In an emotional interview with "My City" - the municipal podcast from Israel Hayom, a spokeswoman for the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council describes the difficult morning they went through at the council and admits that at first they were sure it was "fake news."
"We wake up to a morning of alarms," she describes. "We're very, very used to it. We have a regular message that we send - we sent the message and we were sure that this was the end of the event. A few moments later, reports begin to arrive from civilians about alert squads being called up at terrorists. I have to say, as a spokesperson, that there is a lot of fake news coming in, so most people were sure that these were false statements. Messages like 'They're shooting at us' and 'We need reinforcements.' In times of escalation there is a lot of false information circulating so it took a few moments that it was life hardships. And so comes message after message from CSOs and then also from civilians. Including messages that included various shooting recordings. Helplessness stays with you."
What exactly did they ask for? What tools did you have to help?
"I had nothing. They asked us to send the army. 'Send the army quickly,' 'We need more force.' I had nothing. We are a local authority. We don't have an army in Shloof, and we don't have security forces in Shlosh. We turned to the army that came in whenever it could."
Ofir Liebstein z"l during a press conference six months ago, photo: Liron Moldovan
What answers do you get at the initial stage?
"In the first stage, there was great shock when we received the news that the head of our council (the late Ofir Liebstein) stormed with the alert squad and was killed in the first hour of the attack. In fact, we are operating without the head of the council. He is the man of connections, the man who picks up the phone to the division commander, the man who calls the prime minister. So we opened a war room that worked with the army, we stayed at Kibbutz Ruhama where the command officer was stationed, and the IDF quickly turned our area into a closed military zone."
At 11 a.m., who's talking to you? Is there any civilian presence of the State of Israel at the event?
"Nope. No. No point. Today we can say that they too were in a kind of market and they too were caught surprised. But the reality test took too long for them to turn to us for help. At the event itself, we didn't get a call from anyone. I honestly say it was such a complex situation that I don't think they could have helped in real time. But what is more, the state of the alert squads is the result of long-standing neglect. The alert squads gave a thousand percent of the tools they had. With short weapons and lack of equipment, they charged. They know how to work with what they have and had little.
Evacuees from Kibbutz Kfar Azza at a hotel in Shfayim, this week, photo: Efrat Eshel
"And it's also important to say, I live less than a kilometer from the envelope, at a certain point the communication went down, we were cut off, and in order to inform people to enter their homes, kibbutz members left with bicycles. Everything is under fire and fear for terrorists. The situation in which you feel alone is a very difficult feeling. The scale of the disaster that we are slowly expecting is due to the heroic protection of people – not tanks, not helicopters and not the air force. At best six combat veterans, farmers, high-tech workers."
You're standing there in the center of the war room you set up, what's going through your mind at that moment?
"What's not going through my mind. On a personal level, my children at Fox slept at their grandparents' house in Beersheba and I think that if I had to run the event with my children next to me, I would be in a completely different mental place. When I had to write a message I didn't think I would write about a mayor I've been working with for five years," she says through tears.
In response to a question about the extent to which residents rely on local government in places where the state was supposed to enter, Meiri answers: "Over the past year, state institutions have undergone a slow process of disintegration. The only thing that was and remains firm is the local authority. Where the country goes into a tailspin. My council knows how to say step aside – let me work. That's how it was when the settlements were evacuated. Where the country goes into a tailspin and unfortunately we are in a tailspin for two years, the council knows how to say, step aside and let me work."
If one civilian lesson can be learned from the past week, what is the most important thing that can be learned from this enormous and terrible event?
"When you choose to develop and build the communities near the Gaza Strip, you must treat them as a forward outpost. If the front post falls, the whole country will fall. And in order to enable a strong and good Israel. It is in the national interest – and this is in the national interest – to develop working settlements on the border. I have no idea how we get up from this or what needs to be done, but it's clear to me that if there is no working settlement on the border, there will be no State of Israel."
"I'm ashamed of my friends in the Likud"
In a conversation with former Interior Minister and Yavne Mayor Meir Sheetrit, he says that the government not only does not help the local authorities, it also harass them. "Local authorities were the backward, poor brother of the government," he explains. "The government is harassing local authorities, not giving them independence and holding them by the throat. While the authority has the ability to communicate with its residents, the government does not allow it to raise taxes without government approval, and cannot carry out most of its activities without government support. Instead of giving independence and allowing local authorities to improve their services, it is only blocking it."
Meir Shitrit, Photo: Dudu Greenspan
Why are the members of the current government silent – and not going down to the south?
"I was in the Likud for 32 years. I am ashamed of my friends in the Likud who sit and remain silent like fish and let this government make completely crazy moves that have caused very serious damage to the State of Israel. The reform is completely stupid."
But to put reform aside – where are they now, during the war?
"Silence is slime," Jabotinsky said. What are they afraid of – what can Bibi do to them?"
What civic municipal lesson can we draw from the terrible event we went through?
"The current government cannot be trusted. For example, taking weapons from alert squads is an example of total security blindness. Therefore, the mayors had to fight the aggressor and not be afraid. Mayors are good people – and they need to raise their heads. The wisdom is not only in government. The local government knows better than they do."
The full interview on the "My City" podcast from Israel Hayom. Listen to the episode - and other interesting episodes
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