Netanyahu moves up flight from DC after deadly Hezbollah rocket strike
PM initially faced criticism for delay in changing flight schedule; security cabinet to meet Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m.
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his return flight from Washington to be moved up in the wake of Saturday’s deadly strike on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the northern Golan Heights.
Netanyahu was initially slated to depart after a high-profile visit to the US capital and to Florida at 11 p.m. (6 a.m. Israel time), but was now scheduled to take off instead of 6 p.m. local time (1 a.m. Israel time).
He was expected to land back in Israel around midday on Sunday, amid growing calls for a major military operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Netanyahu had faced criticism from opposition figures and in the media after his office initially dithered on whether he would change his flight plans.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu should be in Israel at such times and take part in the management of the war,” said Opposition Leader Yair Lapid in a statement. “The fact that he has not yet decided on returning to Israel is another shameful proof of his complete detachment and above all that he does not care about anything but himself.”
An unnamed senior cabinet official told Channel 12 Netanyahu’s failure to immediately move up the flight exhibited “the height of disconnect.”
Netanyahu’s office rejected the criticism. “The prime minister made the decision to move his return up as soon as the terrible disaster in Majdal Shams became known, and even informed the defense minister about it before the false criticism was heard in the media,” his office asserted.
“The prime minister will assemble the security cabinet immediately upon his return to Israel.”
Twelve children and youths, all aged 10-20, were killed and 30 more people were injured in the rocket attack on a soccer field on Saturday afternoon. Israel placed the blame squarely on Hezbollah.
It was the single deadliest Hezbollah attack on northern Israel since fighting there began in October.
The security cabinet was slated to meet at 4 p.m. on Sunday at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, as Israeli officials signaled the response would be unprecedented.
Netanyahu was in Washington to meet US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the White House, to address a joint session of Congress, and to meet GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Springs, Florida.
The IDF said it had determined that the rocket was launched by the terror group from an area just north of the Lebanese village of Chebaa.
Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a press conference at the scene on Saturday night that, according to an initial probe, rocket sirens sounded in the town “but this is an immediate alert — too short.”
“From the… probe, it has emerged that a single rocket” struck the soccer field in Majdal Shams, Hagari stated, adding that the military was further investigating. He identified the rocket that struck Majdal Shams as an Iranian-made Falaq-1.
“Our intelligence is clear, Hezbollah is responsible for the murder of innocent children.
The attack came after the IDF on Saturday afternoon struck a cell of Hezbollah gunmen at a weapons depot in southern Lebanon’s Kafr Kila. Hezbollah later confirmed that four of its operatives, members of the terror group’s elite Nukhba force, were killed in the strike.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
