Outrage erupted among residents of the Galilee following a notice issued by the Misgav Regional Council urging residents to avoid traveling on roads and to remain in their homes during the afternoon and evening hours, between 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., due to planned demonstrations and protests in Sakhnin, Arraba, and Deir Hanna.
Maayan Tal-Mor, a Galilee resident, published a strongly worded protest video in response to the instructions, stressing, "Look at the notice we received yesterday from the Misgav Regional Council, our council."
"Tomorrow, on Simchat Torah, coincidentally during the hours of the hakafot (Simchat Torah celebrations - ed.), we're being told not to leave our homes because the Arabs are demonstrating."
Tal-Mor added sarcastically: "In other words, they can go out and demonstrate, while we need not to leave our homes on Simchat Torah! But one Jewish person can't dance because it hurts the feelings of the residents of Majd al-Krum."
"This is the council I live in, and this is what's happening here in the Galilee. We're allowed to live as long as we keep our heads down and pretend we don't exist."
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich joined the criticism, saying the directive "tells the story of the loss of sovereignty and governance in the Galilee, which must end immediately."
"The situation in which Jewish residents are required to shut themselves inside their homes during a holiday is intolerable," he added. "The free-for-all is over. We will bring the same transformation we led and carried out in Judea and Samaria and implement it in the Negev and the Galilee as well. This is critical for the future of the State of Israel."