The Be’eri and Nir Oz kibbutzim refused to send representatives to a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday including regional council heads and representatives from the towns in the Gaza border region.Be’eri announced their absence from the meeting, citing scheduling issues, and claimed that they were not boycotting Netanyahu.“Kibbutz Be’eri isn’t boycotting the prime minister of Israel and will not boycott him,” they said in a statement. “If the prime minister wants to come to Be’eri to see the atrocities of October 7 and have a conversation on what is being done to rehabilitate Be’eri, we will always be happy to host him with advance coordination and without media teams.”Kibbutz Nir Oz announced later that it also would not be sending representatives, saying that the setup of the meeting was not acceptable to the residents.
“We suggest that the prime minister visits all the kibbutz’s residents,” said Nir Oz chairwoman Osnat Perry. “[He should meet] with the children, the parents, the families, and the elderly that survived the terrible October 7 massacre. We all need answers, not just the towns’ representatives. We all deserve to know why a quarter of our kibbutz was kidnapped or murdered.”The regional council heads invited to the meeting told Ynet that they had accepted the invitation and invited two or three representatives from each town to present their needs.“Some said they would come, and some said it wouldn’t work for them,” said the regional councils. “No one officially said that they were boycotting the meeting, but we understand that it just isn’t right for them to meet Netanyahu because they have feelings of resentment and frustration. Everyone should do what’s right for them. We’re not forcing anyone.”Many residents from the towns and kibbutzim that were hit in the attack have criticized Netanyahu’s failure to meet with them. Two weeks ago, he met with the regional council heads from the South, but Wednesday was the first time he was meant to meet with the leaders of the towns and kibbutzim. He has also not visited evacuees.
Netanyahu's travels in the region
While he has not met with the residents, Netanyahu has visited the towns and kibbutzim and met with the soldiers stationed in them. On Monday, he took the controversial hi-tech and social media icon Elon Musk to Kfar Aza to show him the destruction left in the wake of October 7.One of the homes they went into was that of the Cohen family who spent 27 hours in their safe room on October 7 before their house was burnt down and they were forced to evacuate.Itamar Cohen said Netanyahu had not met with him and that he was not notified that the prime minister was bringing people into what was left of his house.“We don’t even need to be part of the tour,” he said. “We should just be told that people are going to be entering our house.”He added that they went through a traumatic experience and that the people seeing the destruction should also hear the story behind it from the people who experienced it.“I understand the importance of the fact that Elon Musk was there because he has serious influence in the world, and him being there and seeing it can help him influence for the benefit of Israel,” he said. “On the other hand, it’s my house, and the fact that the terrorists desecrated it doesn’t mean that the prime minister and the many Israelis who had been there too should do the same.”