The Netanyahu family loves the Sea of Galilee. Every time they get the chance to jump north, for a day trip or a long vacation, they regularly go on a cruise on one of the Lido's fleet of ships and eat something at the Dex restaurant or at the Pagoda, which are located in the tourist complex that belongs to the family of Verd Gross, which operates more From the days of the British Mandate. The couple also chose to celebrate Sarah's 60th birthday there.
Exactly one year ago, Netanyahu and his wife were photographed on one of the four small wooden ships that Ido, Vered's son, accurately recreated, based on the model of the ship found on the bottom of the lake in the 1980s. At the end of his regular stay at Dex, the Prime Minister was admitted to the hospital, which sparked a rumor mill about his medical condition. The next day he published a video in which he said, "Yesterday I spent time with my wife in the Sea of Galilee, in the sun, without a hat, without water, not a good idea", accompanied by a picture of him on board.
It is doubtful whether the Netanyahus know that the "Lido" complex is now about to be closed. The visitors are few, the debts are swelling - and Vered's accountant begs her and him to close the site's gates to avoid bankruptcy. But they insist on pulling a little more. Maybe soon there will be a relaxation in the security situation, and with it the pilgrims, the tourists from abroad and the Israeli visitors who have become family there will return.
Vered is a special type. 70 years old, energetic, running here and there, hovering among the customers, holding the business like a real homemaker. During the interview she moves back and forth on the timeline, embracing the past and trying to deal with the present as best she can.
"Sarah and Bibi are dying on the Sea of Galilee," she says when I mention their names and their affection for the place. "They are my childhood friends. My Ido grew up on their knees, and he is 40 years old today. Sara grew up here in the area, in Tivon. Her two brothers were born in the Scottish Hospital, like me, and her father was an educator at the Ehrlich School in Tiberias. She has childhood memories of the Sea of Galilee and a lot of nostalgia."
Glasses, mice and snakes
Vered's father, Eitan Gross, was born 100 years ago in the Mitzpe haGalilit settlement. Her grandfather, Zvi Gross, was one of the founders of the settlement and to this day they live in a house he built of basalt stones, and cultivate the land. "Father took mother in a tractor so that she could give birth to me in Scotty, which was across the road," says Vered. "Mother would drop us off at school and go out with a rod and bread to go fishing. We didn't eat the fish, we grew up on the eggs of the free-range chickens that roamed around in droves.
"I've been in the business since I was 10," she continues. "I would run away from school to help the parents serve the evangelists the fresh mushteh with the chips and salads, and after lunch for a thousand people, I would jump in the water and refresh myself. My father came up with the idea of bringing the lovers of Israel to him. He recreated the miracles of Jesus, who fed 5,000 people with two fish and loaves of bread. I wish we could feed thousands of customers with two trawlers, I was in a different place today... We go out to the Sea of Galilee in our two fishing boats, fish the trawlers and feed the guests with fish and focaccia from our wooden tabon, the bread of Jesus.
"I have two children, Ido and Kinneret, but what? What will I call her? My son is the third generation in the business and his children are already coming to help. Ido restored the 'Jesus Boat', a sunken wooden ship that was discovered at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee in 1986. He made an exact replica of it from the Lebanon box, and built ecological boats with an electric motor, which became an amazing attraction. When I'm downhill, and I've recently had a lot of such downhills, Ido puts me on the Fisherman - that's what we call them - and takes me out for ten minutes and I relax. There is something holistic about them.
"Father started the business in a mandatory building on the banks of the Sea of Galilee, which we received when he leased the area. There was no beach on the west bank. The area was deserted with glass, snakes and mice. The parents and we cleaned, renovated and built everything with our own hands. During the Mandate, they would land on the water in front of the planes of the Royal Air Force, and the crews would change there, on the London-Lido-Bombay route and back. Father opened a restaurant that became a resounding success. People were sailing in a boat near Lido 1 and eating in a restaurant. In 1998, the jubilee year for the country, Abba was awarded the title of 'Their Jubilee'.
"Shuki, my late husband, who died seven years ago, three weeks after father, a child of great joy, joined him. Both were larger than life men, empires. 45 years ago I started to lead the strategy with Shuki, I expanded the business. We have the largest fleet of ships in the Sea of Galilee, with a capacity of more than 2,000 places. We established two restaurants 50 years ago. The 'Dex', which is based on barbecue, and 'Pagoda', which is an Asian restaurant and is based on the evangelical market. Just yesterday friends were here at Apex with Pastor John Hagee, who founded the largest evangelical organization. We bring here tens of thousands of incoming tourists a year."
"I still don't understand the magnitude of the horror"
Every security crisis is a blow to tourism. This was the case in the first and second Lebanon wars, and it is the same now. Even during Corona, they did not lick Lido honey, but the family received reasonable compensation from the state, which helped them survive the crisis. "On October 7, 250 Koreans were scheduled to come to us for dinner at Dax. We had a crazy, psychic forecast for a strong tourist season like we haven't had in years.
"We are based on pilgrimage tourism. They don't come on Passover and Sukkot, because the hotels are full of Israelis and American tourists, the cream of the crop. In Sukkot I was filled with the regular customers who have been coming to visit me for years - then we wake up to these horrors and I almost pass out. At first I still didn't understand the magnitude of the horror and I was sure that in the evening I would receive the Koreans.
"On the eve of Simchat Torah, the Israeli tourists are replaced by pilgrims, and then for seven months, until April, we are bombarded with incoming tourism. May to August in European and American tourism, and God forbid. Evangelists don't come in the summer. Both are hot and they are not rich tourists, so in this period the prices are cheaper. Then I get a call from their spiritual leader who tells me: 'The situation with you is horrible, we are crossing the border to Jordan and flying back to Korea.'
"Eli Ginsberg, the commander of the counter-terrorism special forces unit, who was already on his liberation leave that was celebrated right here, and was on his way to fly with his wife for a vacation abroad, was one of the first to arrive in Bari, fought there and was killed. You don't understand what kind of man he was. lion. built to last. When we parted after the party, I sang to him, "Oof Gozal" and I point to him with my finger - 'And don't forget, there is an eagle in the sky.' When I heard he was killed I was broken to pieces. My heart is sore in my heart. What did I predict a few weeks ago? What did I do?", she bursts into tears.
On October 8, the restaurants were closed and the ships remained tied to the pier. "I had to do something. If I could take a weapon, I would go down to Gaza myself. Instead, I opened the kitchen and cooked Thai soups for the soldiers, because it was cold. I bought huge thermoses and my cousin would wear boots and walk with them in the mud to feed them at the northern border. Tens of thousands of warriors we fed. They told me, you are losing money. But who am I to ask? The money doesn't matter. I started bringing money from home. We hosted a lot of units here."
You have been closed for almost nine months. Did you receive compensation from the state?
"We need to say thank you that we are on our feet. More than 600 fighters were killed, kidnapped and dying in the tunnels. We did not receive anything for October, nor for November and December. I took a loan with a state guarantee of NIS 2.5 million which I am still paying back. In December we opened. We united the two restaurants, because it was not economical to open them both separately. Periods are embarrassing. There is no tourism on ships. nothing and a half
"Now I started doing bat and bar mitzvah parties in a restaurant with desserts on the ship. I'm trying to develop this market of dessert parties and dancing until the brides are exhausted on the water, at funny prices. I don't even cover the wages of the workers, not to mention the raw materials, property taxes, lease fees, insurances, all the fixed expenses. I took all the workers out on sick leave when the war started, but when they stopped paying them, I brought them back."Who am I not to sigh?" she continues. "We have no right. We should shut up and say thank you that we are alive. If a severe war breaks out in the north, there will be 15 thousand dead, including us. And I am not considered a confrontation line, even though we are a full confrontation line, because I am based on incoming tourism and there are none, except for a few brave journalists or solidarity delegations."
Is there no domestic tourism as well? People come to the Sea of Galilee.
"What kind of people come to the North? There are only refugees here. There are some evacuees from Kiryat Shmona that I hired and I introduce them to guests so they can get big tips. There were representatives of AIPAC, lovers of Israel, members of Congress and the Senate, who gave one of the workers a tip that set him up for the month."
How long will you last financially like this?
"Yael, Ido's wife, who works with us, says to me, 'Do you understand that we have to close? Otherwise we go bankrupt, we won't be able to stand it.' She squeezes and cries. We used to have high revenues, today we are on the verge of collapse. I don't like to say it, because we are strong and we will overcome. So I cut back. I moved the 'Dex' into the 'Pagoda', closed all the ships and Ido and Yael skippers, so if necessary, we take them out. I wish the country would come to its senses, but it is also in a lot of trouble. Who am I to demand? They give Matula, Kiryat Shmona to the confrontation line, I don't count. I have no right to make demands on anyone. I had personal reserves and I brought them, until, God willing, the situation will be resolved. The accountant, who is a senior economist, tells us to 'close now'. I almost give up, and then Ai Du tells me, let's wait a little, maybe it will be okay with the Lebanese, let's wait a little longer."