Illusion in Lebanon: The Lebanese Army is Not the Solution, but the Problem

by Anna Slotzkin, among the founders of the Uri Tzafon (Awaken, O North!) movement, translated by Hillel Fendel.

Israel's political and military establishments seem to have a frighteningly short memory. In fact, we are witness to a dangerous governmental attempt to revive the same old murderous "conception" that brought upon us terrible calamities in the not-so-distant past.

The latest plan for our northern border currently on the table, known by the laundered term "pilot plan" (as if it was not meant to be permanent), proposes the same old recipe that has been tried, with tragic results, in the past: The IDF is to withdraw from the areas it captured in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Army will take its place there, and the Americans will "supervise" from afar, giving all of us a dangerously misleading sense of security.

In practice, hiding behind the word "pilot" is a very bitter reality: a bona-fide retreat of Israeli forces and an abandonment of strategic pieces of land that the best of our sons, brave IDF warriors, captured with their blood and heroism over the course of almost three years. (Nearly 160 Israelis have been murdered by Hizbullah during this period, including about 40 in 2026.) Two large areas of land have already been turned over to the Lebanese, who this week proposed that two more territories be included in this "pilot." This, despite the fact that the Lebanese Army has never displayed any ability – nor even willingness! – to effectively clash with the Hizbullah terrorists controlling their country. 

Those who try to pass off the Lebanese Army as a "solution" are simply throwing sand into Israeli eyes, and particularly of those of who live in the north. The reality on the ground is becoming more and more obvious, and that is that the Lebanese military is not simply ignoring Hizbullah activity, but is actually actively cooperating with it. Its army is not a sovereign, independent force that can enforce law and order, but rather one that lives and breathes the terrorist organization with which it works hand in hand.

The Lebanese Army refrains from any and all clashes with Hizbullah. Instead, it grants them an umbrella of protection and enable them to remain the true bosses in southern Lebanon. To expect that such an organization will suddenly become a defender of Israel's Galilee is somewhere between stupidity and a downright security disaster.  

We've already gone through this before. We saw what the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL was worth after UN Resolution 1701 was adopted in 2006. The resolution stipulated the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, and the establishment of a buffer zone manned only by the Lebanese military (which cooperated with Hizbullah) and UNIFIL (which became live shields for Hizbullah terrorists). We must not allow our control in southern Lebanon, achieved with blood and tears, to be replaced by another "been there, done that" experiment on the backs of the tens of thousands of Israel who have been displaced from their homes for over a year.

The Uri Tzafon movement seeks to say as clearly as possible that which many are afraid to say aloud: True security for the Galilee and all of Israel will come not from the Lebanese Army, collaborating with Hizbullah, and certainly not from UNIFIL disguised as peacekeepers. It will come only from settlement.

All of Zionist history teaches us this one simple lesson: Where the Jewish plow passes, there's a border and there's security. Withdrawals and understandings will not bring peace. The only solution that is real, ethical, and safe is one that involves complete military control of the areas previously occupied by terrorists – and then wide-ranging Jewish settlement there; yes, there in southern Lebanon. Only land that is settled by Jews can be a true living and breathing security zone, guaranteeing that no other threat will ever arise against the residents of northern Israel.

In fact, steps are being taken in this direction. Families in northern Israel have been crossing the border once in a while, seeking to set some facts, if not on the ground yet, then in our consciousness. Yes, our forces broke through the old border-fence and replaced it with a wall, but in truth, there is no need for either: The best will be that instead of terrorists crossing over into Israel while we tremble passively by, it should be us pioneer settlers who should be crossing northwards, to conquer the inheritance of our forefathers.

These pioneering families are calling upon our government to Wake Up! Instead of investing millions in the construction of walls and fences and new conceptions that simply harm our security and create false illusions of safety and protection and cooperation with the Lebanese Army, let us settle north of the border and grant genuine security to our State.

The time has come to internalize that only settlement in southern Lebanon will bring true security!

Twenty Years After: Legendary Hero's Final Moments Remembered

by Hillel Fendel, former editor of Arutz-7's IsraelNationalNews.com.

The IDF Censor still does not permit his photo to be published, but Lt.-Col. Emanuel Moreno was remembered this week on the 20^th anniversary of his death during the Second Lebanon War. He served in the IDF's most elite unit, Sayeret Matkal (the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit), and is credited with having taken part in the greatest number of operations in the unit's history. 

He is publicly acknowledged to have participated in only two of them: the 1994 abduction of Lebanese terrorist commander Mustafa Dirani, who had held missing Israeli navigator Ron Arad, and the 2003 rescue of taxi driver Eliyahu Gorel, kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists and held near in a village north of Jerusalem.

It was reported this week that one of the few occasions that Moreno considered a personal defeat was shortly after he discovered where kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was being held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Emanuel prepared a plan for Shalit's rescue, presented it to the Chief of Staff and Prime Minister – and they turned it down. Their fear was that its price in soldiers' lives might be too high, but Moreno was sorely disappointed and frustrated at what he felt was a lack of leadership and courage.

Arutz-7's Shimon Cohen, who studied with Moreno in the pre-military academy in Eli, wrote this week:

"It's impossible not to dream what 'could' have been. If Emanuel's plan had been carried out and succeeded, like others that he led and initiated, we would not have had to release 1,027 terrorists in exchange for Gilad Shalit – including hundreds with blood on their hands, especially Oct. 7^th mastermind Yihye Sinwar. We can only imagine how Israeli history over the past 15 years would have looked had Sinwar and his cronies not been released then.

"It's true that the architects of anti-Israel terrorism knew how to pull its strings even from with prison wall, but there is certainly no comparison between a terrorist leader in prison and one who is free of constraints...

"Yes, there is great disappointment with our leaders of then, whose fears apparently cost us so much more than the price they were afraid to pay. But it is incumbent upon us to remember at the same time that our there is much that we do not know and probably never will know. How many massacres and mass terrorist attacks were prevented, with G-d's help, in the merit of the dedication and initiative of dedicated fighters such as Emanuel Moreno and others in elite units, air force squadrons, infantry, armored units, intelligence, and more! Our thanks to all."

Another Arutz-7 correspondent, Dvir Amar, reports that at a 20th memorial this week for Lt.-Col. Moreno - whose photograph is still censored for reasons that can only be surmised – a medic who attempted unsuccessfully to save Moreno's life told of his short but meaningful acquaintance with the hero:

"I was one of Emanuel's underlings at the time, a new, young combat soldier. But I well remember the sense of security and optimism that his presence conveyed to everyone there… Shortly before the incident in which he was killed, we were on our way back from a successful mission, and Moreno's happiness was clear to all. His emotions were felt by everyone. He was really in the clouds, just overjoyed at the results and at how our unit had worked together. And he remained that way up to the final seconds – because then we realized that something was going down. Emanuel was the first to realize it, and he abruptly and firmly said, 'Something is happening here.'"

In fact, on their way back from the secret mission to prevent the smuggling of Iranian and Syrian weapons to Hizbullah, they had fallen into a murderous Hizbullah ambush in southern Lebanon - even though a ceasefire had been declared shortly beforehand.

The former soldier said at this week's memorial, "I was a medic, and after Emanuel was hit, I was the one who took him out of the jeep and started life-saving operations. But I soon saw that it was too late… I remember seeing his eyes still open, but realizing that he was no longer with us. I closed his eyes, and said, 'Dear brother, you're now in a place that's all good.'"

The soldier recounted that he has never told that story publicly before, because of its personal nature. "It took me 20 years to tell this… His final minutes left an amazing impression. The strength that he gave all of us, even then – that was truly Emanuel."

For more information on Emanuel Moreno, see https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/122213

From a collection of stories about Emanuel Moreno:
The Value of Five Seconds (from a letter to Emanuel's family)

I would like to share with you a conversation I had with Emanuel on Friday, just a few hours before we boarded the helicopter. I don't remember the exact words, but this is the gist of it. We sat and talked about different things that could happen to us, and what we would do in each case. This was just two weeks after the sad incident in which a helicopter was hit by a rocket and five soldiers were killed, and so there was a general vague apprehension regarding flying in helicopters over Lebanon.

Emanuel asked me, "So what would you do if, G-d forbid, our chopper is hit by a missile and you have five seconds left until it crashes?" I answered, "I don't know. I guess I would be very sad and scared, and I would close my eyes and wait for it to end as quickly and painlessly as possible." Emanuel thought for a moment and then said, "What I would do, and this is what you should do too, is to say 'Shma Yisrael.'" I looked at him and said, "OK, you'll say Shma Yisrael. But what will it give you? No matter what, a second later, the crash will come and we'll all die."

And then he answered me something that has remained with me until now, and I'm convinced it will remain with me all my life: "If a person has five seconds left to live, and those seconds still have significance for him and aspiration for what comes afterwards, that means that his whole life had meaning. But if the person has five seconds left and he doesn't realize their importance, then apparently his whole life had no meaning. For we don't live just to satisfy our desires, or just for momentary pleasures; our lives are rather a step on the way to the next stage."

This sentence has been with me from the moment of the terrible incident, and it helps me, in that I know that as far as Emanuel was concerned, his life did not end with that terrible wound that killed him. Rather, just one stage ended on the way to the next stage, one that is even more important than this one - a stage that can be reached only by living this life. I am not a religious person, but I believe that Emanuel's strong faith helped him get through all the difficult times of his life calmly and serenely - and especially from the time he was hit until he died. For me, this is something very strengthening.

Wanted: Retrial for Amiram Ben-Uliel

based on an interview by Shimon Cohen of Arnon Itiel in Arutz Sheva, translated by Hillel Fendel.

The latest public figure to call out the injustice of the conviction of Amiram Ben-Uliel, author and columnist Arnon Itiel, says that his confession of murder would not serve as an acceptable confession in Western countries, given that it was extracted under torture.

At the very least, Itiel says, the public debate surrounding Ben-Uliel's conviction in the Dawabsheh family murder must be reawakened.

Ben-Uliel is a young Israeli husband and father serving three life sentences in jail, including years of solitary confinement, for a murder he confessed to only after being severely tortured. He has maintained his innocence for years, and many claim he was framed simply because of the political need to prove that "Jewish terrorism" was being dealt with.

It is also alleged that he was framed to cover up a feud between two families in the Arab village of Duma. No fewer than ten homes in the village were reportedly set ablaze in a similar manner over the course of several months prior to the Dawabshe deaths as part of the internal strife there.

Itiel concluded by saying, "When Joshua conquered the Land of Israel, he suffered a defeat when Achan acted unethically and took booty from the vanquished. Today, as well, our redemption will not happen if the truth behind the Ben-Uliel case is not uncovered and rectified."

"Every minute that Ben-Uliel remains in prison," Itiel said, "is a is a stain on the conscience of every believing Jew." Western countries do not accept confessions extracted under torture, Itiel said, even if they are accompanied by reenactment, and murder convictions require additional evidence.

"Let's imagine that his name was not Amiram Ben-Uliel, but rather Yossi Ulilevitz," said Uliel, "and he was actually imprisoned in China or what used to be the USSR after confessing under torture. Our entire nation would be up in arms demanding his release! But when he is locked up here at home in a Jewish prison, by Jews, then everything is OK?"

Other prominent Israelis who have spoken out against the injustice to Amiram Ben-Uliel include Law Prof. Boaz Sangero (author of Convicting Innocents in Israel and the World and similar books, who has called the Ben Uliel case the worst example of an unjust conviction in Israel), Professor Yoel Elitzur (member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language), Prof. Talia Einhorn, the late Rabbi Chaim Druckman, Nobel Prize winner Prof. Shlomo Aumann, journalist Arnon Segal, Jonathan Pollard, Moshe Feiglin, and defense lawyer Avigdor Feldman.

Working against Ben-Uliel are his confession and re-enactment of the crime – but Itiel notes many cases in which the accused confessed and re-enacted, and yet the conviction was later overturned. In Israel alone, he says, "there have been Roman Zodorov, Amos Barness, Izat Nafsu, Sliman El-Abid, and more."

Among the many difficulties in the case against Ben-Uliel is the fact that an Arab eyewitness testified that he had clearly seen two arsonists that night, yet the indictment against Ben-Uliel charged that he had acted alone. In addition, two different types of Hebrew graffiti were found at the site, yet expert testimony stated that neither of them were written by Ben-Uliel.

The Shabak's Jewish Division denied that there had been any torture leading up to the confession – though the District Court in the case ruled straight out that there had indeed been torture.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) said the decision to uphold a confession based on torture showed a “glaring oversight” in the legal system: “… it would have been appropriate for the court to have given decisive weight to the fact that before Ben Uliel confessed to the acts, interrogation methods involving severe and prolonged torture were applied to him."

See here for a detailed analysis of the what should have been the inadmissibility of Ben-Uliel's confession:

At the time, the Haaretz newspaper noted that the evidence against Ben Uliel included no objective evidence other than confessions obtained under duress and his own reenactment – which he later retracted, saying it was given based only on what the Shabak interrogators wanted to hear.

Itiel finds some reason for optimism in that "the new director of the Shabak, David Zini, is a man of integrity. The key is in his hands, because the real murderer is living in the Arab village of Duma. I call on Zini to do everything he can to find the real murderer. It shouldn't be hard; the Shabak is one of the most effective secret police entities in the world."

The Victim's Blood Cries out: Stop Stalling and Win!

by Michael Sparber, member of the Judea & Samaria forum, translated by Hillel Fendel.

"Bnayahu Melet, father of two and a member of his local military response team, was a man of truth, a fighter and a visionary. He was guided by truth, and was busy reclaiming for the Jewish People dunam after dunam of the Land of Israel. Bnayahu was a 'warrior of David' of our generation – a man forged of concrete [melet, in Hebrew], in whose merit, among others, we are all able to live here. Every conversation with him was a lesson that filled one with optimism and strength. For me, he always represented Trumpeldor and his comrades. How sorrowful is your passing, my beloved brother and teacher."

I wrote those words immediately upon learning that this great man, among the sons and builders (bane'ha ubone'ha, in Hebrew) of Eretz Yisrael, may G-d avenge his blood, had been murdered by ruthless Palestinians on his way to save lives. I did not write them by rote to console his family, or myself, but rather out of deep conviction of their utter truth. He was of that very rare type that combined vision and responsibility, faith and action, humbleness and strength. He was a walking lesson in love of the Land, in true comprehension of the security situation, and in deep faith that Israel will defeat its enemies if it simply believes in itself and stops seeking to merely "contain" them.

This is precisely why Bnayahu's death is not just a personal tragedy for his family and friends. It is of national proportions, and essentially presents a national test: Will we get stuck on trying to ascertain on how exactly he was murdered, or rather on whether the State of Israel will learn the lesson for which he lived and acted?

Bnayahu did not believe in "managing" the terrorism that engulfs us, but rather in vanquishing it. He did not accept the army's usual post-attack announcements that "we will pursue the murderers and bring them to justice," but insisted that the army must totally wipe out the ability of the entire terrorist mechanism to carry out further attacks.

Bnayahu's Blood Cries Out Not for Vengeance, but for Victory

Here precisely begins the responsibility of the Government of Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu's response to the two terrorist murders and other terrorist victims of that dark day was strong, but quite familiar: Destruction of the terrorists' houses, reinforcement of military forces, checkpoints, cancellation of work permits, collection of enemy weapons, and approvals for more Jewish farms. These are steps that are certainly important, operationally, but they still rely on that same old "conception" of responding to what is done to us. They do not initiate victory and the destruction of the enemy's infrastructure and ability to fight and kill us.

The recent chain of terrorist attacks demands a fundamental shift in perception. We can no longer rely on chasing each individual attacker. We must launch a continuous offensive against the entire terrorism-manufacturing system, until it breaks. Mr. Prime Minister, members of the Cabinet – you who are entrusted with the security of Israel's citizens - this is exactly the conception that we thought and hoped was shattered back on October 7th, nearly three years ago!

For years we told ourselves that we could contain Hamas, manage it, and control the "height of the flames" – and the price we ended up paying was the most terrible in the nation's history. How can we even consider repeating that same mistake in Judea and Samaria!?

As long as it is the terrorists who choose the time and place, manipulating Israel into responding according to the terms they have set, they retain the initiative. When we simply react, we are not striving for victory; at most, for attrition. The equation must be reversed. Israel must once again be the side that takes the lead and forces the other side to figure out how to respond. The terrorists must no longer be those who surprise the State of Israel, but those who wake up each morning with fear as to what Israel has in store for them today.

Mr. Prime Minister, the list of operations you announced following the recent murders is not a recipe for victory, but rather a routine inventory of actions that have been tried already thousands of times. If this is the response even after four terrorist attacks in just one day, it clearly means that nothing has changed - other than the amount of murdered Jews.

This is precisely the moment at which a country is tested. We know that we are good at responding, but now we have to see if we can free ourselves from the conception that has brought us to where we are.

Oct. 7^th was not just an intelligence failure. It was a collapse of an entire worldview that falsely held that we can manage a murderous enemy and keep it at bay according to our dictates. We learned that we cannot – and if this mistake continues to guide us today in Judea and Samaria, Heaven forbid, we will simply be reenacting the conditions that enabled the Gaza massacre. This would mean that we are not only desecrating the memory of those who fell, but also preparing the way for the next victims.

Bnayahu Melet's blood is crying out not for another checkpoint or house demolition, but rather to change the equation, regain the initiative, and win! 

Thinking Big: Seven-Fold Growth in the Shomron by 2050

based on an article by Haggai Huberman, Israeli journalist and author (written for the religious zionist periodical - Matzav Haruach), translated by Hillel Fendel.

Generally we report here on the establishment - or the announcement of the establishment - of new communities, housing starts, neighborhoods, or outposts in the hills of Judea and Samaria. This time, however, given that such reports have happily become commonplace of late, the real news is this: The public response to the news of the 18 new communities about to be built in the northern Shomron has been of unprecedented proportions!

The Shomron Regional Council's campaign, together with the Amanah Settlement Movement, to recruit families to join in building these pioneer communities has seen more than 3,000 families request to join up!

The current program involves the reestablishment – which has already begun – of the four northern Shomron communities that were destroyed in the Disengagement of 2005: Ganim, Kadim, Sa-nur, and Chomesh. The other 14 will be built, beginning in the coming weeks and months, in strategic locations throughout the northern Shomron. For information's sake, current well-known communities in the northern Shomron include Elon Moreh, Shavei Shomron, Kedumim, Maskiyot, and more.

The released statistics show that nearly 30% of the interested parties consider themselves secular or traditional, while the rest self-define as national-religious. Half of them already live in Judea and Samaria, another 15-20% are from central Israel, and slightly less than that hail from Jerusalem. There have also been 12 requests from families currently living abroad, including from Miami and Cincinnati in the U.S., Cyprus, Great Britain, Canada, and Switzerland. New immigrants from France and Ukraine have also filed applications.

Half of the families who are considering taking part in the challenge of Making the Shomron Great Again are young couples in their 20's, and some 20% are over age 60. The applicants from a diverse range of occupations: About 40% of them work in education and therapy, 25% in engineering, high-tech, and liberal professions, and the rest in construction, agriculture, and manual labor.

The emerging picture shows that the nuclear pioneer groups for the "Big Four" - Kadim, Homesh, Sa-Nur, and Ganim – as well as for the new town of Noa are already full, with only a few spots remaining. The first pioneers of Har Eval moved to the new site just this very week, alongside a branch of the Elon Moreh Yeshiva that is already operating at the site.

The new-old community of Ganim will be initially established by families of graduates from the Eli Yeshiva, just north of Shilo; families of graduates from Tel Aviv's Yeshivat Maaleh Eliyahu are set to kick off Kadim; and in Emek Dotan, a branch of the Bruchin Yeshiva will be established with families from Tiberias, Lod, and Bruchin.

Other communities in the formation stages are Shalem (near Itamar), Maayanot, and Merom Gilboa, all expected to move with their already-full core groups right after the High Holidays.

The establishment of the 18 towns – a program that has been termed the Connection Plan, in contrast to the Disengagement that destroyed Gush Katif in Gaza and the above four Shomron towns 21 years ago – is a fulfillment of a Cabinet decision led by Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz.

It is also part of a broader plan to increase the Shomron's Jewish population to more than one million (!) by the year 2050. Though this population currently stands at approximately 150,000, this brainchild program of Shomron Council head Yossi Dagan has been developed based on natural growth, high-rise construction, and more. Geographic engineers and a broad team of professionals in various disciplines worked, and are working, together on the program.

The program, of course, does not even include the new community of Zibda that was announced just this week – because this will be established in the Yesha area south of Shomron, not far from Modiin. Its goal is to help strengthen the seam-line area of western Binyamin. The new families are in the process of preparing their ascent to the land.

Other plans for the Shomron include a new city, currently known as East Rosh HaAyin, designed to house over 130,000 residents on what is currently agricultural land in the western Samaria highlands. Rosh HaAyin itself has a population nearing 81,000. The new city is being promoted as a security belt and strategic buffer for central Israel. In addition, the western Shomron community of Karnei Shomron, with a population over 11,200, is slated to triple in size with the addition of 6,000 new homes.

At the same time, a community "envelope" is being planned, including a branch of the Bnei David pre-military Yeshiva academy (main branch in Eli), and other and yeshiva and pre-military institutions as well.

Shomron Council head Dagan – who himself, with his family, was expelled from Sa-nur during the Disengagement, moved to Shavei Shomron, and now lives once again in the "new" Sa-nur – says: "The numbers warm our hearts and speak for themselves. They prove that the People of Israel has not forgotten its roots. The Connection Plan aims to reconnect our People with itself, its values, its roots – and with the fundamental values of the State of Israel."