War zone realities: Kibbutz life amid endless bombs, no services, neglected education

Communities and kibbutzim in the Upper Galilee, located close to the border with Lebanon, have been evacuated due to the escalating conflict with Hezbollah and the danger of rocket attacks. Even Kiryat Shmona, the city that provides services in this area, was evacuated.

However, due to the state's arbitrary decision, eight kibbutzim in the northern region have not been evacuated, because they are just slightly further away from the border – by a matter of only a few meters. Thus, the residents there, who do not receive assistance from the government and do not have the financial means to evacuate independently to a safer place, live in a war zone.

"Let me tell you about the threatening reality we live in," Omer Michaeli, a resident of Shamir and the father of three, posted on his X page. "We live in a kibbutz in the Upper Galilee, very close to the border. The state randomly decided that eight kibbutzim will not evacuate – because they do not meet any false conditions. And there's nothing like living in a war zone: endless bombs and planes, nowhere to shop, and no doctor nearby, not to mention culture and leisure.

"Beyond these difficulties, our children are dealing with educational and social difficulties and they lack a suitable educational framework," he said. "Since we live in a war zone, children from grades 1 to 6 have a framework for 4.5 hours a day close to a shelter. They receive very little enrichment, almost no core studies, and for every two classes (3rd, 4th), there is one teacher who is supposed to teach all of the material without a substitute when necessary. The teacher is sick? No lessons."

According to Michaeli, residents' requests for help, in the form of female soldier teachers for example, were responded to with strange answers. "The army is not ready for female soldiers to cross the border. While we and our children are not evacuated and experience war on a daily basis, the army is not ready for female soldiers to come here and help – to avoid endangering them!

"The world is upside-down," the father concludes in a heart-rending post: "Our children are not expendable!"