Israeli settlement chief wants to cut ties with army, government amid Hezbollah attacks

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – The head of the Israeli Margaliot settlement near the border with Lebanon called on Monday to sever ties with the army and government.

His call came after a municipal council in the illegal settlement was damaged by three anti-tank missiles from Lebanon.

“We will change the situation on the ground,” Eitan Davidi said in statements cited by Maariv newspaper.

“No one is protecting (Margaliot) or us,” he added. “We want complete separation from the army and the government.

“We decided to cut ties with the Israeli government and remove all its soldiers from here. We sent a message regarding this to the responsible officer.

“Margaliot does not need protection from Hezbollah but from the Israeli government, which is crushing us with its decisions,” Davidi said.

There was no comment from the government or the army on the report.

Margaliot was among illegal Israeli settlements evacuated by the army in northern Israel amid cross-border attacks with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

The border tension comes amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 36,000 people since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio