During a Knesset Finance Committee hearing on the closure of the Lahav Technologies plant in Nahariya, MK Oded Forer asked a Treasury Budget Division representative to name three benefits the state gives to anyone who opens a factory in Shlomi, Nahariya or Shomera instead of Tel Aviv. The official struggled to give a clear answer and could not name even one major incentive for building factories near the border. Forer said the exchange exposed the core problem, telling the committee, “We simply got the truth to our faces,” and warning that “the State of Israel decided to abandon the north.”
The hearing came amid concern that more factories and businesses may continue leaving the Galilee after the shutdown of a long-standing local employer. Forer argued that an entrepreneur choosing where to locate a new plant has no reason to choose the Lebanon border area if the state does not create a real financial advantage, especially given security threats, labor shortages and transport difficulties. In an interview with Radio North 104.5FM, he said the irony is greater because a factory in Yokneam receives tax breaks similar to those in border communities.
Forer said Israel’s tax-benefit map no longer makes sense and that almost no area in the country is left without some form of tax incentive. To revive the north after the war, he said, the state must create “economic drama” for employers, meaning a strong reason to keep or move businesses there.
He called for significant measures for factories and businesses in the border region, including tax exemptions, five years of municipal tax relief, regulatory easing, more building rights and faster permitting. He said the government is focusing too much on compensation, much of which has not yet been paid in full, instead of giving businesses a long-term outlook. Nisan Zavi, co-founder of Lobby 1701 and a resident of Kfar Giladi, agreed that compensation is a critical bottleneck but said it cannot be the only government response. He said businesses need certainty and a long-term state plan for the Galilee, and warned that without a dramatic program, “Israel will simply lose the north.”
