Against the backdrop of a heavy barrage of dozens of rockets fired at the city last night, Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday morning and demanded to amend the government decision made last Friday regarding the stay of Sderot residents and the option of returning them to the city starting today in exchange for a financial grant.
According to that decision, every resident will be able to extend his stay in hotels until the end of February, but at the same time it will be possible to return to live in the city "in return" for a sum of NIS 200 per day for adults and NIS 100 for children, as an adjustment grant.
Mayor Davidi calls on Netanyahu to shelve the decision, which he defines as nothing short of "delusional," since those residents who return to the city will not be able to receive full services, educational frameworks and the like, because the Home Front Command does not approve, on the other hand, if they want to choose the option of a hotel again, they will not be able to do so.
Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Photo: Miriam Elster / Yehuda Peretz
"A person who is entitled to be paid a return grant will no longer be entitled to funding his stay in the absorption facilities, including not being entitled to payment for accommodation and guest services, and will no longer be entitled to receive an independent occupancy grant," Article 8 of the government decision reads.
"This is a delusional decision, which basically says that the State of Israel does not tell us what will happen, how the IDF prepares," Davidi said this morning, "When I, as mayor of Sderot, return my residents, to what reality do I return them to? If there are residents in the northern Gaza Strip neighborhoods, then there will also be terrorists there, and then the threat of anti-tank fire will return. Whoever returns them is already a signatory to the next disaster of the State of Israel. It's delusional that Sderot residents are supposed to return before more backward kibbutzim."
Davidi added: "The residents are tempted with a grant to return to their homes when Home Front Command directives do not allow the opening of educational frameworks, in effect they are being told, 'Bring the children who will stay in safe rooms for two months.' It's a stupid decision – residents aren't allowed to try to return and later maybe even return to the hotel. I say to the prime minister – shelve this decision immediately."
Davidi called the prime minister and told him: "You told us that we will have a sense of security when there is security, so at the moment there is no sense of security and no security. Call on the heads of the local authorities, sit with us, you, the defense minister, the finance minister and the chief of staff and create an outline that for many months will provide the best response to those heroic residents."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us