Israelis must be prepared for a new, more costly war if they resign

For Israelis, who have been fixated on the war against Hamas for more than eight months, the prospect of another conflict with the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah militia is triggering a mixture of fatigue and resignation.

The residents of northern Israel, many of whom have been driven from their homes by the escalating violence, cannot live with the threat posed by Hezbollah, the argument goes, even if the timing is unfavorable for another war.

“We don’t want war, but we have no other choice,” says Tel Aviv hairdresser Pini Yonatan.

While many Israelis are increasingly distrustful of the government, they trust the military to protect them. But experts warn that residents of the densely populated center of the country are unaware of what a war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah would mean for them.

“I don’t think the public fully understands how difficult this is going to be,” says Chuck Freilich, a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv and a former national security adviser.

“This is a whole different order of magnitude,” he says. “The scale of destruction on Israel’s home front is perhaps something we have never seen before.”

With hostilities escalating between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, American and European diplomats are trying to prevent the violence from escalating into a full-scale war that could threaten the region.

The need for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, which has already forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, was a key message that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin delivered on Tuesday to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who is currently in Washington.

“Another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily escalate into a regional war with dire consequences for the Middle East,” Secretary of State Austin said. “We urgently seek a diplomatic settlement that will restore lasting calm to Israel’s northern border and allow civilians on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border to return safely to their homes.”

But for many Israelis – fixated on the war with Hamas in Gaza and a traumatic hostage crisis for more than eight months – the prospect of war on another front is causing a mixture of weariness and resignation that conflict may be inevitable.

The residents of northern Israel could not live with the threat of Hezbollah rockets or an invasion like that of Hamas on October 7, the argument goes, even if the timing was unfortunate.

A full-scale war with Hezbollah would be a “catastrophe,” says Pini Yonatan, a hairdresser at a salon in northern Tel Aviv, as he takes a break.