Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., has spent months trying to raise awareness on Capitol Hill about the plight of Israelis who live near the Lebanon border, as their story has gotten far less attention than Israelis in the south hard hit by the Oct. 7 attacks. He brought a delegation of those from the north to meet with lawmakers in June, when the focus was still on Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

But last week, as fighting intensified between Israel and Hezbollah, the delegation he brought to the Hill had a fresh urgency to it, coming just two days after the audacious operation that detonated pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon, ​​killing at least 20 people and injuring nearly 3,000, including Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon.

“The objective of the first delegation was to raise awareness. Since then, the situation has deteriorated remarkably,” Oren told Jewish Insider in an interview at the Washington Hilton, on the sidelines of last week’s Israeli American Council national summit, which the delegation also attended.

In the wake of the escalation, he said, the focus of people’s attention has changed “slightly.”

Both trips were organized through the Israel Advocacy Group, which Oren formed after the Oct. 7 terror attacks, in collaboration with the Democratic Majority for Israel and the Republican Jewish Coalition. Since Oct. 7, Hezbollah has bombarded Israel’s north with some 9,000 rockets, missiles and drones. 

A group of four Israelis, representing a diverse range of ethnicities and backgrounds, alongside Oren, spent all day Friday meeting with Congress and the Biden administration. The packed day started with breakfast and a panel with ambassadors of Italy, Germany, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Estonia, Austria and Norway, as well as State Department officials, organized by the American Jewish Committee. 

The delegation members were: Liat Cohen Raviv and her 23-year-old daughter, Doron Cohen, both residents of Metula, a town of about 2,500 people that abuts the Israel-Lebanon border and has been almost entirely evacuated; Samer Atallah, a member of the Druze community of Yarka, near Majdal Shams; and Nitsan Daniel, from Kibbutz Kfar Szold, located about three miles from the Lebanese border. The delegation met with senior White House advisors, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Rick Scott (R-FL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), as well as Reps. Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), Glenn Ivey (D-MD), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Lucy McBath (D-GA), Brian Mast (R-FL), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Don Davis (D-NC), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Jared Golden (D-ME) and Grace Meng (D-NY). 

Oren said that several of his questions were answered, including learning from diplomats that they are closely coordinating with Paris because of France’s ties to Lebanon. 

Atallah said he wants Americans to understand that Druze are an active part of Israeli society. “I came to represent my community,” Atallah told JI. In July, 12 Druze children in Majdal Shams, which is located in the Golan Heights, were killed by a Hezbollah rocket strike while playing soccer. “We’ve been involved in both the civil and military aspects of Israel, whether it’s going into reserve duty, myself included, or providing support within the community,” he said.  

Cohen Raviv and Cohen, meanwhile, talked about living out of hotels for the past 11 months. “As we are speaking now, my father, little sister and boyfriend of six years are serving as combat soldiers,” Cohen, who finished reserve duty four days before coming to Washington, told JI. Last Thursday, the first day of the IAC conference, her neighborhood was set on fire by Hezbollah rockets. 

In Metula, 217 houses, a third of the community’s homes, have been damaged. “When this is over — and it will be over— it will take us another year just to rebuild infrastructure,” Cohen Raviv said.

“Being in Washington got me thinking a lot and I think what we’re doing here, voicing the suffering and impact of nine million people sharing a small piece of land in the Middle East, is super important,” she continued. “I urge everyone to think about what this region would look like without Israel and how it would affect the rest of the world.” 

For the displaced residents of Metula, Cohen Raviv said, “the hotel situation is very difficult because they are used to a village kind of lifestyle.” 

Daniels, a mother of two boys ages 8 and 12, was the only participant to come to Washington as part of both of Oren’s delegations. She said that Friday’s meetings brought a different mission than the summer meetings. 

“The first time we came, we were here to tell our story for the first time. This time, we are asking for a solution,” she said. Kibbutz Kfar Szold is located three-and-a-half miles from the Lebanon border, and has not been evacuated because the evacuation zone extends for only three miles. This means that residents “live in a war zone,” she said. When sirens go off alerting of a rocket attack, residents in the kibbutz only have up to 15 seconds to seek shelter due to its proximity to the Lebanon border. 

“We need to decouple what is happening in southern Israel from what’s happening in the north, because it is different,” Daniels said. “We can’t just look away like we did before. We know that what happened in the south could happen in the north.”

She called on U.S. leaders to take the Hezbollah threat just as seriously as Hamas. 

“A cease-fire with Hamas doesn’t keep us safe from Hezbollah and we need a solution that makes sure Hezbollah is not near us,” Daniels said. 

“Eventually we know this will end in some kind of agreement.” 

“I’m not sure I share your optimism,” Oren interjected. “I’m not sure it ends in agreement. It could end in the defeat of Hezbollah.”