![Israel must continue to be able to deter Hezbollah, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar stressed on Wednesday, speaking amid efforts to reach a ceasefire with Iran's Lebanese terrorist proxy. "We need to keep the freedom to act if there will be violations. And we will have to act in time, before the problem will grow," the minister told a gathering of nearly 100 foreign ambassadors in Jerusalem, the Times of Israel reported. A deal to end more than a year of fighting on the northern border must be durable, Sa'ar said, saying Jerusalem “would like to reach an agreement that will stand the test of time." He added that a ceasefire would be an "opportunity" for Lebanon to regain its sovereignty after the Israeli military severely degraded the Iranian-backed group in recent months. He called for the Lebanese Armed Forces to be strengthened and urged the international community to invest more in the economically devastated country, which is drowning in debt following years of mismanagement and corruption. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also emphasized on Wednesday the necessity for Jerusalem to be able to act against any Hezbollah threats that may arise after a ceasefire deal is implemented. “The condition for any political settlement in Lebanon is the preservation of the intelligence capability and the preservation of the [IDF’s] right to act and protect the citizens of Israel from Hezbollah,” Katz said. Meanwhile, U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein remained in Beirut for a second day on Wednesday to discuss "technical details" of an American ceasefire proposal with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement. President Joe Biden's point man in the Land of the Cedars announced he would travel to Israel on Wednesday night, speaking after he made "additional progress" in a second meeting with Berri. Hochstein was scheduled to meet with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer shortly after his arrival, followed by a tête-à-tête with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the following day. “The meeting today built on the meeting yesterday, and made additional progress,” Hochstein said. “So I will travel from here in a couple hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can.” The Biden envoy added that he will work with the incoming Trump administration on ceasefire efforts, saying that he has kept the president-elect's transition team informed of progress. Hochstein described as "very productive" his meetings with Lebanese officials on Tuesday. “We have a real opportunity to end the conflict, and now is the moment to decide. We are committed to doing everything we can to work with Lebanon and Israel to end this conflict,” Hochstein said at a press conference on Tuesday. Hochstein also met on Tuesday with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and he was scheduled to meet with Lebanese Armed Forces commander Gen. Joseph Aoun. Mikati emphasized that Lebanon’s primary objectives are achieving a ceasefire and safeguarding its sovereignty. He highlighted the need to implement international resolutions and bolster the Lebanese Armed Forces in the southern part of the country. Lebanon delivered its written response to the latest U.S. proposal on Monday. According to Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Berri, the response included “comments” that were “presented in a positive atmosphere.” He did not provide details on the nature of the comments, saying only that they “affirm the precise adherence to [U.N. Security Council] Resolution 1701 with all its provisions,” according to Reuters. Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said in a speech on Wednesday that the terrorist group had "read the ceasefire proposal. "We have our comments, and Nabih Berri has comments, and ours and the Lebanese government's comments are, Inshallah ['God willing'], identical," Qassem said. "We have decided not to discuss these ceasefire proposals or our comments in the media. All I will say is that Israeli is trying to obtain through negotiations what it couldn't through war." The terrorist leader vowed to “continue our efforts on the ground, whether the negotiations succeed or not. “We are confronting a savage enemy, and we will remain on the ground, no matter the cost, as we will also increase the cost for the enemy. We are facing Israeli human monsters supported by American human monsters,” threatened Qassem. Disarm and retreat Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War, stipulated that Hezbollah must disarm and retreat north of the Litani River, but was never enforced. The Litani lies some 20 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border. Its enforcement, along with Israeli freedom of operation in Lebanon should Hezbollah violate the terms of a ceasefire agreement, are the key sticking points in the current negotiations. Netanyahu emphasized during a speech in the Knesset plenum on Monday that Israel will not allow Hezbollah to “return to the state it was in on Oct. 6, 2023. “We will be required, in order to ensure our security in the north, to systematically carry out operations—not only against Hezbollah’s attacks, which could come. Even if there is a ceasefire, nobody can guarantee it will hold. So it’s not only our reaction, a preventive reaction, a reaction in the wake of attack but also the capacity to prevent Hezbollah from strengthening,” he said. Hezbollah has launched some 16,000 rockets, missiles and drones from Lebanon at Israel since joining the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after the Gaza-based terrorist group’s massacre in southern Israel. More than 60,000 residents of northern Israel remain internally displaced due to the ongoing rocket and drone attacks from Lebanon. Seventy-six people in northern Israel have been killed by Hezbollah cross-border rocket, missile and drone attacks since the start of the war, including 31 soldiers and six foreign citizens, according to the latest data provided by the Prime Minister’s Office, updated on Sunday. In addition, 729 people have been wounded, including 497 civilians and 232 soldiers. Of these, 29 civilians and 37 soldiers were severely injured; 63 civilians and 38 soldiers were moderately injured and 405 civilians and 157 soldiers were lightly injured. Hezbollah’s leadership has been left in tatters following a series of targeted killings by Israel, including that of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Sept. 27. This was preceded by Israeli sabotage of Hezbollah communication devices that killed 39 people and wounded more than 3,400 members of the terrorist group. Israel has been waging a devastating aerial campaign against Hezbollah throughout Lebanon, including its stronghold of Dahieh south of Beirut. According to Israeli estimates, the terrorist group has lost most of its arsenal to the ongoing strikes. Then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in late October that Hezbollah had lost an estimated 80%-plus of its long-range rockets since the start of the war. Israel also continues to battle Hamas terrorists in Gaza. The terrorist group still holds 101 hostages in the Strip, 97 of whom were kidnapped on Oct. 7. Many of the captives are believed to be dead. Brazil summit Meanwhile, G20 leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro for a summit put out a joint statement on Monday calling for “comprehensive” ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon. The leaders of the world’s biggest economies called for U.S. proposals to end fighting in Gaza and free the hostages, and one for Lebanon “that enables citizens to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line.” The 13-point U.S. proposal presented to Lebanese officials on Nov. 14 includes a 60-day truce, during which Lebanon would redeploy its troops along the border. The proposal also calls for Moscow to prevent Hezbollah from resupplying itself via Syrian land routes. Hezbollah would retreat north of the Litani River, with the border area then being under control of the Lebanese Armed Forces, overseen by the United States and Britain. Israeli officials are emphasizing, however, that the Israel Defense Forces must retain freedom of operation in Lebanon to thwart attempts by Hezbollah to violate the agreement and rearm and reestablish itself. A senior Israeli diplomatic official told Israel Hayom on Saturday that the IDF will retain operational freedom to respond to any security threats from across the northern border, regardless of any diplomatic arrangements. However, a source close to Hezbollah told The Washington Post that the group’s “condition for progress remains clear: Israel must be prohibited from conducting operations within Lebanese territory.” Berri emphasized at the time that any ceasefire agreement must not include the ability for Israel to attack by land, sea or air, Channel 12 reported. “Otherwise, what’s the purpose of an agreement?” he remarked. Another sticking point is Lebanon’s objection to the United Kingdom and Germany monitoring the implementation of U.N. Resolution 1701. Beirut reportedly favors the United States and France. If the ceasefire efforts fail, there are plans in the works to expand ground operations in Lebanon, an Israeli military official told the Post. Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer discussed the proposal with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump during a visit to his Florida estate earlier this month, as well as with senior Biden administration officials in Washington. Dermer also traveled to Russia to discuss the ceasefire proposal. Tehran is telling its Lebanese terrorist proxy Hezbollah that it supports ending the war against Israel, The New York Times reported over the weekend. Ali Larijani, senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, met with senior Lebanese officials in Beirut on Nov. 15 to discuss the matter. Two Iranians affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps told the Times that Larijani conveyed messages to Hezbollah from Khamenei that he supported the end of the war and that the regime would assist with rebuilding the terrorist group’s forces and recovering from the war.](https://jewishwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Gideon-Saar-1320x880-2-218x150.jpg "Sa’ar: Israel must be free to act against Hezbollah truce violations")
As rockets from Gaza continue to rain down across Israel following the carnage of the Hamas attack on the western Negev that began on Oct. 7, and foreign nations including the United States consider further evacuations of their citizens, many new immigrants to the Jewish state are for the first time facing the harsh reality of living at war.
Dov Lipman, former member of the Knesset and CEO of the Yad L’Olim NGO, shed light on how traumatic the last few weeks have been for olim in Israel. He made aliyah from the United States in 2004.
“Keep in mind, Israel’s last full-fledged operation [against Hamas in Gaza], ‘Protective Edge,’ took place in 2014. Tens of thousands of olim have arrived since and had not yet experienced anything of the kind until Oct. 7,” Lipman told JNS.
Yad L’Olim placed hundreds of newcomers in volunteer positions, both medical and non-medical staff, who reached out to find out how they could be of service to the country.
Yad L’Olim, which provides professional, administrative and social support to olim as they settle into Israeli life, is working on many fronts to implement programs to assist those in need.
“We’ve supported concerned parents of lone soldiers in the field, asking us for material equipment to be delivered to their loved ones on the front lines,” said Lipman.
“We’ve offered free-of-charge mental-health treatment and gave many olim the opportunity to sign up online for free therapy sessions. Unfortunately, we also had to arrange funerals of soldiers on behalf of their families,” he added.
“Lone soldiers” are in the Israel Defense Forces without close family in Israel who can help them.
Some olim came come from the former Soviet Union recently and have already been exposed to war, in Ukraine, Lipman noted.
Shira Fishman, 46, who moved to Israel two months ago from Denver, told JNS that while she was devastated and frightened in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, as a mother she was still committed to ensuring her children continue to build strong ties within the country even during challenging times.
“Our whole family volunteered for Leket, sorting through apples that had been collected by the foundation. Every day, new initiatives come up. I am a physician and I want to be of help to my country. My husband works in marketing, and he also wishes to volunteer to get the message out there. The world’s memory is very short and the moral compass isn’t always so clear when it comes to Israel,” she said.
‘Response off the charts’
Joseph Gitler, founder and chairman of Leket Israel, which rescues food that otherwise would go to waste from commercial and agricultural sources and delivers meals to residents in the south and soldiers based in the Golan Heights, said new immigrants have lined up to volunteer since the beginning of the war.
“The response of civil society has been off the charts. I wish we did not need such a communal spirit right now, but we do,” Gitler told JNS.
“Olim who just moved here as well as those who have been in the country for years have helped deliver food to soldiers. In our warehouse [in Ra’anana], I hear languages from many different parts of the world: U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, Brazil, Argentina … , you name it,” he said.
Yael Katsman, vice president of communications for Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization that was founded in 2002 to facilitate immigration from North America, told JNS that the war is no deterrence for those who planned to move to Israel permanently.
“We’ve had 200 new applications for aliyah in the last two weeks, and we are working around the clock to expedite a lot of our services.”
Despite the escalating tension in the region, Nefesh B’Nefesh welcomed 25 new olim from New York, Los Angeles and Miami who arrived on an El Al flight at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Oct. 19.
‘There is extraordinary unity’
Katsman’s team also doubled up on its efforts to help the parents of lone soldiers.
“We organize webinars and Zoom broadcasts with IDF officials to help parents of lone soldiers filled with anxiety. We were doing it on a regular basis before the war but we’ve expanded our efforts since.”
LiAmi Lawrence, co-founder and CEO of KeepOlim, a nonprofit organization that supports new immigrants and returning Israeli citizens, told JNS some traumatized olim are leaving. However, the majority are eager to help as they have realized “it’s us against them—we stand united as olim and Israelis.”
On Tuesday, KeepOlim will launch a 24/7 support hotline called Tikva, with the sole objective of assisting olim and lone soldiers who are facing challenges. This initiative will connect those in need to therapists who speak a wide range of languages, for everyone enrolled to receive treatment in their mother tongue.
Simcha, 44, from Chicago, is a volunteer for the Sar-El organization that recruits civilians to assist soldiers in a logistical support role. He told JNS that many volunteers and soldiers on IDF bases are, in fact, olim.
“There are groups of olim volunteering here from America, France and the former Soviet Union. Most of them have been in Israel for only a few years but are still taking an active role in helping Israel win this war. There is extraordinary unity among the volunteers and the soldiers leading them.”