Hundreds of Kiryat Shmona residents marched this morning (Tuesday) from the city’s entrance junction and blocked roads in protest over the city’s situation.
The residents demanded a reduction in VAT and municipal property taxes until businesses can return to profitability and sustain themselves with dignity. They set up a stage at the city entrance ahead of the protest and planned to burn tires.
Mayor Avichay Stern told Davar: “We are here because we are fighting together for our city. The outcry of Kiryat Shmona’s residents is justified. It’s time for the government to hear it.”
According to Raz Malka, a resident of the city and one of the founders of Lobby 1701, “After two years of evacuation, we saw what residents of all the cities that were evacuated received, in education, healthcare, and employment. We are no longer staying silent; we are demanding what every citizen in Israel is entitled to.”
Eitan Davidi, chairman of the Moshav Margaliyot near Kiryat Shmona, told Davar: “If Kiryat Shmona falls, the entire Galilee falls. The surrounding moshavim and kibbutzim depend on this city. A macrame class or a festival won’t help us. The Israeli government must act now.”
Moshe Vaknin, one of the protest organizers, was arrested and his truck was impounded. According to him, “There isn’t a single business owner here without a lien on their account. We can’t take this anymore.”
A Year and a Half to Return to the Previous Conditions
It took Kiryat Shmona a year and a half to return to the level of economic activity it had before the war and the evacuation of residents, according to data published yesterday (Monday) by the Central Bureau of Statistics. In Sderot, it took nine months.
According to CBS data, based on VAT payments and the volume of credit card purchases in local businesses, commercial activity in Kiryat Shmona and Shlomi remained limited even in the first half of 2025, months after the ceasefire in the North came into effect in November 2024 and even after the evacuation ended.
Credit card purchases in Kiryat Shmona in the first quarter of 2025, likely linked to the number of returning evacuees and their spending, were 42% lower than before the war. Although the official return to northern communities began in March 2025, Kiryat Shmona and Shlomi only returned to pre-war levels of economic activity in July 2025
