"After three years of war, it is impossible to hide decades of underinvestment in the north"

At a panel at Globes' Kibbutzim Growth Conference, Ayal Ostinsky (KKL-JNF) and Asaf Langlevan (Upper Galilee Regional Council) said that after three years of war, rehabilitation budgets for the north have not yet been released, and called for a change in government priorities and investment in transportation and employment.

At a special panel at Globes' Kibbutzim Growth Conference, held in partnership with Discount Bank and the Kibbutz Movement, Ayal Ostinsky, Chairman of KKL-JNF, and Asaf Langlevan, Head of the Upper Galilee Regional Council, addressed the situation in the north after three years of war. Ostinsky said the challenge in the north is deeper than in the south, due to the duration under attack and the incomplete return of residents. Langlevan argued that despite promises, budgets for rehabilitating the north have not been released, and that "decades of underinvestment in the north cannot be hidden after three years of war." Both called for a change in government priorities, passing a law for the rehabilitation of the north alongside the Tekuma law, and investment in transportation and employment, including a railway to Kiryat Shmona. Langlevan rejected claims of tension between the kibbutzim and Kiryat Shmona, emphasizing the need for cooperation. Ostinsky added that the Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee, Yitzhak Wasserlauf, is present in the area but his government colleagues are absent.