Leaders of at least 2 devastated Gaza border towns say they won’t attend meeting with PM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet with the leaders of communities close to the Gaza Strip that were devastated in the October 7 massacres, but at least two of the invited kibbutzim, Be’eri and Nir Oz, refuse to send representatives.

The communities criticize the premier for only meeting them now, nearly two months after the devastating assault, and for deciding to hold talks only with the kibbutz leadership rather than the whole communities.

Kibbutz Be’eri says it is not boycotting the meeting per se, but rather than attending it calls on the premier to visit the kibbutz, Channel 12 news reports.

“Should the prime minister wish to come to Kibbutz Be’eri, meet with the kibbutz management and the members of the kibbutz, see the atrocities committed on October 7 and have a conversation about the plans for the rehabilitation of Be’eri, we will always be happy to host him by prior arrangement and without a communications team,” the kibbutz says in a statement, according to the Walla news site.

“We suggest that the prime minister meet with the residents of the kibbutz, with everyone. With the children, parents, families who survived the terrible massacre of October 7,” says Osnat Peri, the secretary of Kibbutz Nir Oz.

“Not only the representatives of the communities need answers, but all of us. Not only me, but all of us deserve to know why a quarter of our kibbutz was kidnapped or murdered,” she says.

Invitations to the meeting with the premier were extended to the leadership of all communities situated within four kilometers from the Gaza Strip.