Former minister and Brigadier General (res.) Efi Eitam attacked the claims that the state is "abandoning the residents of the north," and claimed that this is incorrect discourse.
In a conversation with Nissim Mashal and Anat Davidov on 103fm radio, Eitam said that Israel is in the midst of a military campaign and that the use of the term "desertion" is inappropriate.
""The word 'abandoned' is a dissolute word, this speech is dissolute," he said to them. "Who is abandoning? Is the IDF abandoning? Is the Chief of Staff abandoning? Is the Prime Minister abandoning? What is this speech? There is a war.".
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Eitam emphasized that he does not serve as a government spokesman, but rather a "spokesman for national memory and responsibility." According to him, the State of Israel has been fighting since its founding and is now handling Hezbollah well.
According to him, the current security situation on the northern border is a direct result of the Ehud Barak government's decision to withdraw from the security zone 26 years ago.
""We are now correcting a historic strategic error in our escape from the security zone that effectively protected the residents of the north," he said.
Eitam noted that the decision was made in 2000 following pressure from the army and the Four Mothers organization. According to him, most Israeli governments in the past thirty years have waged war against Hezbollah, and the current reality requires the rebuilding of a security space in the north.
Referring to the explosive drone threat, he said that it is a difficult tactical problem, but one that will be solved later, as other threats have been solved in the past.
""Since 2000, there has been the second Lebanon war and now the third, and I very much hope that we are building a security space that will protect the residents of the north. It takes time, it is painful and difficult, but it is necessary, that is how a country fights.".
