A number of signs taunting the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) appeared on the Lebanese border Tuesday, The Times of Israel reports. The signs were placed at points where Israeli troops regularly patrol.
"If you don't trust your Ground Forces, who were beaten in Lebanon, you need to send them to your search-and-rescue forces. You'll need them," the signs read, in a "somewhat stilted Hebrew," The Times of Israel says.
The signs also feature a collage of Israeli tanks on fire and IDF soldiers caught crying.
The signs' text refers to a report aired Sunday on Israel's Channel 13 news about a document filed by two Israeli opposition MKs accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "not believing in the Ground Forces."
بعد حديث قادة الإحتلال الإسرائيلي عن عدم ثقتهم بالقوة البرية على تحقيق النصر.. ناشطون لبنانيون ينشرون جداريات باللغة العبرية والعربية مقابل جنود العدو عند الحدود مع فلسطين المحتلة pic.twitter.com/RtROFikQx6
— علي شعيب 🇱🇧 (@ali_shoeib1) 12 февраля 2019 г.
The report, written by Yesh Atid MK Ofer Shelah and Labor MK Omer Barlev, who lead a subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, was prepared in response to former military ombudsman Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Brick's warnings regarding the combat readiness of the IDF. The IDF reportedly rejected Brick's assertions and maintained it is ready for war.
Tensions along the Israeli-Lebanese border have increased in recent months, as Israel began the construction of a new concrete border wall, and then heightened further in December, when the IDF launched an operation to find and destroy tunnels dug by Hezbollah into Israel from Lebanese territory.