Government to approve NIS 3 billion development plan for the North, with incentives for families and investments in jobs, health and transport

Intercepts over Kiryat Shmona. Under the government agenda, the North is coming up today, Thursday, and subject to a special cabinet meeting to be held in Nof Hagalil this afternoon, if no security or political developments prevent it, ministers are expected to approve a supplementary development plan for the northern region worth about NIS 3 billion. This is a broad initiative formulated in the Prime Minister’s Office in cooperation with the mayors of the main cities in the Galilee, and it joins about NIS 20 billion already allocated in recent years for the rehabilitation and strengthening of border communities following the war. The plan, intended for the coming years, is meant to strengthen Galilee cities and the surrounding communities through investments in housing, employment, health, education, transportation, tourism and personal security. The government describes it as a strategic plan aimed at turning the North into an attractive region for population growth, with economic engines and the ability to provide advanced services to its residents. In the Prime Minister’s Office, they say the plan was developed together with the mayors of Safed, Acre, Nof Hagalil, Nazareth, Afula, Tiberias and Karmiel, which are considered the core cities of the Galilee. According to the plan, residents in the cities, towns and villages will receive a broad package of services in housing, employment, education, health and community resilience, with the goal of strengthening the entire region and increasing its population. The plan is intended to strengthen Galilee cities and the surrounding communities.

One of the main goals is to attract new families to the North. To this end, about NIS 157 million will be invested in a program to encourage new residents to move to Galilee cities, alongside financial incentives, marketing and absorption efforts, and support for new communities. At the same time, the state will advance urban renewal, the construction of new neighborhoods and the upgrading of city centers. In housing, the plan includes about NIS 230 million for urban renewal projects, NIS 50 million for long-term rental housing and another NIS 50 million for housing projects for permanent service personnel. Employment is another central pillar. The government wants to create new employment hubs in high-tech, chips, robotics, the defense industries and agri-food tech. Local businesses will receive assistance, guidance and support in adopting new technologies, including artificial intelligence. NIS 17.5 million will be allocated to strengthen small and medium-sized businesses.

In health, the plan emphasizes attracting specialist doctors, expanding advanced medical services and strengthening mental health services. In addition, NIS 13 million will be invested in child development services and in establishing dedicated centers for early diagnosis and treatment. Education also gets a central place in the plan, which includes the establishment of research laboratories, innovation centers, expansion of science and technology studies, and strengthening programs that prepare students for the IDF and for gap year programs. At the same time, the government wants to bring top-tier teachers, instructors and mentors to the North.

In infrastructure and public space, NIS 250 million will be allocated to rehabilitate older neighborhoods, develop infrastructure and improve the urban environment, alongside NIS 85 million for renovating and equipping public buildings. The plan also includes investments in transportation, through upgrading roads, developing integrated transportation hubs and improving public transit, as well as steps to increase personal security by expanding enforcement and municipal policing systems, placing technological means in public spaces and establishing community emergency teams. At the same time, the government wants to position the Galilee as a leading center of tourism, culinary activity and wine in Israel, through investments in festivals, cultural events, sports facilities, regional markets and other tourism projects. In the Prime Minister’s Office, they say this is a move intended to ensure that after the border communities are rehabilitated, the entire northern economy will enjoy a broad development push that will allow the region to grow, attract new residents and strengthen its status as one of Israel’s main development centers.

Alongside broad support for the move, criticism and expected opposition are already emerging from local authority heads and public figures in the North. One of the main claims is that despite the impressive financial scope, the plan does not currently include a significant transportation breakthrough, such as advancing a fast rail line to the Upper Galilee or major national infrastructure projects that could change the accessibility map for the North. Among some local authority heads, there is also criticism that most of the plan focuses on the core cities, Nof Hagalil, Karmiel, Afula, Tiberias, Safed, Acre and Nazareth, most of which are associated with the right, Likud and Netanyahu, while regional councils, kibbutzim and moshavim damaged during the war may receive a smaller share of the resources. Other figures in the North are expected to argue that the region’s central challenge is not only economic but first and foremost security-related. In their view, without a real change in residents’ sense of security along the Lebanon border, it will be difficult to attract new populations even if significant incentives and benefits are offered. There is also skepticism, bordering on distrust, about the Israeli government’s intention to actually implement the plan. In the North, they recall that over the years many government decisions were adopted to develop the Galilee and the Negev, but some were implemented only partially. Therefore, local authority figures say, the real test will not be the size of the announced budget but the government’s ability to carry out the projects and meet the timelines it has set for itself.

In a letter to government ministers, representatives of the smaller communities wrote: "Open your ears well: today at 12:00 they are going to stab us in the back. This is a targeted hit against Hatzor HaGlilit and Rosh Pina." They stressed that "while all of us here in the North are taking hits and being harmed, the government is choosing to reward only the large ones, as if only they are in crisis. This is discrimination that will lead to the collapse of the small communities." They added that "pouring the budgets into the large cities will create a suction effect, they will strengthen and expand, and we will be left behind. You cannot talk about rebuilding the North without including all the communities living the harshest security and economic reality."

Head of the Jezreel Valley Regional Council, Shlomit Shichor Reichman, also attacked the government’s outline: "A decision that excludes the communities of the Jezreel Valley and prevents them, among other things, from receiving protection assistance despite the shortage, is blatant discrimination that could be a blow the valley will not recover from." She also said that "while billions are being invested in urban development, infrastructure and growth in the core cities, tens of thousands of residents in the Jezreel Valley are dealing with direct rocket strikes and the shockwaves of explosions, without standard protection, without dedicated government protection budgets, and with budgetary discrimination that endangers their lives."