The north is burning, and the price is unbearable. Ofer "Pushko" Moskowitz, 59, the agriculture director at Kibbutz Mishgav Am (a kibbutz in the Upper Galilee, on the Lebanese border), was killed Sunday morning when a missile fired by the Hezbollah terrorist organization struck him from Lebanon. Moskowitz – a familiar and beloved figure throughout the Upper Galilee – was cut down at his post while tending to the kibbutz orchards on the front line of the fence.
Just two days earlier, on Friday, Moskowitz had sat down for an interview on Radio Haifa. His words that day now carry the chilling weight of a self-fulfilling prophecy. "I feel like we're living in Russian roulette," he said. "I want quiet at home. I want the new grandson born to me this week to be able to sit with me on the porch at home and feel safe."
"They promised there was no Hezbollah"
During the interview, Moskowitz expressed deep frustration with the political echelon and its promises of quiet on the border. "This is beyond anger – this is disappointment," he said. "I'm so disappointed in the people I trusted, who told me face to face, 'There is no Hezbollah.' The day after the ceasefire, I stood at a lookout post, and I saw a black vehicle from which four people emerged and planted a Hezbollah flag. They're telling us fairy tales."
Moskowitz, who lived and breathed the soil of the Galilee, also voiced deep concern about the future of Israeli agriculture under fire. "Agriculture is in our souls and our blood, but people don't want agriculture in this country. They cut our water quotas by 30%. I'm sorry, but I don't want my grandson to be a farmer."
The Mishgav Am community mourned with grief, "Pushko. Speaker, farmer, friend, a symbol, and a legacy for all of us. Throughout all the years, he was the defining voice of all of us. We send our deepest condolences and a warm embrace to his family and to the entire Mishgav Am community. The Galilee will never look the same without him."
