Northern residents: Now you come, Mr. Prime minister?

Olmert tours rocket-stricken city of Kiryat Shmona, finds apathetic, furious residents. Local: I heard the prime minister is here on a visit; if I had two minutes to meet him face to face, I would tell him, 'Olmert, I voted for you and I'm sorry I did so’

Hagai Einav|Published: 08.21.06 , 12:17

In the shadow of the bitter criticism directed at the Home Front Command during the war, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived in Kiryat Shmona on Tuesday for a visit.

Among others, he visited the Danzinger high school, which absorbed direct Katyusha strikes. Olmert's visit in the city did not bring major joy to the residents, who are licking their war wounds and are trying to cope with crashing businesses and wrecked homes.

PM Olmert's convoy in Kiryat Shmona (Photo: Baruch Grosswald)

"People here are furious, disappointed. This is a failure by the system and a failure by the government," said Uri Roda, a falafel stand owner on Tel-Chai Boulevard.

"On the one hand, we're trying to return the calm to the north, but they don't declare a state of emergency and don't evacuate the residents from the city. When the municipality started to do so, it was done in a disorganized way causing panic and fighting between those who left and those who remained behind," he added.

'Residents were abandoned'

Yosef Gabai has been living in Kiryat Shmona for 50 years. He got through all of the wars, but this time it was the most difficult for him. "This government needs to go," he said. "I heard Olmert is here on a visit, if I had two minutes to meet him face to face, I would tell him, 'Olmert, I voted for you and I'm sorry I did so.' This is a government that has made many mistakes, and instead of polite visits at the heads of cities and political activists, he should come and meet us and explain to the people with businesses how to deal with losses how to prevent a third Lebanon war which is already on the horizon," Gabai said.

"If Ariel Sharon was now prime minister and Shaul Mofaz defense minister, I would have no doubt that this war would start differently and definitely it would look different at its end. Unfortunately, the prime minister chose to see the walls of a school and not to meet people who are in homes and businesses wrecked in central Kiryat Shmona."

Instead, it was members of the city's council that met with Olmert. "The residents were abandoned," Olmert was told.

Yigal Buzaglo said: "Mr. Prime minister, where were you? Why didn't you look after us?" The head of the Mevo'ot Hermon Council, Benny Ben-Muvhar, claimed that firefighters in the north worked throughout the war without protective vests, citing it as an example of the neglect.

Haim Elmakis, who has been living in the city for the past five years, said: "It's good he remembered to come, we waited for him for the entire war. On the one hand he didn't declare a state of emergency, which would have compensated the residents, and on the other hand they started evacuating too late. This country doesn't have serious leadership. We hung many hopes on the Olmert-Peretz government, but this bubble blew up in our face."

Property tax officials continued to travel between homes hit during the war, and encountered bitter, sad, and helpless residents. Other than a few associates and activists, it was difficult to find anyone in Kiryat Shmona who was really glad to see the prime minister visiting the wrecked city.