Up until two months ago, it was clear to everyone which “north” people were referring to when they spoke about how the north was abandoned, how Israel must rebuild the north and how vital it is to ensure that residents of the north are able to return to their homes. Second, only to the Israeli communities in the Gaza envelope, which were devastated in the October 7 Hamas attack, it was communities on the frontline in the north who paid the heaviest price during this war; they were uprooted from their homes, became refugees in their own country and saw from afar how their homes were reduced to rubble. In May, for example, when the government announced the establishment of Tnufa, a new authority to oversee the rebuilding of the north, its definitions of concepts such as ‘the threatened areas,’ ‘the communities under threat’ and the ‘evacuated population’ related only to communities located up to 9 kilometers from the border.

In September, however, the IDF moved the focus of its operations to the northern front, which led to several weeks of military successes in Lebanon, but also to Hezbollah expanding the range of its rocket attacks. Hundreds of projectiles were fired every day at communities located dozens of kilometers from the border, such as Carmiel and the Krayot. As a result, the leaders of these towns and cities also see themselves as part of the northern front and are demanding their fair share of the 15 billion shekels or so ($4 billion) that the government has allocated for rebuilding and redeveloping the north.

Nissan Ze’evi, who lives in the borderline community of Kfar Giladi and is one of the leaders of Lobby 1701, an organization that represents thousands of residents of northern Israel, tells Shomrim that, suddenly, “instead of a situation that affects 300,000 people, Israel is dealing with something that affects 1.3 million people, if not more. It is a perilous precedent. In fact, it is the first time that the definition of ‘frontline community’ has been extended beyond 9 kilometers from the border, to around 30 kilometers. And this is happening at a time when there has been a total collapse in what’s known as the frontline communities: economic, civilian and infrastructure.”

Giora Zaltz, the head of the Upper Galilee Regional Council, is already very concerned about what all this could mean. “I assume that Likud-aligned towns will get priority,” he says, “but let’s wait and see. So far, no criteria have been announced and there are no boundaries. There’s nothing. Everyone is saying whatever they want because there’s been no decision. It’s not just a question of the geographical borders; it’s also an issue of where the money goes.”

Another resident of one of the kibbutzim along the border who is also active in organizations that address issues related to the ongoing war, shared his prediction for what’s likely to happen. “The mayors of Kiryat Ata and Carmiel – people with power in Likud – will come along,” he says. “Moreover, the ministers are political animals who know how to make calculations. What would they prefer: money for the Krayot, which will help hundreds of thousands of people, or money for the kibbutzim, which has just a few thousand residents? Even if you leave out the question of who votes for whom, they simply have more electoral power than us.”

A person with close ties to the head of one of the frontline councils adds: “Nobody has any doubt that Kiryat Shmona and Shlomi were worse hit than the Krayot, but the latter is eating up the budget simply by virtue of the fact that the cake is being divided into more pieces.” This person goes on to say that it is important to note that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose to hold his first cabinet meeting after the ceasefire with Hezbollah in Nahariya – which is adjacent to the Matte Asher Regional Council, whose chair, Moshe Davidovitch, also happens to be chairman of Conflict Zone Forum.

“It’s no coincidence,” says the source. “It’s a kind of divide-and-rule tactic between Nahariya and Matte Asher. These are neighboring authorities but Netanyahu does not want them to join forces against him. Under the surface, other things are taking shape. Mayors are meeting with members of the Likud Central Committee, in the hope that, when the day comes, their town will not be forgotten.”

"Under the surface, other things are taking shape. Mayors are meeting with members of the Likud Central Committee, in the hope that, when the day comes, their town will not be forgotten.”

Up to one-third of the money

It’s important to take a moment to consider the context. On November 1, the government approved the 2025 state budget. The day before, during final budget negotiations, the government passed another resolution that received far less media attention—perhaps because a ceasefire with Hezbollah was not imminent. Government Resolution 2330 allocated 15 billion shekels for rebuilding and redeveloping the north. At first glance, this decision seems commendable. However, it is riddled with issues, lacking a clear timeframe, distribution guidelines, and a geographical definition of the frontline, inviting potential disputes and political maneuvering.

Leaders of the Conflict Zone Forum do not doubt that this is the worst scenario from their perspective and they are adamant that they will fight against the decision. The day before the government passed the state budget, they were walking the corridors of the Finance Ministry in an effort to persuade Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to ensure that the budget for the north was part of the state budget. Smotrich, for his part, refused to even meet with them, according to a letter that Gabi Ne’eman, mayor of Shlomi, sent to his constituents. In his letter, Ne’eman said that the treasury had rejected a proposal submitted by the Tnufa authority, which he described as “a special and dedicated plan for the frontline and evacuated communities – exactly as it should be!!! And not the whole of the north, including Zichron Ya’akov and Hadera.” He went on to add that, “we hereby declare a tough and determined campaign for our rights, as enshrined in law.”

"A special and dedicated plan for the frontline and evacuated communities – exactly as it should be!!! And not the whole of the north."

Davidovitch, the head of the Conflict Zone Forum, also leaves no room for doubt. “This is a death blow for the Zionist enterprise on the State of Israel’s northern border,” he declared, while Kiryat Shmona mayor Avihai Stern said that it was “the worst news we could possibly get.” Smotrich was planning, according to information obtained by Shomrim, to announce that very evening the launch of the program for rebuilding the north but backed down after members of the Conflict Zone Forum told him they would boycott the event.

In fact, as part of Shomrim’s investigation into what went on behind the scenes, we can reveal that the lack of defined geographical boundaries was actually the first major achievement of a new pressure group set up in the days before the decision was announced. The group called the Northern Envelope Forum, is made up of dozens of local and regional authorities located between 9 and 30 kilometers from the border. It was founded and is headed by Moshe Kuninski, the Likud mayor of Carmiel.

Another achievement by this emerging pressure group—albeit partial from their perspective for now—is an informal understanding that 20% of the 15 billion shekel budget will be allocated to communities situated more than 9 kilometers from the border. This leaves frontline communities with a maximum of 12 billion shekels, far short of the 31 billion shekels required according to a detailed report by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (The Joint).

In December, members of the Northern Envelope Forum met with Finance Minister Smotrich, who referenced the "80-20" division. Eli Dukorsky, mayor of Kiryat Bialik and forum co-chair, confirmed the arrangement, though exact details remain unsettled. Similarly, during a Knesset meeting with Eliezer Marom, the recently resigned head of the northern rehabilitation authority, the division was reaffirmed. However, the Finance Ministry has yet to issue an official statement on the matter, leaving uncertainty around the specifics of the allocation.

The forum is “based on communities in which the education system was halted, workplaces operated on a limited basis and, in general, there were more restrictive limitations.”

Forum founder Kuninski appeared twice at the Knesset this month – the Internal Affairs and Environment Committee and the Economic Affairs Committee – to explain the rationale behind the forum. He made a very clear demand: 30 percent to the Northern Envelope Forum and 70 percent to the Conflict Zone Forum. “Exactly the same number of missiles were fired at Carmiel – 188 in total – as were fired during the Second Lebanon War,” he explained. “There were a lot of hits, many injuries and a lot of property damage. It didn’t stop for 9 kilometers. Carmiel is not like Kiryat Shmona; Tiberias is not the same as Manara or Hanita. It’s time to examine how each community that was hit – on the Golan Heights, in the Galilee and the Krayot – can be part of the framework for rehabilitation, compensation and significant growth. Rehabilitation of the physical, social and economic aspects of the communities.

In a conversation with Shomrim, Dukorsky explains that the forum is “based on communities in which the education system was halted, workplaces operated on a limited basis and, in general, there were more restrictive limitations.” He says that some 40 local authorities have joined the forum – Jewish and Arab alike – and that the 30-kilometer lines reflect the Home Front Command’s decision to impose restrictions on communal activities in these areas. “These are locales to which the state has already promised compensation to businesses, but we have to think more broadly about bolstering the economy, education, welfare and physical development,” he says.

The Federation of Local Authorities in Israel, the umbrella organization of all municipalities and local councils, supports the Northern Envelope Forum and is hoping for an even larger slice of the rehabilitation pie. “At least 30 percent should go to the authorities located beyond the 9-kilometer line. At first, we demanded a ratio of one-third to two-thirds,” says Haim Bibas, the mayor of Modi’in and head of the Federation. “Take Safed, for example. That town took a lot of missiles because of the nearby Air Force facility. The Krayot were also targeted and they deserve compensation, too. I know that Smotrich is talking about 20 percent, but there’s still no official decision.”

“At least 30 percent should go to the authorities located beyond the 9-kilometer line. At first, we demanded a ratio of one-third to two-thirds,” says Haim Bibas, the mayor of Modi’in and head of the Federation.

No plan before Pesach

The picture is supposed to get clearer by January 1, when the 60-day period that government resolution 2330 stipulates for a final decision on details of the plan ends, but it is far from clear that this will indeed happen. At a meeting of the Knesset’s Finance Committee on December 8, the treasury representative said that determining the geographical boundaries also depends on assessments from security officials as well as the requisite legal opinions – which are still to be submitted. In addition, a senior treasury official involved in the issue told Shomrim that he believes that a detailed plan for the distribution of the 15 billion shekels will only be ready in a few months, somewhere between the Pesach holiday in mid-April and Shavuot in early June. This is because of the more urgent need to prepare for the return of the evacuees – on which, more later.

In other words, the likely clash between the beleaguered local authorities – which the government is forcing into a cannibalistic war over funding – could drag on for many months. “It’s safe to assume that there will be squabbles and there will be competition. The moment that an entire region suffers damage, there will be competition between mayors over where the resources go,” says Ophir Pines-Paz, a former interior minister and now head of the Institute for Local Government at Tel Aviv University. “The heads of the local authorities need to do everything in their power to avoid fighting with each other; they must present a united front to the government. If the government sees that there are rifts between them and conflicting interests, it will be easier for the government to divide and rule. If, on the other hand, there is a united front, it will be harder for the government to resist. The local leaders would be well advised to cooperate with each other and reach broad agreements.”

It seems unlikely that will happen since political considerations are already at play behind the scenes. On that front, it is easy to see who has the upper hand – as demonstrated by the decision not to decide on the geographical framework for the rehabilitation plan. Bibas and Kuninski are both members of the Likud Central Committee and the latter is especially well-connected there. Yaakov Peretz, the mayor of Kiryat Ata, is also an important figure in Likud.

This may go some way to explain why Likud MK Keti Shitrit came to the assistance of the Northern Envelope Forum by organizing a hearing at the Knesset’s Finance Committee dedicated entirely to that group. While there are many Likud voters in Kiryat Shmona (50 percent of the population voted for Netanyahu’s party in the last election), the party is currently embroiled in something of a spat with the city’s mayor, Avihai Stern. When Netanyahu visited Kiryat Shmona in June, he did not meet with the incumbent mayor – but did meet with his Likud-backed rival for the position. A month later, there was a clash between Stern and Shitrit at a meeting of the Knesset’s Special Committee for Strengthening and Developing the Negev and Galilee, during which Shitrit even threatened to oust the mayor and hand administration of the city over to a specially appointed government committee. The next day, in an interview on the Knesset television channel, Stern said “it appears that Likud has placed a black mark next to my name.”

“Unfortunately, the money that was earmarked for the 70,000 people from evacuated authorities will also go to the whole of the north, numbering 2 million people," says Mayor Stern

In the meantime, it appears that Stern, like other frontline community mayors, prefers to adopt a low profile – certainly compared to his belligerent comments on November 1. “Nothing has been allocated yet,” he tells Shomrim. “It’s just a budgetary outline. But yes, unfortunately, the money that was earmarked for the 70,000 people from evacuated authorities will also go to the whole of the north, numbering 2 million people.”

According to Shitrit, her disagreements with Stern are professional and relevant. She tells Shomrim that she is also working to help Kiryat Shmona and asks for the budget to be increased. She is still waiting for an answer, she says. According to a senior treasury official – and according to Bibas – there is no chance whatsoever that the budget will grow.

Shomrim asked Shitrit if she were not concerned that, if the 15-billion-shekel budget would remain as is, this would come at the expense of Kiryat Shmona residents. “I am very concerned,” she replied. “The Ministry of Finance has to come up with a proper plan that does not come at the expense of people from frontline communities.”

Another political figure – perhaps less familiar to the public – who came to the assistance of the new Northern Envelope Forum is Ophir Shik, deputy head of the Lower Galilee Regional Council and chairman of the Lev Hagalil NGO. Shik was responsible for organizing the meeting between members of the forum and Smotrich earlier this month and was even credited by name in the media statement issued by the minister’s bureau. Shik says that he has known Smotrich for many years and that the finance minister even assisted in setting up the organization. In a conversation with Shomrim, Shik explains he came to the meeting in his capacity as chairman of Lev Hagalil and not as deputy head of the Lower Galilee Regional Council. The Lev Hagalil NGO is considered right-wing and it advocates, albeit quietly, for the Judaization of the Galilee. It is just another strand in the complex web of differing and conflicting interests. “There are cities like Carmiel and Acre, which are mixed, that we must help more – to ensure that residents do not leave,” Shitrit said at the Knesset committee meeting. Although no one has said so aloud, it’s not hard to guess which residents she feels are important to keep and which are less so.

“Is it possible that Haifa is not part of the Northern Envelope Forum because Kuninski is a member of the Likud Central Committee and [Haifa mayor] Yona Yahav is not?” said former minister Pines with a smile. “Everything is always political, but today more than ever. That cabinet meeting [in Nahariya after the ceasefire] was a snub to Davidovitch because he supported Gantz and he criticized them. It wasn’t just a poke in the eye; it was a message for everyone to understand that they would be better off working directly with the government. From first-hand knowledge, I can tell you that over a long period the Conflict Zone Forum managed to work as a unified body, despite the government’s failed efforts to drive a wedge between them.”

A spokesperson for Davidovitch refused to respond to these comments.

A senior treasury official confirmed this in a conversation with Shomrim: “When it comes to the process of returning home, there was no organized plan; we need one urgently and we have to get the plan of action approved."

The ceasefire revealed new failings

As already mentioned, the coordinator of the rebuilding project, Eliezer Marom, resigned this month. No one was particularly surprised by his decision, given that, ever since the authority was established some five months ago, it limped ineffectively along and only really started operating in September. Having said that, Merom's departure covers up a failure that did not get any public exposure and for which Merom was partially responsible: the fact that there was no contingency plan in place for ensuring the return of evacuated residents to their homes the moment a ceasefire was declared. This is not just more mental anguish for people who became refugees in their own country or more time that has been wasted. The absence of a plan also has an impact on the issue of the 15-billion-shekel aid package, since determining the geographical boundaries and deciding where the money will go will now have to wait until a decision on how evacuees are to be brought home.

As inconceivable as it may sound, throughout the entire year that tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes, no one in power had the foresight to draw up a plan for their return. A senior treasury official confirmed this in a conversation with Shomrim: “When it comes to the process of returning home, there was no organized plan; we need one urgently and we have to get the plan of action approved. If they wait until the end of discussions about the five-year plan for economic growth, they will never go home. In the coming weeks, for example, a decision must be taken on allocating money to make public buildings usable again – including schools. We have to decide on grants for preparations and renovations. If this does not happen, the residents will not be able to come home.”

An official from the Tnufa administration tries to explain: “Before there was a ceasefire, it was impossible to draw up a plan. You cannot know the extent of the damage, most of which happened in the last two months of the fighting. You cannot draw up a plan to put on ice when you don’t know the parameters – there’s no approved budget and there wasn’t even a government resolution on when the residents would start coming home.”

He adds that “there is no connection between the long-term development plan and returning the evacuees or giving them grants.” At the same time, at the Knesset meeting of the Special Committee for Strengthening and Developing the Negev and Galilee on December 16th, Eliezer Marom said that the Tnufa authority that started working on the return-to-home plan in tandem with the long-term plan and a plan on how the money will be invested during 2025. “I assume that by the end of the month [December], there will be a plan for the return of the evacuees,” he said.

All of this is also related to the question of the money for the so-called return grants, which are supposed to encourage residents to return home before the end of the current school year, as was the case when the residents of Sderot and the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip returned to their homes, starting in March 2024. Will these grants also come from the 15 billion shekels that have been allocated? Will evacuees continue to receive funding from the state and, if so, from which budget? These are just some of the issues that are currently being addressed. According to information obtained by Shomrim, the return grants will indeed come from the total sum that was supposed, in the end, to be allocated to residents of the frontline communities.

At the moment, Israeli communities adjacent to the border are still defined by the military as unsafe for return. As long as that remains the case, the state is funding evacuees’ accommodation. If the definition changes, the funding will stop – unless the government passes a special resolution to continue it. If the army decides that there is no security reason that residents should not return home and the government decides to continue funding the evacuees, that money could also be taken from the 15 billion shekels. The same issue arises in relation to the grants that the government plans to give to families in the frontline communities – 132,000 shekels per family – to build reinforced spaces in their homes.

This is not quite the end of the story, however. There are other secondary but still unresolved issues, such as compensation for frontline communities that were not evacuated. The government ordered the evacuation of communities located up to 3.5 kilometers from the border; during the conflict, and especially following the IDF’s ground operation in Lebanon, communities located up to 9 kilometers from the border were not evacuated and spent several months living in harsh conditions, under constant attack.

This leads us on to another pressure group that was recently set up – a forum of eight kibbutzim located in the eastern part of the Hula Valley – which has hired a lobbying company called The Cabinet to bring its specific demands before the government. “We are asking for affirmative action,” says the head of the forum, Yoram Eventzur. “Just like there were return grants for evacuees, we want ‘back-to-routine’ grants. People here were unable to work, the education system was unable to operate consistently and there was a constant threat of missiles. During those long months of war, there was no difference in security terms between Kiryat Shmona, Kfar Szold and Neot Mordechai – apart from the fact that we were not evacuated. There was a major disruption to services here, so we also want exemptions from municipal taxes. The grant for building reinforced spaces should be expanded to include people living more than 5 kilometers from the border. Since the start of the war, the authorities have been guilty of neglecting us – and it cannot continue.”

Some of the kibbutzim in this forum have also joined another pressure group formed by frontline communities – the Lebanon Shield Envelope Forum – which is made up of kibbutzim and moshavim located up to 9 kilometers from the border that were not given evacuation orders. At the start of 2024, the group petitioned the High Court of Justice and in October the justices ordered the state to explain why these communities have not received compensation.

“The State of Israel has neglected the frontline communities in the north that were not evacuated and abandoned them as a front,” says attorney Haran Reichman, the director of the Clinic for Law and Educational Policy at Haifa University, who is representing the forum. “Over a year of living under constant threat, being denied minimal services, including education. The economic and emotional cost paid by these residents cannot be ignored by the state, which did not even take them into consideration in the 15-billion-shekel plan. Fortunately, the High Court understood the issue and issued an order nisi, according to which the starting point for aid to these residents should be the same aid given to the residents of the evacuated communities. We expect that the residents will get adequate compensation and that the state will include them in the grants it gives out in the future.”

On the other side of the budgetary blanket that every authority is trying to stretch in its directions – given the lack of clear geographical boundaries – is the city of Tiberias, which, although it is located more than 30 kilometers from the border, has claims of its own. In early November, Mayor Yossi Nava initiated a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee, to discuss a proposal for financial assistance and granting special status to the city. “I am very hopeful that the government will pass a resolution about Tiberias. That is my job: to fight for these things,” Nava told Shomrim. “We had 12,000 evacuees here during the war. Close to 6,000 are still here. It is only natural that infrastructure suffers wear and tear. On the physical level, the roads, the safety rails; there was also vandalism. It’s true that the owners of the apartments earned money from the rent that the state paid for the evacuees. But small businesses were hurt because they are used to tourists coming for a few days and spending money in the smaller stores. The average drop in income for businesses in the tourism sector was 50 percent and in some cases up to 90 percent. I told Smotrich that we had experienced a 9 percent decrease in economic activity in the city. He told me: What do you want? It’s just 9 percent. But in Nahariya, which everyone is crying over, there was a 4 percent increase and in Tel Aviv there was 13 percent increase (based on consumption data from SHVA credit company)”.

So, Tiberias also wants a slice of the pie and the other authorities know that every shekel that goes elsewhere is a shekel taken away from them.

Shomrim did not receive responses to its request for comment from the Ministry of Finance, the Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, the Prime Minister's Office or the Tnufa administration.