The day before yesterday, we went through an extremely difficult 24 hours. Hezbollah escalated the fighting: Several explosive drones entered the moshav and detonated, exactly five minutes after the school bus had returned the children from school to the stop and they had dispersed to their homes.
It was only by a miracle that we came through the incident unharmed. A few minutes stood between a disaster with loss of life and property damage alone. But luck and timing are no way to operate.
For 77 years, Shomera has been at the heart of the confrontation line in Northern Israel. Over the years, we have invested love, sweat and money here, in poultry farming, orchards, sheep and cattle, and tourism. Since the outbreak of the Swords of Iron War, which began with Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, we have sustained many hits to homes, public buildings and infrastructure. The sirens do not stop, rocket fire has accompanied us for a long time, and now explosive drones and artillery battery fire have been added, driving us out of our minds. Life has become unbearable even for the most experienced residents.
What hurts me most is the feeling that we have been abandoned. We, the older founders, are still coping, but the young people who took out loans, built homes and are paying mortgages now find themselves without work in the area and are forced to travel long distances just to earn a living.
And when you are at work and rockets are falling, your children are not with you. It truly breaks your heart to think of the small children going through this situation. The heart shatters. And what can we do? They are smart and they understand. Some are afraid and some have grown used to it, but this is a situation that cannot be accepted.
The economic situation is no less difficult. Guests are not coming to the guest cabins, agriculture is not functioning as it should, and yields are very low. In the chicken coops, shelling affects the birds. Cattle grazing in the pasture are frightened and run away, or suffer miscarriages. In short, the government must help the residents of these communities urgently, before they collapse.
In addition, the state decided to grant us 132,000 shekels to build safe rooms. In practice, 18 have been built, and two more are on the way. But there are elderly people here who are not capable of finding contractors on their own. It is the state's responsibility to ensure the security of its residents, not to leave that burden to individuals.
Ministers come, hand out promises and disappear
As chairman of the moshav, I understand that the hands of the army are tied and that government policy dictates the action. I have no complaints against them, but I do not see commitment or urgency from the government on the security issue. At every incident, a minister or MK arrives, hands out promises, gives us the feeling that they are with us, and then disappears. The promises disappear into thin air along with them.
I invite the government ministers and Knesset members to tour our communities. We will organize a bus for them. And if an explosive drone is launched, I want to see how they behave. Perhaps then their eyes will open before a real disaster happens.
Recently, and since the beginning of the week in particular, residents have fallen into despair. There are no solutions, and there is no answer to the question of what the future holds. I am an optimistic person and I believe better days will come, but the government must treat us as part of the State of Israel and provide a response to all our needs. Urgently.
The writer is chairman of the committee of Moshav Shomera, on Israel's border with Lebanon.
