Grapevine June 2, 2024: Views from Metulla

Metulla is one of the many evacuated northern cities, towns, villages, and kibbutzim that have no specific return dates for their residents. a factor frequently lamented in media interviews by Metulla Mayor David Azulay and other mayors in the region. The entire area has become a war zone with daily rocket attacks by Iranian proxy Hezbollah. 

Everyone who left is homesick and wants to return to their place of residence. Soon, they may have no choice because the hotels to which they were evacuated are asking them to leave in anticipation of a tourism revival during the summer. Some no longer have homes to which they can return, and are in a quandary as to where they can enroll their children for the new school year which begins in September.

President Isaac Herzog went to Metulla last week to survey the damage for himself, to assess the danger and to give some comfort and encouragement to the few people who either stayed or returned despite the risk. It’s a very sad situation because there is very little in the way of business; farms and orchards are in a state of collapse; and employment opportunities are next to nil.

While in Metulla, Herzog declared in a strong and confident voice that he wanted to make it clear that the day would come when everyone would return and have a good, full life. 

All the houses would be repaired and restored, new ones would be built and mezuzot would be affixed to the doorposts. The problem was that he couldn’t say when. The bulk of the population in Metulla these days are soldiers – and no one knows how long that will be the case.

Possible workers from China

■ ISRAEL AUTHORITIES would do well to think ahead and discuss with Chinese Ambassador Cai Run the possibility of bringing several thousand Chinese construction workers to Israel to rebuild and restore all the homes damaged or destroyed since October 7. The Chinese showed at the Beijing Olympics how quickly and professionally they could build all that was needed.

A large enough team of workers could in all probability make all of the evacuated South and the North habitable within less than six months. Whatever the cost may be, in the final analysis, the sum would be less than the cost of hiring local builders; the quality of Chinese construction would be better, and the timetable would be kept.

Meanwhile, the ambassador’s mind is more on sport than on construction. He may be thinking about the Paris Olympic Games which open in July, but it’s more likely that he’s thinking about the 2025 World Games that will be held in Chengdu, Sichuan, China in August 2025. The World Games include sports and sporting disciplines that are not in the Olympic Games competitions. Israel will be competing and talks in this respect are already well underway.

Last month, Amb. Cai Run met with Arik Kaplan, president and CEO of Ayelet, The Federation of Non-Olympic Sport in Israel. The ambassador was pleased to learn that a large Israeli delegation would be participating, saying that he was happy to welcome the Israeli athletes to his country.

Haredi draft?

■ THERE IS still a big question mark for haredi Hamlets who are asking themselves whether “to be or not to be” soldiers. Those who have moved away from strict religious observance have less of a problem than those still living at home in ultra-Orthodox communities. Those who remain observant but nonetheless feel the need to pull their weight behind the issue of national security are afraid of being ostracized by family and friends, and taunted by others in the community. 

For both those who have left religion and those who have stayed, there is a ray of light in the figure of Aharon Granot, the self-styled “father” of haredi soldiers, regardless of whether they remain religious or not. Granot is there for them 24/7, especially when they are wounded.

He sits by their beds in hospital and attends to all their needs. When they are critically wounded, he contacts their biological parents, who sometimes pay a single, brief visit. More than once, if the disowned soldier succumbs to his injuries, he is reclaimed and buried in a civilian cemetery, regardless of the fact that he would have wanted to be buried in a military cemetery.

Remembering the fallen

■ THERE ARE many ways to honor the memories of victims of Hamas. One such victim, Dvir Karp, who was murdered at this Kibbutz Re’im home on October 7, managed the popular Chocolate Coffee restaurant in Neve Eshkol, considering it to be his life’s work. Since October 7, it remained closed until last week, when it was re-opened by the owner of the premises, Uri Shteiner, in tribute to Karp’s memory.

The opening was covered by Yediot Aharonot, whose reporter Matan Tzuri was told that the message that he sent out by reopening the restaurant was that no matter what happens it is important to recover, to revive, and to rise again. That outlook was apparently shared by people who patronized the restaurant when Karp was alive, and who flocked to drink coffee in his memory.

Yair Golan wins Labor primary

■ IT WAS more or less a given that Yair Golan would win the Labor primaries last week – especially after the heroism he displayed on October 7. He never made a secret of the fact that he wanted to unite all the political components of the Left and the protest movements under a new flag called The Democrats.

A survey that he commissioned indicated that if he succeeds in that aim, he might win 10 or more seats in the next Knesset elections; Labor, on the other hand, in surveys to date, would not pass the threshold. Nevertheless, to kill off Labor would be like spitting in the face of history and on the legacy of the founding fathers. Perhaps he will decide that the new name will be the Labor Democrats Alignment.

Peres Center establishes new annual prize

■ WHILE THE Peres Center for Peace and Innovation is one of several facilities named for the late president Shimon Peres, other deceased Peres family members have also been honored with places and scholarships memorializing their names in perpetuity. The president’s nephew Uzi Peres was a filmmaker, producer, director, and screenwriter who was killed in an air crash in Nepal, in July 1992.

In his memory, his family, in cooperation with the Israel Film and Television Association and the Tel Aviv Cinematheque established an annual prize which is awarded to the director of the best short film. In addition, a plaque bearing the name of Uzi Peres graces the entrance to one of the auditoriums in the Tel Aviv Cinematheque complex.

Guy Peres, a talented illustrator and one of the grandsons of Shimon Peres, died a little over two years ago. His parents Chemi and Gila Peres, a year ago established a cultural wing in Guy’s name at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design – and this year were present when memorial scholarships were awarded to outstanding students.

Phoenix Group sends exhibition to New York

■ THE ISRAELI art collection of the Phoenix Group is legendary and comprises some 1,400 works by Israel’s leading artists. The collection was started at the beginning of the 1980s by Yosef Hachmi, who was the owner and CEO of the company until 2002. Before March 2023, the collection, which reflects a century of Israeli art, could be seen only in Israel, but a comprehensive selection of 70 works was sent to New York and displayed at the famed Christie’s Auction House. Since then, two works by Reuven Rubin and Mordechai Ardon have been sold.

Phoenix CEO Eyal Ben-Simon said that the exhibition sent to New York was a symbol of the pride that the Phoenix Group takes in Israeli art and culture and a willingness to share 100 years of Israeli creativity with the world. Proceeds from the sale will be used to encourage young Israeli artists.

A touching art project for the fallen heroes of October 7

■ ON THE subject of art, Gregory Bitansky, an 87-year-old child Holocaust survivor from Ukraine resident in Israel since 2001 was among the thousands of residents of the South evacuated from their homes and sent to Eilat and elsewhere. Bitansky, an artist, wanted to contribute to the war effort but did not know what to do. 

When the fighting had been going on for several months, with media notifications of soldiers who paid the supreme sacrifice, Bitansky began to collect the images published with the death notices and has made portraits of all the fallen soldiers. They are on display and at the end of the war, he will present one to each soldier’s family. This proves that one is never too old to make a contribution; and that there is always a different and meaningful contribution that someone can make.

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