That’s exactly my point, Antoun. Thank you for spelling it out. Additional data I dug up after posting the article: 23% of the town’s residents voted in the 2022 Knesset elections, whereas participation in the rest of Israel was well over 60% — even among Palestinians with Israeli citizenship.

I’m no military expert, so I didn’t make this other point: Geographically, though Lebanon is right over the mountain, Kiryat Shmoneh, the nearest Israeli “settlement” is a good 40-min drive to the west. If Hizballah wanted to attack Israel, I don’t see why they would lob anything in the direction of Majdal Shams.