The killing of Battalion 52 commander Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Shimchon and three of his soldiers overnight in southern Lebanon, after a suspected target struck their tank, triggered angry political reactions in Israel on Friday. Right-wing party leaders called for a drastic change in the Israel Defense Forces’ response and for a broad, unprecedented offensive inside Lebanon.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said Israel could no longer defer to international demands when lives are at stake. “With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make clear to the whole world that our sons’ blood and our citizens’ security are not forfeit,” he said. “Lebanon as a whole must burn. Our supreme duty is to protect Israel’s citizens and IDF soldiers, and that obligation comes before any other consideration.”
Ben Gvir also said he regularly delivers the same message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I tell the prime minister, even in our meetings, on every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers should cry,” he said. “Enough with the ping-pong. In the Middle East, you do not win with measured responses and restraint, you need to go crazy. Erase. Defeat the terror.”
Avigdor Liberman, leader of Yisrael Beiteinu and a former defense minister, also blamed the government and security leadership. He said that if, after the death of four fighters and devastated families, Beirut’s Dahiyeh district is still standing, then it is a direct failure by the prime minister and defense minister. “IDF soldiers are not ducks in a shooting gallery,” he said. “For every attack on our soldiers, a heavy price must be exacted that the other side will not forget.”
