Alon Davidi- Mayor of Sderot/Avi Rokah
Between a tour of the city and a visit to the evacuated hotels, between the various Knesset committees and visits by politicians to the city, the mayor of Sderot Alon Davidi sits down on the couch in his office.
Between the picture of the prime minister and the picture of the president, there is a portrait made for him by a resident of the city - the image of the mayor with a lion's mane.
Davidi arrives that morning first at the building and may return home late at night.
Since 2013, Davidi has served as the head of the authority in the city that knows best the threat of rockets and missiles.
Now in an interview with Walla!
He opens incendiaries against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.
Davidi on the background of the Gaza Strip/Avi Rokah
"The prime minister must take responsibility for the future of this region. I don't know if he is ready to take responsibility for what he did during the 23 years we suffered from terrorism and we have to honestly say that he was at the helm for most of those years," accuses Davidi.
"He is the man who lives by the same concept that caused Hamas to become the mighty monster it has become. For years I have demanded that Netanyahu and the defense ministers enter Gaza and destroy Hamas. The prime minister should and must hold a press conference with the defense minister and the chief of staff, direct a look at the residents of Sderot and the surrounding area and tell them what should be done be with them
These are the same residents who experienced the horrible massacre on October 7 and experienced terror for 23 years that he is responsible for.
This should be put on the table."
Davidi decided this week on the opening of the educational institutions in the city, he led the struggle of the heads of the authorities against the Prime Minister's Office, but some of the city's residents have already returned home. July, but the educational institutions will be closed and he will have to find a solution in the host city.
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Davidi and Netanyahu last May/photo processing, Haim Tzach, Government Press Office
"I said from the beginning clearly: first of all in terms of the city and the surrounding area, that this place will only be safe when Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are destroyed," he states emphatically.
"Until then, the reality is very complex. This place is very close to the combat zone and I pushed and demanded both in meetings with the Prime Minister together with my fellow heads of authorities and in the reduced cabinet about a month ago that the residents should be allowed until the end of the school year at least to decide what is good for them. If they want to be in the city then be In the city, if outside the city - then outside the city."
Davidi recently demanded from the Prime Minister a public statement that it is safe to return to the city of Sderot, the statement did not come and then as a sign of protest that the Prime Minister did not meet with them, the heads of the surrounding authorities were sleeping in his office.
"I can't say that it's safe here. It will certainly be here when there is no Hamas and Jihad. When the IDF and the State of Israel win the war declared by the Prime Minister, which I recall the three elements he talked about: the destruction of Hamas, the safe return of the abducted, and security control of Gaza after the war
These are the things that Netanyahu and his government announced and these are the things that need to be realized in order for it to be safe," says Davidi. "The issue of education in hotels is also not benevolent.
Residents suffer, businesses collapse.
We have a lot of welfare problems, breakup of families, situation of youth who deserve to be youth at risk.
All of these things can cause a city to come crashing down completely.
I demanded from the Minister of Education that he give the favorable answer to every resident."
Almost ten thousand residents have already returned to the city. Some of them are simply tired of the hotels, others do not intend to return until the end of the war or until they feel safe. "I am not telling them to return or not to return.
I allow them to do what is best in their eyes.
There are those who wanted to stay in the city since the beginning of the war and there are those who want to return and some who want to stay outside the city.
It's OK.
The one who has the authority to provide security to the residents is the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense," says the mayor.
Davidi sleeping outside Netanyahu's office/documentation on social networks according to Section 27 A of the Copyright Law, Gaza authorities
Davidi is a veteran Likud member.
The passing episode in former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's "right-wing" list was almost forgotten by him.
He returned to the ruling party and his relationship with Netanyahu is complex.
Davidi strongly attacks the Prime Minister but currently supports him during the fighting.
"On the security issue, I don't see a meter. I see my residents first. I was elected mayor and I have a contract with the residents of Sderot. It doesn't matter which party I belong to or which political body I belong to. The residents are the heroes and I owe them an account. If the prime minister want to take it to political criticism. I don't think he sees things that way. Someone needs to wake up the leadership of the State of Israel. It was dormant and smug. Both Netanyahu, Lapid, Bennett and Gantz said they deterred Hamas and crippled its capabilities, and we can Expecting years of silence is a serious thing. I don't know if they really had information and lied to us or if they were arrogant. What we see since the day of the worst disaster the country has experienced, the monster that is talked about today in a normal way as the IDF spokesman says that 800 k of tunnels in Gaza, this is not something that can be hidden for 20 years."
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Almost 20 years ago, we met Alon Davidi for the first time, a young man who came to Sderot and established the headquarters of the struggle for the security of the city.
His first words then were: "It can't go on like this."
So these were the days of the Qasims who disrupted and harmed the southern city.
When he is reminded of the city's history, he says: "If only they would listen to me."
Davidi himself does not think that he was also a captive of the concept.
"The authority is not mine. If I had it, I would have activated the IDF a long time ago and I would not have told myself lies that Hamas is deterred.
He was never deterred.
I don't run the IDF and I don't sit in the cabinet," he states.
"You see now how the IDF operates in Judea and Samaria, it has not operated there like that for years.
They told me that I was inciting war and that I was responsible for thousands of fallen and wounded.
So go back to October 7th and you will see that this was the result of a policy led by the Prime Minister, the Defense Ministers, the top brass of the IDF and the Shin Bet."
On October 7th, Davidi left his house immediately after the first rocket barrages. From the very beginning he understood that this was a different event, Much more difficult. After he realized that there were terrorists in the city, he arrived at the municipal headquarters, and presided over the event.
"Obviously I was surprised," he says.
"But I was mostly surprised by the IDF's hypocrisy.
I don't want to be blunt, but the situation I knew at seven in the morning that Saturday was a situation that the IDF did not know. The vans that entered Sderot and the whole country saw it, but I'm not sure that the IDF and the sector commanders understood the situation."
A van of Hamas terrorists in Sderot on October 7/Flash 90, Jamal Awad
The day after the war, Davidi wants to see another Gaza Envelope.
He is sure that the events of October 7 should be investigated and calls for a soul-searching, but emphasizes that this is not the time.
"It must not happen again and it needs to be investigated. Each of the leaders should have a soul-searching, but on the other hand I say not now. If Netanyahu, the reason I support him right now because he says he will not stop the war until the IDF wins, will take action to stop The war - then he should vacate his place and go," emphasizes the mayor of Sderot. "If we stick to this war, it will also radiate to Lebanon.
Hamas was preparing for this.
He knew that he was not conquering the country but wanted to harm the citizens of the country.
Every resident of the country, right-wing or left-wing, secular or religious, should demand that Netanyahu and the leadership defeat Hamas."
The talk of a renewed Palestinian Authority that will lead Gaza the day after the war brings out David's anger. "We like to do the same actions and expect something else?" he wonders. "It has to be something else.
The Palestinian Authority is already paying money to the Nuhba terrorists.
She educates her children to terror.
If you want to change what is happening around us, then you have to change," says Davidi, who claims that Netanyahu also does not support the American proposal for a new authority in Gaza.
Damage to a house in Sderot after rocket fire/Flash 90, Yonatan Zindel
Davidi also applauds Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot who joined the war cabinet, but thinks that Avigdor Lieberman must be there.
"Currently the same people are sitting in the cabinet that were before October 7. I don't agree with Lieberman on everything, but it would be good if the government was even broader at a time like this. Both Lieberman agrees with me, in my opinion, and so does Gantz, that the most significant thing that will happen is to defeat Hamas."
Davidi recently fought over the grants that the Ministry of Finance wants to cut for the residents of Sderot, the grants given to those who returned to the city.
"It took the government a long time to come to its senses, but now the opposite is happening. I smell from the officials something like, 'Well, come on, get it together'. What do the officials say? Someone senior in the Ministry of Finance said that we should be happy because we convinced them to stay in hotels until July. I should be Happy? It's sad," Davidi says angrily.
"The State of Israel has failed and the government has failed. This is your duty. We have a very big debate. They actually now want to cut the grant. That they give a grant for renting an apartment so that it is cut by fifty percent of the grant for those who return to the city. Even those who are thinking of returning are given the opposite motivation. They are wrong in their approach. The Minister of Education said to open the educational institutions at the beginning of February and the commanders in the field say that this is madness and does not correspond to the security reality. I hear dates from all kinds of people. They were driving the people crazy. It was important to us that until July 7th they would stay in hotels and have the option of other solutions ".
Mayor Sderot Alon Davidi/Avi Rokah
While the elections for the local authorities will be held at the end of the month, there will be no elections in Sderot yet due to the fact that elections cannot be held in the area.
In the last month, Davidi has been receiving requests from religious Zionists to return and establish the Jewish Home, the former MDF, and some Likud members also want him to run in the movement's primaries. Davidi dismisses the possibility and says that he is staying in Sderot. "I'm here.
Maybe one day it will happen, but talking about politics at a time like this is wrong."
More on the same topic:
Alon Davidi
Sderot
Benjamin Netanyahu
Gaza Envelope
Gaza war
War of Iron Swords