From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
Kfar Aza director says community plans to relocate to nearby town this fall, partially return by end of 2025
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Victor Weinberger, director of planning and strategy for Kibbutz Kfar Aza, tells reporters that his community plans to relocate to Kibbutz Ruhama in the Negev before the end of 2024.
Nearly half of the kibbutz residents currently live in the central Israeli Kibbutz Shefaim in both the kibbutz’s hotel and newly constructed mobile homes.
The move to Kibbutz Ruhama will require financial assistance from the government, Weinberger says.
“We have a prime minister who has refused to say the word ‘kibbutz’ or ‘kibbutznik’ to this day,” he adds. “We’re not getting the money that we need.”
Weinberger says that if they end up receiving sufficient funds, the community plans to move to Kibbutz Ruhama in the fall of 2024 and hopes to begin moving back to Kibbutz Kfar Aza by the end of 2025.
He adds that not all residents of Kibbutz Kfar Aza want to move back to the Gaza border area, explaining that young parents with small children are particularly hesitant.
The community currently enjoys a variety of recovery services, including close to 100 providers in the fields of psychiatry, education, and trauma treatment. Weinberger says that these services are funded by philanthropic donations that he and his colleagues have raised over the last six months.
The Times of Israel Community.