Who is this 'small group' of Israelis who dream of colonizing southern Lebanon?

There are not many of them, and even the most extreme Israeli officials do not support their demand, but that has not stopped them from making themselves heard this week: They are the "[very few] Israelis who dream of colonizing southern Lebanon," and to whom the daily Haaretz devoted an article on Thursday.

"Even the most hard-line settlers, such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have not proposed" such a project, says the Israeli newspaper, which describes this group as "extremists among extremists." Around twenty of them gathered on Wednesday near Haifa in the parking lot of a small shopping mall, bearing bright orange signs – the color signifying opposition to the 2005 Gaza withdrawal – on which were written slogans such as "Northerners deserve security. For settlements in southern Lebanon." On the vehicles were posters and magnets depicting what Haaretz described as a "cypress tree," but which bears a striking resemblance to a cedar, the national tree of Lebanon, inside a Jewish Star of David with the text "The movement for the colonization of South Lebanon."

According to the article, the movement has only a dozen members.

"The idea of a Jewish settlement in southern Lebanon is a marginal belief, even among West Bank settlers," continues Haaretz, according to which the war in Gaza has sparked a craze for the return of "Gush Katif," the enclave's settlement bloc. "And some of its supporters hope that this will also open up a discussion on the northern border."

The same source points out that the initiative to colonize part of Lebanon was launched in October with the start of the Gaza war, which displaced tens of thousands of Israelis from border communities both around the Palestinian enclave and on the northern border, "due to incessant rocket and missile attacks by Hezbollah and Hamas."

The South Lebanon settlement movement is named after Israel Socol, a 24-year-old reservist from the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron, who was killed in Gaza last January. His father, Yehoshua Socol, was among the demonstrators on Wednesday. "Israel, my son, had dreamed of living in Lebanon for years," he said while "noting that this was not the genesis of the movement." The man points to references to religious texts that consider Lebanon to be part of the "land of Israel." Socol said he appreciated messages of condolence for his son's death in the war, but that "consolation will come when we have settlements in Lebanon, Gaza, across the Jordan and the Third Temple" in Jerusalem.

An idea "not yet very popular"

According to Leah, one of the movement's organizers, the absence of the Israeli army in southern Lebanon after its withdrawal in 2000 means that "the country is engaged in a cycle in which it still has to face sporadic battles with Hezbollah every two or three years." "Look at the number of civilians who are now being evacuated from their homes because they cannot live [safely] in the North. Our appeal to our enemies – in Gaza as well as in southern Lebanon for Hezbollah – is this: Whoever attacks Israel will lose the territory from which he attacks us. We will conquer that territory, colonize it and protect our civilians. If they dare to attack us, we'll take more. We'll stop conquering when you stop attacking us," says Leah, who admits to Haaretz that the idea is "not yet very popular."

"It's clear to me that Lebanon is part of Eretz Yisrael [Land of Israel]," according to Yonatan, another protester, a settler from the occupied West Bank. According to him, "a large part of the ancient tribal lands of Asher and Naftali are in southern Lebanon, making it part of Israel." According to the Old Testament, Naftali is the sixth son of Jacob, himself a grandson of Abraham, and Asher the eighth. The protester argues that Hezbollah's missiles justify the occupation and colonization of the region, and the idea didn't catch on because "nobody had really thought about it," including politicians.

Asked by Haaretz at the end of the demonstration about the possibility, in her opinion, of an occupation of South Lebanon, one woman dismisses it. "It's impossible, just as it's impossible in Gaza."

"We have enough problems as it is, without wanting to enter other areas as well."

This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.