Misgav Am

Misgav Am stands directly beside the border fence, at the end of Road 886 on the Ramim Ridge in the Finger of the Galilee.[7] The ridge forms part of the Naftali Mountains, overlooking the Hula Valley to the east and Lebanese villages to the west.[7] The kibbutz is closer to the Lebanese village of Udaysah than to any Israeli town.[7]

At approximately 840–850 meters above sea level, the kibbutz overlooks the Hula Valley, the Golan Heights, Metula and southern Lebanon.[1][5] A 2013 profile described it as facing Mount Hermon.[2] Its early access routes were steep footpaths, and establishing the community in this elevated setting was a demanding undertaking.[1]

The community combines a history of agricultural and industrial activity with the circumstances of life immediately beside the Lebanese border.[1][7] Its visitor center has served both as a viewpoint and as a place to learn about the border community, while repeated attacks, evacuation and subsequent restoration have shaped its recent history.[6][5]

Misgav Am was established in 1945 by a group of Ha-No’ar ha-Oved youth and was affiliated with Ha-Kibbutz ha-Me’uḥad.[1] It was one of the Hebrew communities established along the northern border during the British Mandate, alongside Hanita and Matsuva.[3] A photograph from the day its members took possession of the land shows them marking the boundary with poles.[3] A later local account also associates the founders with a Palmach unit and identifies the land as having been purchased by the Jewish National Fund from the nearby Lebanese village of Adaisseh.[5]

The boundary beside which the kibbutz developed had been formalized in an agreement signed by Britain and France on March 7, 1923.[3] The Lebanon section subsequently remained largely unchanged, and the 1949 Israel–Lebanon armistice used that line; Israel’s withdrawal line in 2000 was also based on it.[3] The historical boundary, the Blue Line and Israel’s security fence have not always coincided precisely, and the exact boundary has not been finalized by mutual agreement.[3][8]

During the 1948 War of Independence, Misgav Am was completely isolated for many months.[1] It later served as a base for Israeli forces in Operation Hiram.[1]

On April 7, 1980, five armed attackers entered Misgav Am from Lebanon and seized its children’s house.[9] The terrorist attack killed three people, including a child: kibbutz secretary Sami Shani, two-and-a-half-year-old Ayel Gluska and soldier Eldad Tzafrir.[4][10] Four other children were wounded,[1] and the remaining hostages were rescued in an operation by Sayeret Matkal under Uzi Dayan.[9]

The children’s house was a two-storey building, with infants and a night watchwoman downstairs and toddlers and a rotating adult kibbutz member upstairs.[11] Members took turns sleeping in the children’s houses to provide reassurance for children and parents.[12] A mother’s recollection places the infiltration during a storm on the night of April 7–8, when the attackers exploited a problem with the perimeter fence.[12] Shani had been called to repair an electrical fault at the children’s house when he encountered the attackers and was shot dead.[12] His wife Esti hid with the night watchwoman and two infants, while seven children and another kibbutz member, Meir, were held hostage; Meir was bound and separated from the children.[12]

An initial attempt to enter the building failed, and Tzafrir, a medic, was killed.[10] Negotiations followed, during which the attackers demanded the release of prisoners held in Israel and eventually agreed to allow milk to be brought to the children near morning.[10] A helicopter was used as a distraction during the second assault, after which the attackers were dead and the surviving hostages were freed.[10] Contemporary accounts also recorded an adult and four children wounded.[13]

For families outside the building, the siege involved hours of waiting while trying to protect and reassure their other children.[12] One mother recalled making hot chocolate and playing with her children while her husband went toward the scene carrying a rifle; their three-year-old daughter Adi was among those held inside.[12] After the rescue, Adi was flown to Rambam Hospital and underwent shoulder surgery.[12]

Following a period of recovery, the community returned the children to their familiar children’s house and resumed communal sleeping.[12] Some parents disagreed with the decision, while others believed that restoring routine would help the children feel secure.[12] The kibbutz ended communal sleeping nearly two years later through a planned transition.[12] The attack also had repercussions beyond the community: a May 1980 legislative update connected it with renewed congressional opposition to a proposed American sale of engines for Iraqi frigates.[14]

In 2010, a tree-removal operation beside Misgav Am led to a deadly exchange of fire between Israeli and Lebanese forces.[15] The tree stood beyond Israel’s security fence but on the Israeli side of the Blue Line; UNIFIL confirmed that the incident occurred on Israeli territory.[15] An Israeli officer, two Lebanese soldiers and a Lebanese journalist were killed.[15] Israeli and Lebanese accounts differed over the events preceding the exchange.[15] The distinction between the security fence and the boundary had wider local implications: a border analysis described homes in Misgav Am, Manara and Avivim as either encroaching on the official boundary or standing very close to it since 1982, without identifying the individual Misgav Am homes concerned.[8]

A tunnel dug into the kibbutz was discovered in 2018.[16] In October 2023, amid rising hostilities along the northern border, most residents of border communities left, although some Misgav Am residents initially stayed.[17] Emergency-squad commander Aryeh Gido declared, “Misgav Am is the best place in the world, and we’re not leaving.”[17] Resident Ofer “Pusko” Moskowitz linked long-time members’ concern about incursions to the enduring memory of the 1980 attack.[17]

The kibbutz was evacuated following October 7, 2023.[5] A 2024 account described it as having been evacuated for 205 days, with only local emergency-squad members remaining at the time.[11] Cross-border launches toward Misgav Am were reported in January 2024, and rockets were again fired at the community on the Saturday preceding March 18.[18][19] The March report placed these attacks within continuing Hezbollah rocket and anti-tank missile fire against northern border communities.[19]

Residents returned after the state-funded evacuation period ended.[5] In April 2025, a restoration event organized by Making Neighborhoods with Jewish National Fund support brought hundreds of volunteers to the kibbutz.[6] They worked on nearly 70 private gardens, as well as house facades and public spaces, following residents’ year and a half of displacement.[6] A September 2025 account reported that dozens of homes had been damaged during the war against Hezbollah, some directly by rockets and others by blasts from shelling within the community.[16]

Misgav Am had approximately 280 residents in the mid-1990s and 236 in 2002.[1] A 2013 profile reported about 230 members and residents and characterized the community as a secular, renewing kibbutz.[2] These figures describe different historical snapshots rather than a current population total.[1][2]

In 2013, the kibbutz was changing its admissions model as part of efforts to attract residents to the Galilee.[20] It first granted membership to people already living there and then began recruiting families from outside.[20] Apartments were renovated, and admission days were introduced to bring prospective residents into contact with the existing community.[20] Recruitment faced challenges associated with the kibbutz’s small size, physical remoteness and proximity to the Lebanese border.[20]

War subsequently disrupted residential life: the prolonged evacuation left only emergency-squad members in the community at one point in 2024, before residents’ return in 2025.[11][6]

By 1969, Misgav Am cultivated nearby hilly terrain as well as fields and orchards in the Hula Valley below.[1] It later manufactured surgical dressings, adding industrial production to its agricultural activities.[1]

A 2013 description of community life listed early-childhood education and activities for school-age children through grade 12.[2] Services and amenities included landscaping, a swimming pool and cultural events.[2] These details reflect the community’s facilities at that time, before the later evacuation and wartime damage.[2][6]

The experience of the 1980 attack remained part of the community’s collective memory decades later.[17] Decisions about restoring communal sleeping after the attack, and then ending it through a planned transition, also formed part of the kibbutz’s changing arrangements for family and communal life.[12]

Misgav Am’s visitor center operated for approximately 20 years as a viewpoint and a place to learn about the border community.[5] Its elevated setting offers views over the Hula Valley, the Golan Heights, Metula and southern Lebanon.[5]

The former children’s house later became a residence and a sculptural-ceramics gallery. Its occupant described the building as both a home and a memorial to the 1980 attack.[10]

About a month after the kibbutz’s evacuation following October 7, 2023, an anti-tank missile struck the center and caused extensive damage.[5] It reopened in April 2025 after residents returned, but subsequently closed again amid renewed fighting and restrictions on access.[5]