Once again, the sad melody returns: the escalation in the security situation has forced many business owners across the country, especially in the south of the country, to shut down their businesses without knowing when they will be able to reopen.
There is no need to elaborate on the fact that uncertainty makes it very difficult to properly run any business, especially if it is a business based on public reception and an ongoing and powerful security incident. Beyond the damage that may be caused to property, business owners from the south of the country also talk to them about the heavy economic consequences – the losses that pile up as time passes.
Nir Shochat, owner of the Sushimoto restaurant in Sderot, sounded desperate. "We closed our activity despite instructions from the Home Front Command, which are illogical. As long as the city is besieged, who am I to open the business? According to the guidelines, internal activity can be carried out as long as there is a proper dimension, but this is. I've lived in Sderot for 17 years, I'm raising my three children here. We know that when we are on high alert, there is no need to provoke fate.
Launches from Gaza towards Israel, photo: Reuters
Is the state telling me to go to work and risk my life? On the one hand there are no frames, and on the other hand they tell me to sell sushi at such a time so as not to give compensation? People don't know, but there is no compensation until after seven consecutive days of fighting, except for farmers, honey growers, etc."
Very heavy losses
As for the losses, he says, "For those two days, it's a loss of 75,000 shekels. It's a big restaurant and I have to pay a salary of 205,000 shekels to 61 employees. You have to understand that on the first day of activity, this is a loss of 120%-150% because there are the employees who started working, the goods you lost, and more. On the second day it's a loss of 100%, on the third day it's 70% and every day another 50%."
The Finance Ministry still has no answers regarding the compensation, although past experience shows that the compensation will be approved at a later stage when the military operation ends. The President of the Chamber of the Self-Employed in Israel (Lahav), Adv. Roy Cohen, demands that the Prime Minister of Israel act immediately to enact compensation according to the "push-button procedure," as he puts it.
Operation Shield and Arrow. Sderot residents travel for a respite in a hotel,
"All self-employed and business owners who have been harmed and will be harmed as a result of Operation Shield and Arrow must be compensated. The self-employed and businesses are hit twice – direct damage due to rocket hits in the business area and the fact that they have to close the business according to security instructions, and indirect damage that customers do not come," he explains.
"The response is impressive and exciting"
Aviram Alon, CEO of the Association of Event Hall Owners, says that "the security situation in Israel brings theater owners and married couples to problematic situations of uncertainty during the rounds of fighting." "Throughout the round of fighting, we, as an association, open a war room for hall owners and couples in order to assist them with rapid changes and connections for relocating weddings to quieter areas. We do this in full coordination with the theater owners who, due to Home Front Command directives, were forced to reduce or freeze their activities. WhatsApp groups over the past two days have been full of correspondence to help couples. The response is impressive and exciting."
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