Displaced northern Israeli students won’t start next school year at home due to continued Hezbollah attacks

Gantz attacks 'colossal failure' of gov't, Netanyahu's 'strategic fiasco' in north

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The displaced residents of northern Israel will not be able to return in time for their children to start the next school year in their homes, Education Minister Yoav Kisch announced in a meeting with local council heads on Tuesday.

“Unfortunately, the school year 2024-25 will begin in the north far from the front this year, in light of the security complexities in the region,” Kisch said at the headquarters of the Mateh Asher Regional Council in the Western Galilee.

“This is an unfortunate decision that was imposed on us and is accepted with a heavy heart. I once again call on the Prime Minister and the heads of the security establishment to act immediately and strongly against the state of Lebanon.”

“There is no escaping the decision to go to war against Lebanon for the sake of restoring peace and stability to the residents of the north and for the future of the State of Israel,” Kisch added.

Tens of thousands of residents of northern Israel remain evacuated from their homes due to the incessant attacks by the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

Among the 60,000 residents who were relocated last October, are some 14,600 children that had to spend the school year scattered in kindergartens and schools across the country.

Among the 60,000 residents relocated last October, approximately 14,600 children spent the school year dispersed in various kindergartens and schools across the nation.

Mateh Asher Regional Council Head Moshe Davidovitz stated: “Compared to the needs, there are large gaps. At this time you cannot do what you normally do. We are at war, there is no ability to engage in bureaucracy and we need to stop pursuing it. I expect all the government ministries to come to the north together with all the professionals and hold operative meetings so that we can see results on the ground.”

The chairman of the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel, Haim Bibas, warned that Israel was increasingly losing its border areas, in the face of a devastated Gaza Envelope and the ongoing attacks by Hezbollah in northern Israel.

“We see a consistent drop in enrollment for the academic year of at least 25% for the educational institutions in the north, we are losing Israel’s border areas. The State of Israel must not become a state between Gadera and Hadera - that would be a situation that would be very difficult to get out of.”

The upcoming school year has been discussed by several politicians as a deadline for Israel to make a decisive move against Hezbollah, as tens of thousands of displaced residents may choose to permanently settle in central Israel and leave the north once their children will have to start a second school year away from home.

National Unity party chairman Benny Gantz, former member of the now-disbanded War Cabinet, had repeatedly called to return the displaced residents by the start of the school year on Sept. 1. He sharply criticized Kisch’s statement on Tuesday, calling it “expected and frustrating.”

“This is a colossal failure of the government resulting from a strategic fiasco of the prime minister who knowingly led us there. Months ago, I told Netanyahu that the biggest operational challenge was in the north and I demanded that the resources be transferred there and end either by settlement or escalation.”

“The ones who pay the price in this case are the students, the thousands of families and communities. One of the biggest challenges of the next government will be to rehabilitate the north and the south,” Gantz added.