'We are being abandoned': Northern Israel emergency response squads denounce reduced mobilization

Emergency response squads in northern Israel are expressing outrage over a decision to drastically reduce their mobilization, viewing it as an abandonment by the government. Brig.-Gen. Alon Friedman, commander of the IDF Home Front Command's Northern Division, informed the squads that standby teams would be heavily reduced starting Sunday. This decision comes amid a ceasefire with Hezbollah and ongoing talks between Israeli and Lebanese delegations.

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a spit in the face of everyone who has protected the area over the last three years.

Members of the response squads have fiercely criticized the move. One member from Moshav Goren called it "a spit in the face" to those who have protected the area for three years. He questioned the timing, stating that ceasefire agreements are barely dry and the silence is tense. He argued that dismantling the last line of defense for settlements, especially without proven security infrastructure, is not a return to routine but an act of abandonment. He highlighted the sacrifices made by volunteers who left everything and endured sleepless nights.

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The ink on the ceasefire agreements has not yet dried, the silence here is a false and tense silence, and the first decision taken is to dismantle the last line of defense of our settlements? The people who left everything, who did not sleep at night, and who were the first to jump and the last to leave.

Further accusations target Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with one squad member from Kibbutz Kfar Giladi claiming he is handing over the northern communities to Iran and Qatar. This follows a similar alleged move concerning Gaza border communities. The decision is deemed a "strategic disaster" that could prompt mass emigration from the North, harming the security interests of residents and Israel as a whole.

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To release the squads immediately, without a transition period, without proven security [infrastructure] on the ground - this is not a return to routine. This is abandonment.

The announcement comes as the Home Front Command is also easing other security guideline restrictions in areas near the Lebanon border. For over two years, many communities close to the border have faced restrictions due to the conflict with Hezbollah and the threat of rockets and drones. A ceasefire, reportedly part of a US-Iranian Memorandum of Understanding, was signed last week, but reports of fighting in southern Lebanon raise concerns about its stability.

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After selling the residents of the Gaza border communities to Qatari interests, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing it again, and handing over the future of the northern communities to Iran and Qatar.