‘Our house is on fire’: Israelis from North form new protest org, demand security

Northern Israelis, evacuated from their homes following the war, protesting demanding the government to return them to their homes, in central Jerusalem, May 16, 2024

Citizens of Israel’s North launched a new protest movement following weeks of intense escalation in the region. “We will not be a security zone,” said organizers of the new initiative, called “Fighting for the North.”

“After eight months of patiently waiting outside of our homes, we will go to emergency protests and cry out that ‘the State of Israel has lost the North.’ We are going out [in protest] because the time has come to say enough. It is time to win,” said the organizers.

The new protest organization’s first act was to block the entrance to Jerusalem Saturday night, and it called for Israelis to join the protest and “support the evacuees from the North and citizens living under fire for eight months.”

Protesters also objected to a deal being made in the North. “We will not agree to go home with a surrender agreement. Go win in the north,” the organizers demanded.

“Start caring about the North,” Rafael Slav, one of the leaders of the movement said, addressing the cabinet and the war cabinet.

“We heard that [Strategic Affairs Minister Ron] Dermer and [head of the National Security Council, Tzachi] Hanegbi went out to save [United Nations Security Council Resolution] 1701. We will not agree to go home with a surrender agreement,” he added.

People use hoses to extinguish flames, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Dishon, near Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, June 4, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD)

People use hoses to extinguish flames, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Dishon, near Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, June 4, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD)

Northern Israel continually under attack

Israel’s North has been under near-constant attack since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, and rocket and drone attacks have been increasing significantly in the past few weeks, with some attacks leading to large fires in the area.

Rockets caused a fire in an open area between Bar’am and Yiron, according to a report from the Fire and Rescue Authority on Saturday morning.

Hezbollah fired more than 250 rockets into Israel on Wednesday after Israel assassinated Sami Taleb Abdullah, the most senior Hezbollah commander to be eliminated since October 7. It was the largest rocket barrage in one day since the war began and, for the first time during this war, included targets as far south as Tiberias.

The government’s handling of the situation has been widely criticized, including by heads of local municipalities.

“The North is attacked incessantly. Residents of the North are cannon fodder for the whims of [Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan] Nasrallah, and Israel’s government is asleep standing up,” said the head of Asher’s Regional Council, Moshe Davidovitch, who is also the chair of the Conflict Line Forum.

Last week, the forum, which includes leaders from the municipalities along Israel’s northern border, demanded that the government present a plan for the security of the residents of the North by early July.

Eli Ashkenazi, Sam Halpern, and Reuters contributed to this report