How Has the Syrian Revolution and the Hezbollah Ceasefire Impacted the Lives of Israel’s Northern Communities? Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript is an edited version version of a transcript created using AI technology and may not reflect 100% accuracy.

The video can be found here.

Sarah Stern: Good afternoon. Welcome to another timely and topical EMET webinar. Before we begin, I would like to thank Lieutenant Colonel Sarit Zehavi of the IDF for taking time out of her busy schedule to meet with us again. Colonel Zehavi is the founder and president of Alma, a nonprofit, independent research and education center focusing on the Israel’s security needs on its northern border. Sarit has briefed many groups and forums. They include US Senators, congressmen and women, politicians, senior journalists, and other visiting VIP groups. She drafts numerous position-papers and provides regular updates on Lebanon, Syria and on Israel’s national security challenges. Sarit served for over 15 years in the IDF where she specialized in military intelligence. She holds an MA in Middle East Studies from Ben Gurion University. Sarit is a member of Forum Dvora, an organization promoting the equal representation of Israeli women in the fields of national security and foreign policy. Sarit was selected by the Jerusalem Post as one of the 50 most influential Jews of 2021.

Before we begin, we would like to express our condolences to Sarit over the passing of her remarkable and courageous father, Moshe Zehavi. Ironically, Sarit’s father passed the day that Bashar Assad’s evil regime fell. Moshe Zehavi was born in Damascus and he came to Israel in 1945. His life was forged by a Zionist mission and vision. He fought in five wars and was a great humanitarian and idealist. On December 7^th, Sarit wrote about this in her moving tribute to her father. Sarit, may you be comforted by your wonderful memories with him. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and we now know where you get your wonderful values from. Please start by telling us a little something about your father.

Sarit Zehavi: Okay. I will start with the story of how my father ran away from Damascus at the age of 11. He left with his younger brother on his shoulders. I want to share with you the photo of his family that was taken in Damascus. They walked all the way to the land of Israel. The photo shows my father between his two parents. The family was divided for around two years until he succeeded in finding his mother and father. Their story is a topic for another entire presentation. My father did not live to see Damascus fall but maybe he heard about it from above.

Even with all the doubts we have about the future of Syria, I still have some hope for a positive outcome there. My grandmother was born in Beirut. You can see her in the photo I am showing. I still have some hope that one day I will be able to visit both Damascus and Beirut. There I will see the homes and other places where my father and my grandmother grew up.

Let’s dive into what is happening in Syria right now. I used to show a map of Syria with a lot of colors. The colors depicting the different players in Syria and their areas of influence. In around three days, the rebels achieved what they have not succeeded in doing for more than a decade. They came all the way from Idlib, the area up north. They followed the main road to Homs and Aleppo, and then all the way to Damascus.

The map on the screen shows the different areas of control in Syria as of about five days ago. The areas in yellow are the Kurdish areas. The grey areas are those under direct influence of Turkey. The Kurds are losing ground. The yellow area that I am pointing to on the map, is no longer under Kurdish control and the map is changing daily. There is a conflict between the Kurds and the new ruler of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa. Ahmed al-Sharaa is also known by his nom de guerre, Abu Muhammad al-Julani.

There are a few answers to the question of why the rebels accomplished so much in such a short time. Firstly, Assad’s government received help from Hezbollah, Russia and Iran in the past. These three players did not support him this time. Russia was involved in Ukraine. Hezbollah had suffered a huge blow to its manpower and munitions and was losing to Israel. Iran relied on Hezbollah as its most professional and powerful proxy of Iran in Syria. Given Israel’s decimation of Hezbollah, Iran decided to give up in Syria. Assad, the Iranian IRGC forces and the Russians were evacuated from the Russian bases on the seashore as the rebels progressed toward Damascus.

The second reason for the success of the rebels was that al-Julani had almost five years to prepare his attack. The Idlib area in northern Syria was already in the hands of the rebels and nobody actually examined what was going on there. With Turkish support, they took the opportunity to prepare and to become a strong army.

The third reason for the rebels’ success was that the Syrian army did not fight back against them. They just removed their uniforms and the army collapsed. This demonstrates that they were not loyal to the Syrian government.

The situation in Syria is chaotic. There are many different organizations operating there. They have different agendas, beliefs and identities. Al-Julani represents an alliance of organizations. The most prominent one is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the new name for Jabhat al-Nusra. Jabhat al-Nusra is a branch of Al Qaeda in Syria. They are Al Qaeda in Syria and we should not make any mistakes about that. They were on our borders during the civil war.

In 2013-2018, the Free Syrian army rebels fought against both ISIS and the Syrian government. We could see them fighting on the border. In some cases, they aligned with Jabhat al-Nusra but they also fought against them at other times. We watched Jabhat al-Nusra attacking Druze towns in areas of the Golan.

So, there are many organizations in Syria and I will describe the various rebel coalitions we have operating there. Fath Al-Mubin is a coalition of different Islamic groups including HTS. The Syrian National Army is the new version of the Free Syrian army and it is also a coalition of many small groups in yellow. The Syrian Democratic forces are the Kurds who are also divided into smaller groups. Finally, the Southern Operations Command comprises the small groups operating in the southern part of Syria.

I want to say something more about the groups in the South. The southern part of Syria includes Sunni and Druze towns. The Sunni towns are closest to the Israeli border. That is where the IDF entered Syria. A few days ago, the IDF filmed the video I am showing now. During the rebellion of 2013-2018, Jabata al-Khashab was one of the main towns that supported Jabhat al- Nusra. The video shows the people of that same town now handing boxes of munitions to the IDF soldiers that took over the buffer zones. This sight is almost like a miracle to me.

On the other hand, the entire world appears to be lending its support to Ahmed al-Sharaa or Abu Muhammad al-Julani. He is receiving a huge hug from everybody in the world except Israel. He will have to prove to Israel that he is Ahmed al-Sharaa and not Abu Muhammad al-Julani. If you look at the flags on display during his interviews, you will see that one flag is the rebel flag, today’s Syrian flag. The other flag he displays is an Islamic flag. It is very similar to the flag of the Taliban in Afghanistan. This leads me to believe that Abu Muhammad al-Julani has not actually changed. I do not believe his claims that he is not a religiously motivated radical. I think he is very pragmatic. I think he understands that he needs to consolidate power in Syria and that is why he is sending messages of peace right now. Israel needs to remember the lessons learned on October 7^th. We cannot trust these types of radicals. That is why we entered the buffer zone depicted in the pictures on the screen. You can see that the buffer zone is about three to six kilometers wide in some areas. In others, it is just 500 meters wide. It is a very small buffer zone and much smaller than the Turkish buffer zone in the Kurdish areas of Syria.

This buffer zone was created in 1974, at the time of the disengagement agreements between Israel and Syria. The idea was that neither Israel nor Syria would maintain a military presence in this zone. The problem is that the agreement was made between states and did not include provisions for non-state players. Since the civil war, Hezbollah, ISIS, Al Qaeda and others have had a presence in the buffer zone. Everybody fought everybody else there and they all had their own munitions. The Israeli government learned the lesson from October 7^th. They made the decision to enter the buffer zone. Their objective was to ensure that the new groups or rulers in Syria cannot use the area to prepare another attack and invasion against Israel.

There are Israeli communities about one or two kilometers from the border with Syria. We cannot afford to be surprised again. I believe we do not want to remain in the buffer zone indefinitely. That said, we need to make sure that no armed presence returns there irrespective of whether they are state or non-state actors. It will take time for Israel to accomplish this goal there.

When Al Julani took over Damascus, Israel identified both a risk and an opportunity. Syria is a key asset for Iran. Syria is also the key to Hezbollah’s rearmament. Prior to al-Julani’s takeover, I had argued that Hezbollah could recover quickly from Israel’s attacks. I anticipated their recovery would be achieved using the ground corridor from Iran, through Iraq, into Syria and then to Lebanon. The proxy militias of Iran in Syria would manage the corridor and smuggle people and weapons into Lebanon. Given recent events in Syria, many of those militias have been evacuated from Syria.

Israel has now bombed their sites. Israel also demolished the infrastructure of their industry of advanced weapons known as CERS. We published a report about CERS around two years ago. There were many small institutions manufacturing advanced weapons in Syria. As we understand it, they were manufacturing weapons like missiles and their arsenal also included chemical weapons. They intended to provide munitions to both Iran and Hezbollah. Israel took the opportunity to bomb most of these facilities. They also bombed Syrian army bases and planes and jets. They did this to avoid them falling into the hands of those promoting a radical Sunni ideology.

I want to say a couple of words about Lebanon. As illustrated in the picture I am showing, Hezbollah is working very hard to recover. I do not have classified information on this and I am sharing opensource information with you. Hezbollah is working to recover their civilian branch very quickly. They are aware that the civilian branch of Hezbollah enables the military branch.

The picture on the screen was taken in Lebanon and it depicts a situation room created by Hezbollah. The men are mapping the damages from the war in Lebanon and they are working to determine how to repair these damages. They are deciding what to build and where. They are determining which company will build what and how they will be compensated. The Arabic writing in the picture describes this as a situation room for rebuilding after the war.

Sarah Stern: Are they also trying to establish another corridor through Syria to Lebanon?

Sarit: It is too soon to tell. Our current assessments reveal that Iran will try to buy a corridor for money. Another option is for them to try and create a maritime corridor or an aerial corridor. In that case, they will land directly in Beirut or they will land in a third country such as Armenia. From there, they will switch planes and land in Beirut. There are many options for the Iranians to try in order to develop a new corridor for smuggling weapons into Lebanon. That said, there is no doubt at all that Israeli military achievements in Lebanon and in Syria are creating a huge opportunity to change the whole situation in the region. These changes can bring us much more security.

Recently, I gave a presentation to the people of Metula. Metula is a northern community in Israel. It was evacuated and ruined during the war. It is situated on the border with Lebanon and its people are very afraid to return there. I spoke to them after Israel agreed to the ceasefire with Lebanon. I addressed the problems with the ceasefire and discussed how it does not provide us with the security we need. At the end of the presentation, one of the women asked me if I would return to Metula if I was her. I told her that she needed to bear in mind that Hezbollah would recover quickly.

On my way home, I heard on the news that the rebels were progressing towards Damascus and it was clear that Damascus would fall. In light of that, I realized that I had given the incorrect answer to the woman from Metula. Given the events in Syria, the people of Metula have much more security and it will now take much more time for Hezbollah to recover.

I am now showing a slide relating to the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon. Since this war started, we have met on Zoom many times to discuss the diplomatic arrangement that I thought was needed for the North. I addressed three key principles or pre-requisites. These were, the deadline, an effective enforcement mechanism and disarmament. While the agreement with Lebanon tries to meet the three key principles, it fails on at least two of them. The third one is dependent on the implementation.

Disarmament in the latest ceasefire agreement is based on Resolution 1701. Resolution 1701 does not address Hezbollah’s withdrawal. Rather, it discusses Hezbollah’s disarmament south of the Litani River, 25 kilometers from the Israeli border. 25 kilometers is much farther than where the Israeli army was maneuvering. There are no Israeli forces in place to remove the weapons in the areas in which the IDF did not conduct operations.

The IDF maneuvered only about 8-10 km from the border. Every day, the IDF publishes pictures of munitions being removed from the towns in Lebanon where they have a presence. Every day, we see images of tons of munitions from every home. Every home there serves as a weapons depot. It is overwhelming for me to see the vast amounts of weapons there.

Then the agreement provides a deadline of 60 days for the IDF to withdraw from Lebanon. The deadline does not apply to Hezbollah and the requirement for them to disarm in South Lebanon. This means that after 60 days there will be no Israeli forces in place to remove Hezbollah’s munitions. As I mentioned, there no one to ensure Hezbollah disarms in the areas further south than the Israeli forces conducted operations.

The agreement also fails with respect to enforcement. It provides a mechanism for monitoring and not for enforcement and there is a difference. According to the terms of the agreement, the United States and France are supposed to monitor the mechanism involving UNIFIL and the Lebanese army. That means that if Israel identifies a ceasefire violation, we should report it to the mechanism they created. UNIFIL or the Lebanese army will then check out the situation. You can understand that in reality there is no time and this is not going to work. If you observe a truck full of munitions in South Lebanon, there is no time to report it for evaluation. I think that the latest ceasefire agreement has been written similarly to 1701 in the sense that each side can interpret it differently and that is why it is ineffective. It is not going to work.

However, current events in Syria give us more time to change the reality on the ground. With respect to the war in general, we are observing huge changes with regard to the Shiite axis. Today, the Iraqis announced they are ceasing their fire. If the report is validated, this is excellent news for us because they were launching drones at Israel daily. The IDF intercepted the majority of them before they entered Israel. However, Iraq was another front Israel had to deal with.

Unfortunately, the Yemeni front is still active in the Red Sea and against Israel. Over the past month, they have significantly increased the numbers of strikes against Israel and we have not deterred them. Over the past few days, they succeeded in bypassing our aerial defense systems twice. There was a hit on a school in the center of Israel in a very crowded area. The school was completely ruined even though the missile was partly intercepted. We were very lucky that nobody was killed. The attack happened at 2:30 am. If it had occurred at 8:00 am, the result would have been catastrophic.

It is Israel’s mission to ensure that these nefarious players do not survive the current conflict. They are a risk for everyone who needs to traverse the Red Sea. They are a risk to the state of Israel and the children of Israel as well.

Sarah Stern: Wonderful presentation as usual, Sarit. Today, the Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati visited southern Lebanon. He praised the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and UNIFIL. Since 2006, we have observed how ineffective UNIFIL and the LAF have been at enforcing 1701. What is your assessment of their performance?

Sarit: Let’s start with UNIFIL because their performance is even more disappointing than that of the LAF. I did not have many expectations from the LAF. With respect to UNIFIL, I feel that I was misled. Over the years, I watched UNIFIL’s actions closely. Throughout those years, UNIFIL insisted it did not have the authority to enter private areas. We know that Hezbollah took advantage of their stance and hid tons of munitions in private homes.

UNIFIL also avoided entering open areas which were not privately owned, particularly over the past few years. These open areas included nature reserves and forested areas. It was completely within their mandate to enter those places and yet they refused to do so. Once again, Hezbollah took advantage of this and they made their preparations to invade Israel from those open areas. Hezbollah hid uniforms, shoes and weapons in underground sites there. These were intended for the combatants of the Radwan Brigades. They planned to come very close to the border, get equipped and then attack Israel. I always said that UNIFIL did not enter those areas because they were intimidated by Hezbollah and were afraid for their lives.

After the IDF offensive in Lebanon, UNIFIL was suddenly not afraid anymore. It appears, they were no longer afraid to get wounded in crossfire on the battlefield. Israel warned UNIFIL they were on a battlefield and asked them to leave the war zone. This was after they had failed to complete their mission. Israel requested that the IDF be allowed to operate freely in the area without having to ensure that UNIFIL soldiers were not being wounded or hurt. Instead of helping, they complained about Israel every time something happened. However, when a Hezbollah rocket hit a UNIFIL base, their complaint was that a non-state player launched a rocket and it hit the UNIFIL base.

I can no longer attempt to defend UNIFIL’s stance in any way. I am out of tools in this respect. As such, I will no longer believe that anything will change in Lebanon unless they prove it to me. As regards the LAF, I have no expectations. The LAF is subordinate to the Lebanese government. The Lebanese government is not separate from Hezbollah. Hezbollah is not designated as a terrorist organization in Lebanon. There are Hezbollah ministers in the Lebanese government. How can we expect the army of this government to enforce Hezbollah’s disarmament? Hezbollah members are officially and openly part of the Lebanese government. Expecting the LAF to disarm Hezbollah is just not going to happen and we are deluding ourselves. As the starting point for any diplomatic arrangement, Lebanon should ban Hezbollah.

Resolution 1559 is all about disarmament of the different militias in Lebanon. Lebanon should follow Resolution 1559 and not 1701. Under Resolution 1559, there would be no militias in southern Lebanon. Nobody is even discussing 1559.

Sarah Stern: The United States appears to have made the decision to suspend the $10 million bounty on the head of Abu Muhammad al-Julani. The UN is no longer designating HTS as a terrorist organization. I think al-Julani is dissembling but the rest of the world appears to believe otherwise. That said, few want to see the corridor between Tehran and Beirut being rebuilt. They do not want Iran and Russia to dominate the world. Don’t you feel that we should wait for the dust to settle before we welcome al-Julani into the class?

Sarit: I agree completely and my purview goes beyond Syria to global security. If you are a terrorist, the lesson here is that you will become legitimate if you succeed in taking over a state. If you take over a state, the prize on your head will be removed and everybody will want to talk to you. I imagine that Hezbollah will be learning this lesson and will try to take over Lebanon with the help of Iran. This has already happened in Yemen and in Afghanistan. It is a very bad message to give to radical ideologs, and I think we should be very careful about it.

Sarah Stern: At this point, would you allow or encourage the residents of the North to return to their homes?

Sarit: Yes, because the IDF is still in Lebanon. I do not know what will happen in a month, but the IDF is still in Lebanon right now. Hezbollah’s recovery will take time. Until Hezbollah recovers, I do not think they will be interested in opening fire against Israel. They need to rebuild their military and civilian capabilities in Lebanon. We did buy some time with the ceasefire. People are coming back gradually but there has been extensive damage to homes and other buildings in the North. Around 1900 homes were damaged. Even if the damage to some homes is classified as small, residents may not want their children to live there.

I visited a community in the North this week. In one of the rooms, I saw the shrapnel that crossed from the window through the closet and into the mirror. It finally crashed into the other side of the wall. The place has been deserted for 14 months and nature has taken over. In other places, there was an IDF presence there, at least at the beginning of the war. This created some damage as well. Driving a tank through a neighborhood creates damage. That is the reality. There is a lot of work to be done in order to rebuild. People are starting to rebuild. Israelis are coming back to the North and they want to see it blooming again.

Sarah Stern: Their return demonstrates the tenacity, resilience and courage of the Zionist spirit. Iran and Russia appear to be diminishing powers inside Syria and the Middle East while Turkey appears to be emerging as more of a dominant force. Erdogan has a horrific hatred towards the Kurds, who’ve been incredibly loyal to the United States and Israel. How vulnerable are they? Do you think the United States and/or Israel could do something to protect the Kurds?

Sarit: I do not think Israel can do anything open or official to protect the Kurds. I think that we need to tread carefully as regards the Kurds. I think that they would agree to autonomy in Syria. The idea of autonomous minorities in Syria is not new. Even the French played with that idea a century ago. I think Kurdish autonomy in Syria could be a solution that satisfies the demands of all sides.

I do not trust Erdogan but at the same time Turkey is a NATO member. I think that the United States has missed an opportunity regarding what it is able to demand from a fellow NATO member. The United States should demand more from Turkey as regards global security. Turkey is hosting Hamas leaders and can exert influence on them. Turkey should be able to influence al-Julani and prevent him from becoming a dictator. Bear in mind however that Turkey is no longer a democracy. I personally do not trust Erdogan. At the same time, he looks old and sick and he is facing internal problems with regard to the support from his own people.

Sarah Stern: Do you have any estimate of how many Hezbollah tunnels are still remaining in southern Lebanon and in Syria?

Sarit: I cannot estimate the number of tunnels in Syria. It is clear that those who excavated tunnels in Lebanon, did the same in Syria. There were also more players in Syria and they may have excavated additional tunnels. In Lebanon, there are hundreds of kilometers of underground infrastructures in the areas the IDF did not enter. The IDF is finding more tunnels every day in the areas that they did maneuver.

Sarah Stern: Within the past week, four Houthi missiles landed in Israel. They did horrible damage to the school Ramat Gan.

Sarit: There have been almost 300 incidents since the beginning of the war. 300 incidents do not imply that only 300 missiles were fired since there is more than one missile in an incident. There have been almost 300 attacks since the beginning of the war and about 12 or 13 of them occurred in December, which is an increase.

The attacks on the shipping lanes in the Red Sea damage the entire world. 300 is the total attacks of the Houthis against Israel and in the Red Sea. The attacks I referred to from December do not include Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. The Houthis are doing something against someone every day.

Sarah Stern: Israel has begun attacking Sana’a. Do you think there are any plans to carpet-bomb Yemen or use more devastating weapons against the Houthis?

Sarit: Yemen presents a huge challenge with regard to civilians. It presents an even bigger civilian problem than Gaza and Lebanon. The humanitarian situation in Yemen is already terrible. The Houthis are investing in fighting the West rather than in rebuilding their own country. This is the country over which they gained some control, after the war with Saudi Arabia.

I do not like the term, carpet bombing. We do not carpet bomb anyone. We bomb weapon storages. This sometimes creates damage in populated areas because the weapons were deliberately stored there. Carpet bombing is the policy of Russia. The Russians did that in the Syrian Golan during the civil war. I saw it in front of my eyes. I heard the Russian jets and then I saw the blasts. This was deliberate targeting of civilians and it happened in all of Syria. This is not a policy followed by western countries, including Israel.

I do not think Israel should have to deal with the Houthis of Yemen alone. As you know, the Houthis are not just attacking Israel. They are also blocking the routes through the Red Sea. This is causing huge damage to countries like Egypt, for example. The entire global economy is impacted and so there is no reason that the United States and Europe should live with it. We should unite forces to fight against it. Dealing with the Houthis will also send a message to Iran and other players in the region.

Sarah Stern: Do you have any strong feelings about the Druze who want to be a part of Israel?

Sarit: Let’s not be mistaken, the Druze of Syria are divided in their approach to the new government and to Israel. They have faced a huge dilemma since the beginning of the civil war. The Druze are different from the Kurds in that they do not strive to have their own state. They are very much connected to their land, but they do not aspire to a nation state. To protect their small sects, their practices and traditions require them to be loyal to the government of the place in which they live.

This is why Walid Jumblatt behaves the way he does in Lebanon. When Hezbollah is strong enough, he says he supports Hezbollah. In Israel, the Druze are loyal to the state of Israel. In Syria, the Druze face a huge dilemma because the government is not stable. That is why there are different groups of Druze in Syria saying different things. Some are supporting Israel and all understand the risk of al-Julani. Some were completely against Assad. They joined the rebels but preserved their autonomy within that group. They did not become an indistinguishable group in the structure of the New Syrian Army. They may have joined the rebels but they still want to protect their own regions.

Sarah Stern: What about the Druze in the northern Israeli villages?

Sarit: There are four Druze towns in the Golan. We have almost 50,000 people living in the Golan. Half of them are Jews and the other half are Druze. In 1981, when we annexed the Golan, we offered them Israeli citizenship, and they refused. During the civil war in Syria, many in the younger population showed an interest in becoming Israeli citizens. The elderly were afraid that the Assad regime would target them and their families if they became Israeli citizens. They had family members just across the border from them and they were afraid Assad would take revenge on them.

The majority of the Druze of the Golan are probably still not Israeli citizens. They are just residents but they receive all of the services from the state of Israel. They receive social security, medical and educational benefits from the Israeli government. They fly Israeli flags in their towns and I feel very comfortable visiting my friends there. Until the war, it was a great place for tourists to visit.

When Hezbollah killed the 12 Druze children, the Druze of the Golan demanded that the Israeli government protect them. They view the Israeli government as their protector as long as they live under Israeli control. I can totally understand it. But I also understand their dilemma with respect to Syria.

Sarah Stern: Of course. They do not want their relatives in Syria to be harmed or killed.

Sarit: As time goes by, they feel more and more Israeli because they live here. There is a high percentage of doctors in those towns, for example, because they were able to study in Damascus. They do not have enough patients in the Druze towns so they work and live everywhere in Israel. In that way, partnerships and social relationships are created between Druze and Jewish Israelis and we feel very comfortable with them.

Sarah Stern: A great many of the Druze serve in the IDF.

Sarit: The Druze that serve in the army are citizens of Israel. They live in the Galilee or next to Haifa. They declared their allegiance to the Israeli state in the 1950s. The Druze men are obliged to serve in the army. The Druze women are not, because theirs is a traditional society. I live in an area that is about 500 meters from a Druze town and I have very good friends there. They lost many people during the war. They lost two lieutenant colonels. One was killed in fighting in Gaza and the other was killed in the northern front in Lebanon.

Sarah Stern: I know there are cemeteries filled with graves of Druze who were killed while serving in the IDF. Allen Stein asked if you could comment on the rumor that the LAF and Hezbollah have an agreement. They are rumored to have agreed that the LAF will occasionally make a show of discovering and confiscating arms while allowing Hezbollah to rearm. Do you know anything about that?

Sarit: I do not have any information about such an agreement but I would not be surprised to hear they were behaving in this manner.

Sarah Stern: I have seen pictures of Lebanese boy scouts displaying the flag of the LAF with a Hezbollah flag.

Sarit: The LAF and Hezbollah fighters come from the same families and are basically the same people. As I said, we used to observe Hezbollah in the Lebanese army’s watch towers next to the border. I witnessed an LAF soldier securing Hezbollah military operatives and helping them in their mission to gather intelligence at the border. Hezbollah operatives and LAF soldiers worked together. LAF soldiers prevented UNIFIL from entering areas with a suspected military presence. These areas included the entrances to the border crossing tunnels we discovered. They also included shooting ranges and weapon depots. This was the daily reality we have faced over the past 18 years. The LAF was part of Hezbollah’s plan and they were used as tools to hide Hezbollah’s military presence in South Lebanon.

Sarah Stern: On Wednesday night, Jews around the world will begin celebrating Hanukkah. People like Sarit Zehavi are today’s Maccabees. I would also like to remember Rabbi Akiva Posner. In 1932, Rabbi Posner lit the menorah as the Nazi flag was being lifted across the street from him. His wife has the iconic photograph showing this menorah. She said that the Jews will live forever and the light that burns is the answer. All of us are trying very, very hard to be lights within the darkness. Our goal is to shed light on the truth, on antisemitism and anti-Israelism.

I encourage everyone to support Sarit Zehavi’s work at https://israel-alma.org/ .  Please also support our work at https://emetonline.org/. We are on Capitol Hill almost every day trying also to shed light on the truth. Thank you so much, Sarit. Thank you to all of our listeners. Happy Hanukkah or Merry Christmas to those in our audience who celebrate.

Sarit: Thank you.

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