A direct hit to the Avivim winery: "I flew 30 meters forward"/Omari Atria
With a water hose in front of high flames, Meir Biton from Moshav Avivim tried to put out the fire that broke out in the family winery after two anti-tank missiles fired by Hezbollah hit it again. He saw how his life's work burned before his eyes and tried to fight it, with almost empty hands, a war that ended It is known in advance. When the fire brigade was allowed to approach the village adjacent to the Lebanese border, not a word was left of the winery and the visitor center adjacent to it, which Bitton built with his own hands. Only smoke and a lot of soot.
Omri Atria arrived there as soon as Bitton picked up the phone and told him that the winery had been hijacked again. But this time there was nothing left. He is 70 years old, retired in the Golan, married, father of three, grandfather of nine, a farmer for four decades, an agronomist and economist by training and since the end of the nineties he has been engaged in agricultural appraisals. He is one of only five agricultural assessors who on October 7 work around the clock in the Heddar settlements in Otef and the north, replacing property tax assessors, who avoid going to places that are in danger zones and serve as a lifeline for farmers who lost everything they had and now have to fight for compensation from the state.
Let's go back to Bitton. Atria has been the family's appraiser for years and was there immediately after the missile fell there for the first time. "The visitor center at Meir's winery has been closed since the beginning of the war," says Ataria, "and its damage is enormous. He called me and said that he did not close the vineyards. He has 3,000 dunams and he did not produce wine. I was at his place several times and a month ago the first missile fell on him. I arrived and documented This, knowing that it won't take long and it will burn."
petition "Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night to write something because I'm upset. My mood is bad, I endure their suffering"/Reuven Castro
"It was the most beautiful building in the area"
"It was the most beautiful building in the area. It was clear to me that the terrorists would not leave it intact. They damaged its foundations. We knew that no one would come to repair the building now, so I documented everything. He prepared the Shii for Passover from his supplies and then hijacked the anti-tank The second and everything burned. He and those who worked with him stood there with garden hoses for an hour and a half, until the fire department arrived. They were waiting for the district police to put up a smoke screen so they could go in to work. But by the time they arrived, there was nothing left there."
Beaton, says Ataria, is a strong man. Religious, a believer and six gods came to rebuild the winery. He went to his rabbi in Nahariya to draw strength and waits until the end of the war to submit building plans. "You understand that he lost three years? Grapes age for three or four years. He still doesn't understand where he is.
"I'm collecting the invoices for the new equipment he bought not long ago, getting price quotes for what was burned from Italy. Just one empty wine barrel costs 700 euros and he had a hundred barrels. Go get them. Making appraisals for equipment and structure is easy, we'll see you doing appraisals for the line. Prove that each bottle is worth 200-300 shekels."
Where is the property tax? What does a farmer who does not have a private appraiser do?
"They are not able to do it because they are forbidden to go to dangerous places. In any case, in property tax there are very few people who deal with agriculture and they cannot control an event like we went through. I don't expect them to come either. If the fire department doesn't come, then why do they?
"If an avocado plantation burned down, who could say how much crop was on the trees and what was burned? Or how many days the cows were not milked, because it was impossible to get to the barn, and how do you estimate a coop where all the chickens died of starvation, because they didn't get food? I know this from operations Previous ones, 'Pillar of Cloud', 'Tzuk Eitan', every two years there was an operation in the south and property taxes didn't arrive on time
. They give an uncomfortable feeling, as if they are trying to tattoo my work. I'll make it simple: in all the settlements from zero to 4 km, those that should have received a greenway, you have to fight for every shekel. Menara, everything is empty, everything is damaged.
"What's more, the advances that property tax gave in the south were a pleasant surprise. They were very generous in the kibbutzim that were affected by the massacre. There are kibbutzim with a red asterisk next to their name, Bari, Nahal Oz, Nir Oz, and it makes a painful pinch in the heart. In the north there are no dead, no kidnapped, they will suffer in silence. They authorize the farmers to go out to work under the threat of shooting from Lebanon, and if something happens to them, they promise to arrive within four hours."
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A chicken coop that was damaged in the north. "How do you estimate a coop where all the birds died of starvation, because they didn't get food?"/Courtesy of those photographed, Omri Atria
"I'm an adventurer"
He is one of the people of the land of old. He has lived in the Golan since the age of 20, works from home and from his car, travels 6,000 km a month, always represents those who stand in front of the state institutions, as he defines it "those who do not want to give in". When I ask if he is not afraid of becoming a shooting target because with every The honor is no longer a child, Atria laughs. "I am an adventurer. I see the importance of documenting things in real time, especially when you know that you are not believed because the money in the cash register is limited and you have to prove damage. You also have to admit the truth. Not all farmers are righteous. Not everyone has everything written down, precise and measured."
On October 7, he was caught at home. It was a normal holiday Saturday. He turned on the TV at seven or so in the morning and saw that something was happening in the neighborhood, and immediately picked up the phone to his customers in Berei and Nir, but no one answered. They were already deep at the event. At first he didn't connect what happened to the farmers and even hesitated to go there. In the first week he didn't pick up the phone to any of his customers, understanding that they were in the middle of a struggle for survival, but as time passed he realized that they would need him.
7/10 at Kibbutz Nir Oz. "The advances that the property tax gave in the south were a pleasant surprise. They were very generous to the kibbutzim that were affected by the massacre. In the north there are no dead, no abducted, and they will suffer in peace"/official website, security cameras
"records, counts and measures"
The first kibbutz he came to was Nir Oz. He passed the wrecked army bus, burnt cars, destroyed houses. body parts The plantation and orchard center that came from the hotel in Eilat arrived at the kibbutz for the first time.
"I dragged him to the orchard and saw all the mangoes on the floor, because they didn't pick them in time. Who would believe that he had an unusual harvest this year of 5 tons of mangoes. I take pictures, photos, videos. Then I download them to the computer, write reports and assess the extent of the damage. I work With CPA Yaron Romano, the owner of Shambit, who I worked for when I started. I am in the field, documenting, counting, measuring the size of the area, understanding why the strawberries dried up and the primroses died. Property tax requests the averages for the last three years on which tax was paid. You verify it against the invoices and with the push of a button you know what you are worth."
Later he arrived at the "Ben Ben" nurseries in Netiv Ha'Thara. 100 dunams of greenhouses. "He is the first because the IDF did not let them in. The Niris have 250 dunams of bananas next to the border and in the eye of the three 150 dunams, and to this day they are not allowed to go there. At Ben Ben's, everything dried up because a tank came on top of the water systems. I counted tens of thousands of seedlings that died and in property tax they said they accept my count. Don't forget that in the Otaf they went through quite a few military events."
None of the operations are similar to the "Iron Swords" war.
"This time it's out of proportion. We're talking about damages of billions of shekels."
Will the state be able to meet the scope of compensation of this magnitude?
"That's exactly what I'm asking myself. If it doesn't stand up to it, people will collapse. The Champignon Farm in Zareit, founded by Rosa Davidian, is one of the two companies that dominate the market. The factory is on the fence and shut down for six months. It has to pay salaries to about 200 They work and don't live up to it because the state doesn't help enough. The 75-year-old Mrs. Davidian, who founded the business with her husband and today her son runs it, is eating the savings that she will soon run out of.
goats "Because of the noise of the gunfire and the tanks, the goats got stressed and they don't conceive. It's a huge loss"/AP
Atria handles kibbutzim adjacent to the fence in the north, some of which have been his clients for 20 years. Little by little they started calling and asking him to come. This one didn't pick cauliflower, that one didn't pick apples and kiwis, avocado groves that were burned, fallows that were trampled under the tank chains and those that were not damaged, not pruned, sprayed and watered, which means that next year's crop is finished.
"People don't understand that the Otaf is the country's vegetable barn. One-season crops. Next season you can plant or sow again. The avocados that grow there do not need to be pruned and pruned. The plantations in the north are perennial. A nursery of trees in Rosh Nekra has dried up. You know what they say to them And to other farmers who are under fire? Come to collect eggs and work in the orchard, and when they arrive and are tense they are told to come back at night.
"They put them at risk for fear that they will not receive compensation. They receive NIS 4,000 per coop per month and the eggs they sell are extra. Four coops in Dubov were destroyed, the birds were evacuated and there is no livelihood. Until they have new poultry, they will be relieved, because you have to order poultry, the contractors don't enter the area, the electricians. Who will renew his coop? The burned cars of the electricity company workers, who lost a friend there, are still in the area. The late Eyal Ozan, who was a client of mine, did not hold back and was killed.
"I represent all the peony growers in Israel. Each flower is sold for 3 euros and each plant should produce 6-8 flowers. They give maybe two, because they didn't have time to spray them. Damage of NIS 20 million. One of the breeders abandoned because he couldn't stand it mentally. There are herds of cattle along the fence. The tanks tore through the fences and fired. The herds spread everywhere. People lost 120-150 heads, at a cost of NIS 8,000 each. They will not recover from this.
"Most of the goat cheeses come from the Galilee. Instead of milking them three times a day, they are milked twice and because of the noise of the gunfire and the tanks, they got stressed and don't conceive, a huge loss. I beg them to eliminate the herds and they are unable to do that, because they are tied to animals. When I He invites a guide from the Ministry of Agriculture, so that he can give the instruction to eliminate the herd, the property tax claims that they do not recognize these guides, that they are civil servants."
How do you manage to contain this difficulty?
"Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night to write something because I'm upset. My mood is bad, because I bear their suffering. Their wives call and ask what will happen. The truth? I don't see how agriculture in Otef and the north recovers from this blow. If I were a property tax administrator I would Establish a
team
that will encourage the farmers, give them hope and strengthen their personal resilience. I asked one of the managers there to speak with Beaton. To his credit, he spoke with him and gave him the feeling that he was not transparent, which is a lot.
Fast, and unfortunately I didn't answer. Maybe some champions should volunteer, like in the kibbutzim in Otef at the beginning of the war, to adopt a seat in the north and help the broken residents rise up."
More on the same topic:
the north
agriculture
Compensation
winery
assessments
War of Iron Swords
Gaza war