Despite the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, Hezbollah continues to launch missiles and drones at IDF forces and northern communities, and on Monday morning it caught area students on their way to school.
An alert was activated in Western Galilee communities before 8 a.m. on Monday warning of a hostile aircraft infiltration, and shortly afterward the IDF spokesman said contact with it had been lost. At the same time, a siren was sounded in Arab al-Aramshe over fears of falling interception fragments. About 25 minutes later, another hostile aircraft infiltration alert was activated, but it was later determined to be a false alarm.
The morning sirens caught area students on their way to school, forcing many of them to seek protected spaces on the side of the road, on roads defined as open areas. Following the continued fire from Lebanon, the Forum of Confrontation Line Mayors said it would hold a news conference Monday to present operational steps to halt studies in their current format. “We will not abandon our children on the confrontation line,” the forum said.
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Children seek shelter on the way to school
( Photo: Use under Section 27A of the Copyright Law)
Mateh Asher Regional Council head and forum chairman Moshe Davidovich said that local authorities will take matters into their own hands. “We will not wait for a disaster in order to make life-saving decisions," he said. "The ‘green’ policy in border communities is a spit in the residents’ faces. The direct and supreme responsibility for our children’s safety rests on our shoulders, the heads of the local authorities.”
Shimon Guetta, head of the Ma’ale Yosef Regional Council, where the sirens sounded Monday morning, addressed parents in a message. “This morning we received another reminder of the complex security reality in which we live, a reality that cannot and should not be ignored," he wrote. "I am addressing you not only as a council head, but as a father and grandfather. I know well the feelings, the fear and the heavy responsibility for the safety of our children. It is important for me to say clearly: Your children’s safety is above all else, and we will not move toward routine unless we are certain it is truly safe.
“We are in ongoing contact with the security authorities, and we are unequivocally demanding a full and appropriate response to the situation,” Guetta added. “At the same time, I do not intend to beautify reality. Our responsibility is first and foremost to the children, not to presenting routine at any cost.”
Since the ceasefire in Lebanon took effect, many parents have chosen not to send their children to educational frameworks, fearing Hezbollah will resume launches toward northern communities. One of them is Mor Peretz, a resident of Shlomi, who decided not to send her three children to school. But Sunday, after receiving a call from teachers urging her to return them to the education system, she sent them.
'Our responsibility is first and foremost to the children, not to presenting routine at any cost'
Her fear came true. In the afternoon, she received a photo of her 9-year-old son, Yehonatan, lying alongside his classmates in the corner of the room, his hands fearfully covering his head during sirens warning of drone infiltration.
“I was shocked to see they did not even run to a protected space during the sirens,” she said Sunday. “The teachers made me feel guilty, saying I was wrong not to send the children to school, but I was stunned that they had to lie on the floor with their hands over their heads because the distance from the classroom to the shelter is longer than the warning time here on the border.”
She said that “when Yehonatan came home, he asked me, ‘Why did I promise him he was protected and could go to school?’ It does not make sense to me that as a mother I have to face the dilemma of whether my children should miss school material or lose their lives.”
Yehonatan sad he "felt very scared and not protected at all while lying on the floor with my hands over my head. I prayed nothing would happen.” Describing the past two months, he said: “For a long time I slept in the shelter and almost did not leave the house so I would not have to lie on the floor during a siren with no protection.”
Many parents in confrontation line communities shared Mor’s fears Sunday, though most sent their children to school in light of the recommendations of the Home Front Command and the defense establishment. On Monday morning, Peretz no longer let her children leave home, until the unstable security reality becomes clearer. “It is important to me that my children have security. I will not force them to go study now because that is what the government decided.”
On Sunday evening, the parents’ leadership in Shlomi issued a message to all residents urging them not to send their children to school. “Only by a miracle did the incident end without physical injuries, but it is clear to all of us that the psychological harm is already here,” wrote Limor Etzion, chairwoman of the parents’ committee, calling on them to cooperate with the joint decision. “Unfortunately, as of this moment the Home Front Command and the Education Ministry have not updated the guidelines, despite the security reality and the repeated sirens. We do not have the privilege of relying on luck or miracles when it comes to their security. We demand that every responsible and relevant authority act immediately and not abandon our children!”
Hana Weiss-Waldman, a resident of Netu’a in the Western Galilee, added: “The feeling is that they are simply normalizing it. Normalizing rocket fire, interceptions, explosions. As if a paper airplane flew over us and not a bomb from a cruel enemy. Is this the new routine we are supposed to get used to? Drips of missiles, flying drones and continuing the lesson at school as usual. There is no security here, no routine. The siren could resume at any moment.”
On Sunday, the Forum of Confrontation Line Mayors jointly announced that it had decided to immediately halt the operation of educational institutions and transportation in communities along the confrontation line under threat of fire. Although the Home Front Command had not made such a decision, they said they had decided to move “independently to an orange policy from Tuesday.”
“Despite the declarations of a ceasefire, the reality on the ground proves that security has not been restored to the confrontation line, and fire toward our communities continues, including drones and sirens that occurred today,” the forum said. “In light of the intolerable gap between the state’s declarations of a ceasefire and the tangible danger to our children’s lives, we have decided not to wait any longer for the Home Front Command and the government.”
“We protest the fact that the protection policy on the confrontation line has been defined as ‘green.’ Beginning Tuesday, we will declare an independent ‘orange’ protection policy, and therefore we will not allow educational institutions to open and will not endanger students on roads and buses that become targets,” they added.
They said they are formulating community-based and alternative solutions for safe learning in all relevant local authorities.