The heads of the local authorities councils on the northern borders of Israel expressed their fear of the intention to make a drastic reduction in the framework of the new state budget law to protect the northern settlements from 500 million shekels to 100 million shekels only, according to the Hebrew newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth.
Against the backdrop of the unusual security incident, details of which were forbidden to be published, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant made several assessments of the situation.
Hebrew newspaper “Yediot Ahronot”.
The newspaper said, “Fear is increasing further due to the occurrence of an unusual security incident, which was represented in the explosion of an explosive device, on Monday, at the Megiddo junction in northern Israel, the details of which were completely obscured and prevented from being published, according to what the former army chief of staff, a member of Knesset member Gadi Eisenkot of the (official camp) party.
“Today we are in one of the most dangerous security periods, from my point of view, since the Yom Kippur War,” Eisenkot said from the Knesset rostrum.
She added that in 2018, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu decided on a plan to protect the north with a budget of 5 billion shekels in settlements close to the border, where there are no security shelters for thousands of homes.
And just last year, Naftali Bennett’s government budgeted for the settlement protection program in northern Israel, allocating its first NIS 100 million. It was planned to invest 250 million shekels in the project in the 2022 budget, and 500 million shekels in 2023.
In turn, the head of the Conflict Line Forum and the head of the Meta Asher Regional Council, Moshe Davidovich, said: “The residents of the border line without an emergency protected residential space will remain exposed,” warning that “the Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, is well aware that our weakness lies in Our unprotected population.”
According to Kiryat Shmona Mayor Avichai Stern, “His city lacks about 3,000 safe rooms. And while Eisenkot says such troubling things, those in charge of our security are expected to protect those who protect the state by settling on Israel’s most challenging and dangerous border.” Whoever raised its budget reduced it.”
In the settlement of Shlomi, on the border with Lebanon in the western Galilee, about 1,000 families are waiting for security rooms.
“Nearly 4,000 of my residents are without protection. We are in a very difficult situation, and I do not think that the Netanyahu government and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will abandon the residents of the conflict line in the Galilee in this way,” said the head of the local council in Shlomi, Gabi Noman, yesterday.
In response, the Israeli Ministry of Defense said: “The state budget for the years 23-24 is in the process of being prepared and approved. The budget is expected to include a multi-year response to home front plans, including the protection plan and settlement escape routes. The Ministry of Defense is currently leading (North Defense) project to protect 21 settlements on the northern borders.
The newspaper stated that, against the background of the unusual security incident, the details of which were forbidden to be published, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant made several assessments of the situation, with the participation of the Army Chief of Staff, Major General Herzi Halevy, the Shin Bet chief, Ronan Bar, and other senior officials in the security apparatus. They presented Gallant with the first findings of the investigation into the unusual security incident, confirming continued efforts to ensure that daily life continues as normal in northern Israel.
It is noteworthy that the security establishment in Israel is still continuing the investigation into the explosion of an explosive device, yesterday, Monday, at the Megiddo junction in northern Israel, in which Sharaf al-Din (21 years), a resident of Salem village, was seriously injured.
According to security estimates, the explosion occurred on a national basis.
After the explosion in Sharaf al-Din’s car, the roads in the Megiddo junction area were closed to traffic for long hours for fear of the presence of additional explosive devices or the presence of those involved in placing explosives on the side of Highway 65.
Signs at the scene indicate that it was indeed an attack. At the end of the searches in the area, no other explosive devices were found.
Tags: Concern Israel unusual security incident northern border
