Defense Minister Yisrael Katz visited Lebanon this morning (Sunday) together with Deputy Chief of Staff Major General Tamir Yadai, Commander of the 91st Division Brigadier General Yuval Ges, and other commanders.
The visit was joined by the chairman of the Margaliot Moshav, Eitan Davidi.
The Defense Minister told IDF fighters in Lebanon: "We have determined that we will no longer leave the north, that we will not move from the north. For this to happen, it is impossible to leave civilians with the threat of anti-tank missiles and the threat of a raid. Hezbollah, after pressure from Iran, decided to join. It was built to be Iran's protector. This time it decided to join, so it must pay a price.
""We are continuing this - and the goal is to disarm Hezbollah. That is the goal, and we are working to achieve it - to bring security to the residents of the north.".
He emphasized: "The point is, first of all, that the residents are not returning and will not return from south of the Litani - not returning as long as the security of the residents of the north has not been guaranteed here. This is something that has not happened.".
""Second thing, they call it 'the money plow' - all these houses are being removed, because they again and again and again and again become terrorist outposts. They simply remove the threat. We saw in Gaza how it works in the end - in Rafah, Beit Khanun. In the end, they lose territory and lose houses, that's what they lose.
""The goal is clear here - to change this situation. We will continue, we are determined.".
He referred to Hezbollah's mistake: "They didn't understand, Nasrallah, apparently, his end was in some locked room over there, he suffocated or something like that, according to the diagnoses. So he had a few minutes to think about how wrong he was in understanding the Jews - that we had changed.".
""He was sure he knew us, maybe it was true. He didn't understand that we had changed because of what happened and in the process, and therefore he didn't understand that they would also act against him and do the same thing to Naim Qassem, and the same thing to the Iranians, and everyone else.".
He thanked the soldiers: "So thank you very much. There is no other holiday coming up now for me to wish you a happy holiday. Independence Day is a great national holiday and I really want to express my appreciation. We are with you, and you are with the people, and together we win.".
Margaliot Chairman Eitan Davidi: "We will give all the time required, you will not feel the pressure from us. We need to give the IDF all the time required to complete the work here because, really, the minister told me in one of our phone calls last week: 'Eitan, we are here to make a change for generations - not for days or for years - because we do not want to enter into another campaign here in six months or in a year or in two years or in three.'".
""I say - we don't need to evacuate, we don't. Not only should we not give them this victory that we are evacuating our homes, we are also at a different level of risk. True, the feeling is uncomfortable, you hear shooting, you hear interceptions, there are entries into the battalion headquarters - but this is the least we can give of ourselves and that is perfectly fine.
We must stay here, because in the end this is the picture of our victory, and we are here also to feel, to give resilience to the soldiers who are here, so that they know that we truly trust them and also that we think that we must not let the other side defeat us.
""We see that the Minister of Defense is really releasing the Nusra to the IDF - and the IDF knows how to do the job and everything is in the spirit of the commander.".
