A few hours after the missile fell on a building in Rishon LeZion last Wednesday night, Rishon LeZion Municipality Director General and Chairman of the Association of CEOs and Secretaries in Local Authorities, Doron Milberg, was interviewed on Israel Hayom's "My City" podcast and described what happened: "We had a very tough night - the damage unfortunately is very great," he explained. "The missile penetrated the ceiling and penetrated all three floors. Fortunately, the Home Front Command's orders are catching on – they save lives. People went to a public shelter in front of the damaged building – and some were in the stairwell and that's how they were saved. The person who was hit was actually a resident of the house across the street who was injured by shrapnel. Eight families were evacuated – some of them got along with relatives. But there are families who are struggling every day and we had to evacuate them to hotels."
Is the building slated for demolition?
"The engineers will decide."
How many residents don't have safe rooms in the city?
"I estimate that 30 to 40 percent of the residents don't have a safe room, but they have alternatives. We opened shelters in schools for the benefit of the public. It provides some partial solution."
Drone footage of the crash scene in Rishon LeZion, photo: Yoram Elazari/Drone Patrol Rishon LeZion Municipality
First, this is not a city that is used to dealing with such situations. How does this change the way you at the municipality have been operating in recent months?
"We went from routine mode, to emergency-routine mode. This means that alongside the forced routine we are on high alert with highly skilled, well-equipped teams that yesterday proved themselves perfectly. It's command centers, with social workers, who provide immediate assistance to residents who are in terrible panic. We control the incident after the Home Front Command leaves the picture – and it happens very quickly.
"We open the schools and kindergartens according to the amount of protection we have in each institution. If the school has 500 students and there is protection for 200, then you don't accommodate all 500. We have districts with regional war rooms. Our people undergo exercises throughout the year starting from search and rescue, vulnerability detection. I happen to be a graduate of the Home Front Command's battalion commander course, so I know the Home Front Command doctrine very well, and it doesn't always coincide with the civilian reality. The Home Front Command, for example, recommended opening the education system 10 days ago – we didn't. There was terrible panic especially in places near building sites. I'll show you the number of calls to our 106 hotline that saw someone walking around here and someone filming – it's a terrible panic. People are in a state of uncertainty and uncertainty creates stress."
Security forces in Sderot during an iron sword war, photo: AP
"Dysfunction of the systems"
There is a feeling that there is no one to guard us. There is no one who integrates it. The feeling is that we have been abandoned.
"Like you and me, I feel these feelings because I am a citizen of the country and I see the dysfunction of the systems that you mentioned. But I will refer to the municipal system. Even in the coronavirus, which is a crisis of a different kind, the municipal factors are the only ones that functioned reasonably. I don't pretend to grade ourselves – but we are functioning. We give the solutions. Twice a day we assess the situation at the Authority – integrating and practicing everything we practiced in our routine again. It is not for nothing that they say that the foundation of central government are the local authorities. The problem is that the day after the events they forget that."
You seem to be very careful. I interviewed you last August for Israel Hayom after the murder of Tira municipality director Dr. Abdel Rahman Kashua. Harshly critical of the police. You said, "All of this is a direct result of the police and the Public Security Ministry's lack of proper disregard for threats to the lives of public officials." Our question is, do you feel this contempt, This complacency or perhaps arrogance, also in the security sense? That what happened to us on October 7th is much more than falling asleep on guard?
"I don't want to comment on the functioning or dysfunction of the government. This is neither the time nor the place. For the first time, we encountered a phenomenon where we have to deal with civilian populations – something we did not have in any event. We had about 54 civil funerals of guys who came to enjoy a party and came back how they did. We had to take care not only of the burial, but of accompanying the families, the shiva, the psychological aspect of the people. We buried residents of Kfar Gaza - a photographer for Israel Hayom - the Zohar family, we handled all the processes. We understood that if we didn't take the reins, we wouldn't move forward. It's a very complex logistical handling."
Dramatic footage: A family walked out the door - seconds before the missile hit a building in Rishon LeZion // Photo: Use in accordance with section 27A of the Copyright Law
"Twice a day we assess the situation at the Authority – integrating and practicing everything we practiced in our routine again. It is not for nothing that they say that the foundation of central government are the local authorities. The problem is that the day after the events they forget that."
There is a lot of criticism by the elected government of professional echelons. They say, "They won't manage us." Can you understand that?
"Those who save the system are the officials – at the municipal level – not sure at the government level. I didn't get a single call from a government official to ask how we were. What we need, where we need assistance. They are our regulator. The regulator is not just giving instructions on what not to do – it has to worry about whether assistance is needed. I don't need to, for example, but there are 200 authorities. I don't know they rang. What is lucid? It means disconnect. I get a million letters – don't do that – know that if you pay hours..."
Ministry of Finance, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Still at war – under fire?
"You know, I'm not even saying that. I don't relate to it at all. Because I'll do what needs to be done. If I employ people in an emergency 24/7 then I will pay them accordingly. No one will tell me that I will not pay a person who left the family and works. Let them not think that we are thieves after such an event. So they say, 'You know it's OK to pay up to X hours of overtime a day.' I'm not reading this. I don't have time. I think it's chutzpah to write these letters in wartime."
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel published the regulations of the "Fund for Reducing Gaps" last week in order to promote rapid assistance to local authorities. By the end of 2024, NIS 450 million will be transferred to 140 local authorities. There are those who say that this is a euphemism for an unjust and unequal transfer of funds during warfare – from which the settlements in Judea and Samaria will mainly benefit. Do you also believe that the money should be transferred to rehabilitate the envelope?
"The envelope is a top priority more than the rest. He has been dramatically damaged and his systems cannot cope with the situation that has been created. I don't need the money, but I don't need to be stopped in regulating the economic processes I do. For example, TPS – an unusual budget, in wartime if I have to buy in an emergency for the underprivileged – or processes that I think should be in wartime – I spent about five million shekels. Believe me, it doesn't scratch our city budget-wise. Flow without bureaucracy to Kiryat Shmona, Sderot and Netivot."
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