Metula Council Head Says Government Is Abandoning Soldiers and Demands Hezbollah’s Disarmament

Two days after the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah began, Metula council head David Azulai said on Sunday morning in an interview with ynet that the security situation on the northern border remains unstable and that he does not believe the calm will last. He said fire continued until Saturday morning and described the night as one of the noisiest in the area. "I don't believe the quiet will continue, Hezbollah and the Iranians will find reasons why not," he said.

Azulai accused Israel’s political leadership of leaving forces in Lebanon without a clear mission and of bowing to international pressure. "There is no Israeli side here, if you ask me, there is only American and Iranian," he said. He added, "We are taking instructions from the American president. We have a silent and bleeding government that causes IDF soldiers to bleed in Lebanon and abandons them to their fate, the north is already lost."

He called for new orders or a withdrawal to the border line. "If the goals are not changed to dismantling Hezbollah, then the border line can be defended from בתוך the country," he said. "Bring the soldiers home. The Litani line must be painted red, and whoever crosses it, his blood is on his own head." Azulai later summed up his position by saying that the real security need is to see no houses and no residents on the northern side, and that the complementary objective is to strip Hezbollah of its weapons.

His comments came as Metula, which is marking 130 years since its founding, is trying to bring visitors and tourists back to the town. Azulai, who leads tours there himself, said local livelihoods depend heavily on tourism and agriculture, and that both sectors are suffering badly, with everything still dependent on the security situation. He said his tours, which he describes as moving "between war and hope," begin at the historic municipal building, continue with footage from the war, and end at the border to show what is happening on the other side. A senior American official announced the ceasefire on Friday at 4 p.m., and hours earlier Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed that the IDF would exact a heavy price from Hezbollah, after the deaths of five soldiers in southern Lebanon.