On the 7th of October, a disaster on a historic scale occurred in the Negev. A month after the events of that black Sabbath, and while we are licking our wounds, we can say without hesitation - the Negev was deserted, and the state was not there for it. It was neglected security-wise, intelligence-wise, economically, and socially.
For years, state institutions have neglected the largest region in the country with insufficient budgeting, poor planning, a lack of coordination between ministries, a lack of historical insight, and an approach devoid of vision and national responsibility.
Above all the failures is the informational failure. For years, the "Israel for the Negev" association has cried out and sharply criticized the functioning of the intelligence and the military in everything related to the Negev, including the attempt to disrupt and prevent the transfer of intelligence units to the Negev, part of the purpose of which was to ensure better intelligence for the entire country.
During five years of stubborn struggle by the citizens of the Negev against the army, it became clear to us how deeply the disease had festered in the army, especially in its intelligence branch and among its senior officers. They insisted on not seeing the double rationale of that project: the first, the transfer of all the intelligence units currently scattered in the center of the country and sitting on expensive land to a new, unified, and advanced center in the Negev, suitable for the needs of a modern army. The second is to ensure that the intelligence units have the physical and technological infrastructure necessary for their optimal activity while positioning the Negev as an area that may lead Israel from an economic-technological and demographic point of view.
The fact that the senior intelligence officers opposed the move and even tried to torpedo it only because of the expected "inconvenience" of relocating shines a bright light on their operational and moral failure on the 7th of October. No wonder that those who opposed such a significant Zionist move failed operationally as well. The same smugness, cynicism, and hand-wringing demonstrated in the first act also played a role in the last act.
We shouted, cried out, warned, but the intelligence people - who managed to impose their will on the Prime Minister - had their way. The government did not give priority to the project, and if it wasn’t for the determined activity of the association - on behalf of the residents of the Negev - it would have gone down the drain, and with it, an economic activity of approximately 60 billion shekels in two decades and 50,000 new jobs, including for the Bedouin sector. To read and not believe.
Following our activity, which also included a petition to the High Court and after a persistent struggle, the Minister of Defense at the time, Benny Gantz, decided to transfer the intelligence center to the Negev, and the project is already progressing in the field.
Saving the intelligence project prevented a failure for generations, and its realization represents a historic opportunity for the region's development, especially after the disaster that befell us.
To restore the Negev is an existential obligation for Israel
Although the fighting continues in full force, and while the country fights to win the war and is determined to return all the abductees to their homes, we must look forward to the day after the war. Our thinking should focus on how to renew the settlements that envelop Israel and how to do this with a future vision of the needs of the residents, the state, and the economy.
At the beginning of the existence of the State of Israel, Ben-Gurion understood that the state's most significant challenge was the settlement and development of the Negev. This is true even today. There is no disputing that the Israel of 2023 is economically stronger than the Israel of the previous century. Therefore, it is the state's duty to allocate all the resources required to restore and develop the Negev in the current reality.
This is, first of all, a sacred moral obligation towards the residents, who were forced to evacuate after their home and world was destroyed. No less, it is a duty towards the Negev, which has been neglected over the years and needs to renew and leap forward. In light of the neglect of the past and the disaster that befell us, the State of Israel, and first and foremost, its leadership, have an obligation to place the restoration of the Negev and its development at the top of the national priority list, and immediately. Most of all, as we saw on the 7th of October, this is an existential obligation for Israel as a whole.
As mentioned, the restoration and renewal of the Negev should be based on economic anchors, including the IDF's move into the Negev. Along the way, they should draw inspiration from the development model of the kibbutzim and the civil settlements, which, in addition to the belief in settlement as a security necessity ("Where the Jewish plow plows the last furrow is where our border will cross"), they built a solid economic infrastructure that enabled the existence of the settlement and its prosperity over time - industrial plants, advanced agriculture, financial organizations, the cultivation of technological innovation and the promotion of exports.
Finally, it is our duty to fulfill Ben-Gurion's vision for the development of the Negev. This is especially the duty of the leadership, which up to this day has carried Ben-Gurion's name in vain, scattered promises without coverage, and did not prepare and implement a national plan with great momentum and scope for the future of the neglected Negev.
A message of resurrection and renewal
The disaster that befell our home also creates an opportunity, and this is not a cliché. This is the time to correct a historical injustice, to rebuild, restore, and correct the errors of the past. But we must not be satisfied only with rehabilitation. The reconstruction should produce a new and much better reality than the one that existed before the war.
Beyond the guarantee of peace and security, we must ensure that the Negev in general and the area enveloping Israel in particular, will be treated like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in all respects.
The Israeli society after the 7th of October will no longer be the society that was before it. The disaster that befell us on the holiday of Simchat Torah flooded questions that were pushed aside for years and are now taking center stage. We will demand action and follow the implementation with all the tools available to citizens in a democratic society.
The dots connect throughout Jewish history. Just as Bialik's poem "In the City of Killing," written in the aftermath of the Kishinev pogrom, shocked the Jewish world of its time, shaped the consciousness, defined the identity, and set in motion the second and third immigration, I believe that the pogrom in the Western Negev will also awaken latent forces in the people of Israel and push them forward, with determination, to rebuild.
From Or HaNer, Ibim, Zikim, Kisufim, Yad Mordechai, and Nativ HaAsara, a new message will emerge - a message of revival and renewal, a message of construction, growth, and prosperity. We will rebuild the country - militarily, economically, and socially - with advanced physical and technological infrastructures, a solid civil society, and a strong and improved army. This message should resonate throughout the country and be a symbol and example - a declaration to ourselves and the enemies around us that we will never be defeated and will always rise again better and stronger.
This will be a new, powerful, and progressive Israel, with the Negev being the pillar of fire that leads the way.
The author is the CEO of The Luzzatto Group, a social activist, and a public figure. Chairman of the "Israel for the Negev" association, chairman of the board of directors of the "Together" association, and a member of the Omer Council for 25 years.