In an appearance on The Jerusalem Post’s “Rebuilding the North” broadcast, Lior Zimche, Chairman of the Kibbutz Movement, said that the greatest challenge confronting the communities and families living in the kibbutzim in Israel’s North is “a rehabilitation of the soul.” Renovating and rebuilding physical structures is relatively simple, but rebuilding trust and a sense of safety is far more difficult, he explained.
“People must have two basic values,” said Zimche. “The first is that the person whom you meet does not want to harm you. The second is that if you find yourself in distress, someone will come to help you. These two values were shattered before our eyes on October 7. We saw the sheer evil of the Nukhba terrorists that came to the kibbutzim, causing havoc there on that day.” The fact that the army did not come immediately to rescue the people hiding in their safe rooms, he said, contributed to the anguish that they still feel.
Though the kibbutz population makes up just 2% of the total population of Israel, said Zimche, 20% of the casualties in the Swords of Iron War, including fallen IDF soldiers and murdered civilians, belonged to the kibbutz movement. “Most of the kibbutzim are located on the border, and the kibbutz movement suffered a very severe blow in the war, beginning on October 7,” said Zimche.
Zimche added that the State of Israel must recognize that the kibbutzim located near Israel’s borders must be helped. “We need to recognize the concept of agriculture, cultivate Israeli agriculture, and not lower tariffs,” he said, adding that the State of Israel will have to return to its earliest concepts of security and settlement, upon which it was established.
This article was written in cooperation with the Kibbutz Movement.