A resident of Kibbutz Misgav Am in the Upper Galilee shakes his head as he describes a drone that exploded next to the village kindergarten.
“Only by a miracle was nobody inside,” he says. “But that does not stop families with small children from leaving or planning to leave. Here, you have to watch the sky all the time and run to shelters. If a drone appears over Tel Aviv, the whole country erupts. Here in the north, it is normal life.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration that “we are intensifying operations in Lebanon,” the Israel Defense Forces’ expansion beyond the eight-kilometer security line to intercept missiles and drones, destroy tunnels and terror infrastructure, reinforce the buffer zone and carry out increasingly deep incursions reaching Tyre—though not Beirut—have not silenced the cries of a country whose northern border remains under bombardment, evacuation and siege.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir spoke plainly: Israel must be prepared to reach Beirut if Hezbollah is to be forced to honor the May 15 ceasefire, later extended by 45 days and reaffirmed by the United States as a necessary condition for continuing negotiations with Iran.
The hope that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will fulfill his stated goal of dismantling Hezbollah—that cancerous “state within a state” that has drained Lebanon of sovereignty, prosperity and any realistic hope for peace—seems distant.
Aoun even attempted to expel Iranian Ambassador Mojtaba Amani after repeated Iranian interference in Lebanese politics. Yet Tehran continues to funnel money and weapons to Hezbollah even as its own people sink deeper into poverty and war.
Hezbollah remains Iran’s strategic weapon—the instrument through which Tehran keeps Israel under constant pressure while negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump continue. Israel, despite its obvious interest in removing the threat entirely, can for now only maintain an active defensive posture against attacks from Lebanon.
Meanwhile, residents of northern Israel cry out for help. They cannot sleep, cannot work and continue to bury their dead.
On Sunday, 19-year-old soldier Sgt. Nehoray Leizer, killed in a drone strike, was laid to rest amid the anguish of his family. The previous day, another young man, Staff Sgt. Noam Hamburger suffered the same fate. Since the ceasefire began on April 16, 11 Israelis have been killed.
The drones arrive with a faint buzz that is often almost impossible to stop. They have wounded dozens during the ceasefire alone. Preventing such attacks would require striking directly at Hezbollah’s command centers and sensitive infrastructure, or taking steps severe enough to force the Lebanese government finally to deploy its own army to disarm the Shi’ite militia.
Israel—on both the right and the left—cannot accept that the North should once again become the sacrificial lamb of Jewish history while Hezbollah exploits the ceasefire and the diplomatic restraints imposed by Trump’s negotiations with Iran.
But Netanyahu also cannot afford an excessive rupture with Trump, especially at a moment of profound uncertainty in which Israel seeks above all a final arrangement guaranteeing the surrender of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile.
The opposition criticizes what it sees as Trump’s paralyzing embrace. Benny Gantz, from the political center, voices a widespread sentiment when he calls for strikes on Beirut. The left presses for stronger action, while hardliners inside the coalition pound their chests.
Netanyahu, however, must remain cautious and focused, despite being the very leader who overturned the disastrous conceptzia—the failed strategic mindset that blinded Israel to the danger building before Oct. 7. It was Netanyahu who embraced the doctrine of prevention and decisive action after the catastrophe.
Now, however, Lebanon has become a critical node not only for Israel’s northern security but also for its relationship with Trump and for the broader future of the Middle East.
It is striking that Netanyahu risks paying a domestic political price even as the first sounds of the next election campaign begin to echo across Israel.
His caution will undoubtedly be used against him. Yet the prime minister understands that the “Lebanon problem” cannot be viewed only through the northern border. It touches every cardinal direction of Israel’s national security.
Still, Trump’s most recent statement reiterating that Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon demonstrates that he and Netanyahu remain aligned on the most important issue of all.
Trump is paying the price for Netanyahu’s difficult strategic choices, just as Netanyahu is paying the price for the caution required to preserve Israel’s indispensable alliance with the United States.
