftermath It took a long time to get back to what has passed as normal ever since. It took weeks for me to get back to playing piano, months before I started to write this blog again and nearly a year to refocus effectively on work. Sleeping was a challenge.
In the immediate aftermath of the massacres/rape on an industrial scale/mass kidnappings of innocents, our initial focus here in Zichron (out of the line of fire) was volunteering where ever possible to help support our boys and girls on the front lines. We also helped to house some of the 100,000 plus internal refugees from Otef communities and the north who lost their homes and / or remained under direct attack from Hamas and Hezbollah. And we mourned our dead.
At times Israel faced 7 separate attacks – from terror groups on all sides ALL orchestrated by the Iranian IRGC. The 7th and most difficult front was the propaganda war which started with blood libels of genocide and baby killers literally ON October 7th itself, before Israel had even counted its dead and kidnapped victims of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and “innocent Gazan” tag-alongs.
Fast forward almost three years and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) continues to combat Hamas and Hezbollah. Top leadership of both Hamas and Hezbollah have been extinguished. The world is a better place for their deaths.
Increasingly the Big Lie of Israeli genocide is imploding, UNWRA and related UN, NGO complicity in Hamas terror is becoming undeniable. Hamas continuing barbarity against Gazans is coming to light like never before. In Gaza the IDF has extinguished the long time leaders of Hamas and is well on its way to identifying and eliminating all Nukhba terrorists who participated directly in the barbarity of October 7th.
This is not Groundhog Day and there is hope for a better future for all the people of the region.
On the northern front, Lebanon has shown unprecedented leadership in condemning the role in Iran in funding and training Hezbollah terror. Lebanon recognizes the existential threat of Hezbollah. Israel and Lebanon are engaged in direct negotiations and coordination to destroy Hezbollah root and branch.
Once upon al time there was an Israeli border with Lebanon near Metula called the “Good Fence” where Lebanese civilians crossed into Israel for free medical care, work and trade. This was an economic lifeline for Southern Lebanese farmers and merchants who exported goods from Israel via Haifa. This ended in May 2000 when Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon.
The Good Fence lives on in our collective memory as a symbol of peaceful coexistence that we hope can return to reality.
Is it paranoia or have I alienated you? (For which I apologize…)
<
div dir=”ltr”>How is th