Netanyahu Visits Southern Lebanon as Female Artillery Soldiers Are Told to Leave

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited southern Lebanon on Tuesday with Defense Minister Israel Katz, and a report aired by Kan News said female artillery soldiers were told to leave the area where they were stationed to prevent them from encountering Haredi soldiers from the IDF’s Hasmonean Brigade.

“A report aired by the Israeli public broadcaster Kan on Wednesday said that female recruits in the artillery corps were removed from a military site in southern Lebanon during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit, to prevent their contact with soldiers from the Hashmonai Brigade, the ultra-Orthodox unit”

An-Nahar

The report said female soldiers from the Artillery Corps were moved from the site before Netanyahu met soldiers from the Hasmonean Brigade, a new ultra-Orthodox combat framework established for Haredi troops.

An-Nahar

Netanyahu’s visit came as Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March 2 have killed over 4,000 people, according to Democracy Now!, which said the attacks continued despite the U.S. ceasefire with Iran requiring Israel to stop bombing Lebanon and withdraw its forces.

In the Kan News report, one mother of a female soldier said the women were told they had promised the Hasmoneans they would not see girls there and therefore had to go to another house and stay downstairs.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in response that "This was a gathering that was not properly planned in relation to the existing conditions" and that the incident will be investigated.

The Kan News report quoted the mother of one of the female soldiers describing how, when Netanyahu had to arrive to meet the Hasmoneans at the position they had worked on, the girls in the battery were told to go to another house and stay downstairs.

She said, “For four hours, only the girls from the battery sat downstairs and were not allowed to go upstairs, so the Hasmoneans would not accidentally run into them,” as the visit proceeded.

CBN

In response, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said the incident was tied to planning for the brigade commander’s house in enemy territory and that "The incident will be investigated."

The New Arab framed Netanyahu’s message to occupying troops as a vow that Israel would not withdraw from southern Lebanon as long as Iran-backed Hezbollah continued to pose a threat, quoting Netanyahu’s statement: "Our insistence is that we will not leave southern Lebanon until the threat is removed."

Netanyahu’s visit to troops in southern Lebanon was presented across outlets as part of a broader policy of staying in the area until Hezbollah’s threat ends, with The Times of India saying he declared that Israeli forces would not withdraw as long as Iran-backed Hezbollah continued to threaten Israel.

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Tuesday with Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, telling his forces they would continue their occupation as long as Hezbollah poses a threat”

Democracy Now!

The Times of India reported that Netanyahu reiterated the line "Our insistence is that we will not leave southern Lebanon until the threat is removed," and said he was accompanied by Israeli defence minister Israel Katz and senior military officials.

JNS.org similarly quoted Netanyahu telling troops to “We say to both Iran and Hezbollah: Get out of here,” and said he warned the framework agreement with Beirut signed on Friday was a “slap in the face” to the Iranian axis that “won’t necessarily go unchallenged.”

In the same reporting, JNS.org said Netanyahu claimed Hezbollah had an arsenal that totaled 150,000 missiles and rockets before the war and that the group now retains about 8% of that stockpile, while the IDF eliminated some 9,000 terror operatives, including hundreds in recent weeks.