Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council

Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council occupies the Finger of Galilee, extending from north of the Sea of Galilee to the Lebanese border, between the Jordan River to the east and the Naftali Mountains to the west.[1] Its total area is 134.7 square kilometers, and it lies approximately 150 kilometers from the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.[1][3]

The council's territory does not form a single contiguous block.[3] The 13 settlements within its jurisdiction are Sh'ar Yashuv, Beit Hillel, Korazim, Ramot Naftali, Sde Eliezer, Mishmar Hayarden, Kahal, Margaliot, Karkom, Yuval, Dishon, Amnun, and Elifelet.[4] Its administrative offices and Treatment and Rehabilitation Campus are situated at Merkaz Kach, an industrial area on Route 90 several kilometers south of Kiryat Shmona and about four kilometers from the Lebanese border.[2]

The council was established in 1976 and serves as the local governing authority for 13 communities, nine with an agricultural character and four classified as community settlements.[1] In 2020, it was also identified as the local traffic-signaling authority for roads and intersections within its jurisdiction under Israeli traffic regulations.[1]

Benny Ben-Muvchar had headed the council since 2002 and was still identified as council head in reporting published in 2025.[3][5] By 2017, approximately 700 families had joined council settlements over the preceding decade, and all of the settlements were at various stages of expansion. The largest single expansion was at Beit Hillel, where 77 housing units had been completed and occupied, with 200 additional plots in planning ahead of marketing; across the council, roughly 1,000 plots were then at advanced planning and marketing stages.[3]

The council's settlements operate admissions committees. Ben-Muvchar described cases of people circumventing the rules by buying homes second-hand or purchasing in another person's name, and said the council opposed the conversion of homes into guest rooms or their use for bachelor parties. He argued that the communities needed young families with children enrolled in local schools rather than visitors arriving for weekend stays.[4]

The council's road-safety work has included weekly road-condition inspections, road marking twice a year, and prioritization of projects near educational and public institutions. A 2020 review identified vehicle-movement and pupil-pickup risks at Ramat Korazim state elementary school, which served about 330 pupils in grades 1–6, while finding that a reviewed traffic plan in Sde Eliezer largely corresponded with conditions on the ground.[1]

Population figures vary by reference date and framing. The population was reported as more than 7,000 in 2020, while a 2017 profile gave a figure of 7,000 and a socioeconomic ranking of 7, up from an earlier ranking of 5.[1][3] In March 2025, the council was described as having had close to 9,000 residents before the war; in a separate February 2025 account, Ben-Muvchar said that the council included 9,000 residents.[6][5] These later figures should not be treated as directly comparable to the earlier totals without consistent reference dates and methodology.

Education accounted for 32% of the council's budget in 2017, reflecting its use of schooling and student support as part of its settlement-retention strategy.[3] Employment was identified as a major regional weakness, and Ben-Muvchar called for more high-quality jobs in northern Israel while supporting a railway to Kiryat Shmona as a way to connect residents with employment centers further south.[3]

Regional income and employment sources highlighted in 2017 included guest-room tourism and attractions in Sh'ar Yashuv and Kahal, winery activity in Dalton, Ramot Naftali, and Sh'ar Yashuv, and approximately 700 jobs at the Dalton Industrial Park.[3] During the gradual return of residents in 2025, the council also renewed community and cultural activities despite staffing shortages and, in some cases, participation below the usual minimum. Planned activities included a children's theater festival, a holiday march, and a twice-weekly day center for older residents.[6]

The council's Treatment and Rehabilitation Campus is located at Merkaz Kach on Route 90. Ben-Muvchar said development of the campus began in 1998. He separately recalled that when he became council head, its special-needs school had only 12 students and was in serious financial difficulty; rather than close it, the council developed a broader treatment and education complex.[2] The campus came to include rehabilitation and therapy facilities for children and adults, a kindergarten and elementary school for children with special needs, a small Clalit health-fund branch, and the council's offices.[2]

During non-war periods, the campus delivered more than 20,000 individual treatment sessions annually and drew patients from across northern Israel.[2] Its hydrotherapy center, near Tzomet Ko'ah, reported more than 1,800 treatments per month, and since 2015 approximately 300 children had received treatment there with support from the Variety organization.[7] Its patients included people recovering from strokes, head injuries, accidents, amputations, and neurological injuries, as well as children and teenagers; the pool also served disabled veterans and soldiers.[7]

The Sh'hafim center, established roughly 30 years before the 2017 report, served 56 children aged 6–21 from the wider region, although none lived in the council's settlements at that time.[3] The council was also establishing two kindergartens for children aged 3–6 from the surrounding area. Longer-term plans envisioned a broader treatment village, including 150 units for families visiting for medical treatment; an August 2010 government decision was titled "Establishment of a treatment center for special populations in the eastern Galilee."[3]

The council's proximity to the Lebanese border exposed its communities and institutions to extensive wartime disruption. The Treatment and Rehabilitation Campus was closed to patients because of its location near the border.[2] A projectile struck the roof of its unoccupied hydrotherapy building, damaging the pools and therapy facilities.[2][7] The campus remained closed during subsequent reporting, with renovation awaiting a government decision. Planned work was expected to include improved protective measures and a reinforced roof because the existing roof was not made of concrete.[7]

Several council settlements were evacuated, and their infrastructure sustained extensive damage from direct missile and drone strikes, interceptions, and military use of roads and public buildings.[8] The council's return-project coordinator, Meital Toker, described a recovery effort intended not only to restore the settlements to their prior condition but also to improve them before residents returned after prolonged displacement. Additional challenges included community dispersal, residents' emotional and psychological needs, and difficulty recruiting professional staff.[8]

In January 2025, Ben-Muvchar said physical infrastructure was the hardest part of the recovery and that the council had met with KKL-JNF representatives about allocating five million shekels for physical rehabilitation.[9] He described mental and emotional recovery as a three-to-five-year effort and said the council was working with Sheba Medical Center to develop a mental-health center for the region.[9] By March 2025, the return of residents was described as gradual and constrained by shortages of professional staff.[6]

In May 2025, the Israeli government approved a proposal to establish two new northern settlements, one within the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council in the Upper Galilee.[10] The proposal allocated approximately two million shekels per settlement for planning and feasibility review. The housing ministry presented the initiative as a means of strengthening civilian and security resilience and reinforcing rural settlement in the north.[10]

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel criticized the plan, arguing that the north's most pressing need was deep reconstruction and investment in existing communities rather than the creation of new ones.[10]