“Israeli” Businesses Recount Feels of Fear: We’re Completely Isolated, Our Settlements Shuttered

By Staff, Agencies  

Recounting feeling of fears, the “Israeli” businessmen told Hebrew news websites that they had been suffering huge losses since Al-Aqsa Flood, and bemoaning the “Israeli” entity’s refusal to bail them out.

“Davar Hayom” approached several businessmen, who described how they had been piling up losses as a result of the operation, the developments that ensued it, and Tel Aviv’s rejection of their pleas for compensation.

The reports said, “The grim security reality in 'Shlomi', which has been abandoned for more than nine months, was revealed during a tour conducted on Sunday by the 'Fighting for the North' headquarters for members of the 'Knesset' in the city.”

The interviewees included Yossi Atias, owner of an outdoor camping complex in “Nahariya”, which was closed following the October operation.

He said, on a hot July day a year ago, about 3,000 settlers visited the beach accommodation complex, the caravans, the entertainment hall and the restaurant, and everything was frozen in place on Al-Aqsa Flood. The loss so far is estimated in the millions.

“Not one person will come here in the summer,” he said.

"I didn't ask for 100% compensation. Bring 70%, that's fine too. But since January, we haven't received a 'shekel'," Atias added.

Bakery owners Shaf Avraham and Tomer Suisa echoed his remarks.

Avraham noted how his business used to provide for 40 employees and attract thousands of tourists.

Now, however, “most of the time, what we do is roll over debts,” he said.

“My goal is to be in control of my destiny. We are not saying we will not open again, but we are also not saying we will," he added, and regretted likewise that Tel Aviv had refused to help buoy up his business.

“When we ask to enter the special compensation track, we receive a refusal."

Hotel owner Aryeh Aharonovich chimed in, saying how his 2 million investment in his business had “evaporated” following the war.

“In the summer, the income was supposed to be about half a million shekels a month, but instead I end this war with two million shekels in debt just for the loans and interest,” he said.

Reporting earlier this month, “Israeli” company CofaceBdi, which specializes in business information for credit risk management, announced that around 46,000 businesses had shut down throughout the occupied territories since the beginning of the war.

“Israel” is on the brink of collapse, with 46000 businesses forced to close as a result of the “Israeli” war on Gaza.

“Before the crisis, there were 250 airline companies operating in ‘Israel’, and now only 45 companies are operating,” Director General of the Chamber of Inbound Tourism Organizers Yossi Fattal told the Hebrew-language daily newspaper “Maariv”.

A trade association of major receptive tour operator companies and suppliers says the ongoing military onslaught against Gaza has plunged “Israel’s” tourism industry into a serious crisis.

“‘Israel’ is currently completely isolated from the world. Eighty percent of flights today are operated by aircraft from ‘Israel’ belonging to the [‘Israeli’] ‘El Al’ company.”