Knesset member Zvi Succot, chairman of the Knesset Education Committee, visited Kiryat Shmona amid ongoing rocket fire by Hezbollah toward northern communities and spent the night in a public shelter with local residents.
During the visit, Succot held a security assessment with the city’s mayor at the new municipal operations center and heard about the challenges facing the local education system during the fighting.
He later toured shelters across the city and spoke with residents about coping with daily sirens and rocket fire. Later that night, he chose to remain and sleep in a public shelter together with residents.
Succot said, “I came here to experience firsthand what residents on the confrontation line are going through. The State of Israel must remain committed to the security and daily life of northern residents."
He added, “We must not get used to a reality in which civilians live between sirens and shelters - our responsibility is to restore a full sense of security to the region’s residents."
Referring to security policy, he said, “The era of restraint is over; we have moved to initiating and striking our enemies until they are destroyed. Residents here are living in an unimaginable reality - there are people over the age of 60 who sat in shelters here as children."
In conclusion, he said: “All territory south of the Litani should be annexed. Woe to anyone who thinks about stopping before the threat from the north is completely eliminated."