{"id":335043,"date":"2026-03-12T08:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/335043\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T08:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:28:12","slug":"we-dont-see-a-future-northern-farmers-again-find-themselves-under-hezbollah-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/335043\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We don\u2019t see a future’: Northern farmers again find themselves under Hezbollah fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOSHAV LIMAN \u2014 On a recent sunny afternoon, three of Maya Yaacobi\u2019s daughters were playing in the backyard of her husband\u2019s family farm, less than two miles from the border with Lebanon.<\/p>\n

One was examining ladybugs, another was riding her bicycle with training wheels, and the third was toddling in the grass. The family\u2019s five horses ambled in their pen surrounded by green fields. Up in the blue sky, a white cloud drifted by.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, that\u2019s actually smoke from the Iron Dome shooting out a rocket,\u201d Yaacobi told this reporter.<\/p>\n

This deep-rooted agricultural community is no stranger to war. For 14 months after Hamas\u2019s devastating invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023, the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets, missiles, and drones into northern Israel.<\/p>\n

Most<\/a> of the 850 residents of the village were among the 60,000 people evacuated from a wide swath of the country\u2019s north as a result.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

After a ceasefire with Hezbollah in late November 2024, residents began to return home. They removed pests, cobwebs and mildew from their houses, began repairing damaged buildings, and restarted their lives.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tMaya Yaacobi, center, with two of her daughters in Moshav Liman on March 10, 2026. (Diana Bletter\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n

Then came the start of the ongoing joint US-Israeli military campaign against the Iranian regime. Hezbollah joined the fighting last week, claiming it was doing so to retaliate for the killing of Iran\u2019s supreme leader Ali Khamenei. The terror group blasted<\/a> some 200 rockets and drones at northern Israel for hours on Wednesday night into Thursday, repeatedly sending hundreds of thousands of Israelis to shelters.<\/p>\n

Residents say they refuse to be evacuated again and have mostly stayed put \u2014 but the threat is real and constant.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Moshav Liman lost a soldier who grew up there, Or Demry<\/a>, sending the residents reeling in anguish.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tStaff Sgt. Or Demry of Moshav Liman (IDF)<\/p>\n

Yaacobi said that when the family was forced to leave Moshav Liman in 2023, they had to let their avocado trees die because nobody could take care of them. They still have plans to convert the plot of land into a sustainable vegetable garden.<\/p>\n

But for now, Yaacobi, who teaches pilates, is busy taking care of her daughters, who like children across the country have no school or kindergarten. All educational activities have been put on hold according to Home Front Command instructions. She tries to plan some kind of activity for the girls each day, including art and handicrafts.<\/p>\n

The family of six all sleep in their home\u2019s protected room. Yaacobi\u2019s husband, Assif Cohen, who is currently a member of the village\u2019s emergency response team, fought in the military reserves, in Gaza as well as Lebanon, for more than 450 days.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tHorses stand in Assif Cohen\u2019s farm in Moshav Liman, with the border of Lebanon in the distance. (Diana Bletter\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hasn\u2019t been called back up yet,\u201d Yaacobi said grimly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how we cope with it,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are days when I\u2019m so fed up, when I feel like I can\u2019t do it anymore, but I still have to get up and make my daughters feel safe and secure. We\u2019re in the middle of a war, and we don\u2019t see a future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s so much insecurity and uncertainty\u2019<\/p>\n

A few streets away, at Malachi\u2019s Plants and Nursery, Hadas Harlap, Moshav Liman\u2019s community coordinator, stopped by to speak to Sigal Malachi, who is in charge of the cultural activities for the agricultural cooperative. They were trying to figure out events they could plan for residents.<\/p>\n

Birds chirped among the plants, flowers, and trees. The nursery was ablaze with bright colors, but it is currently closed to customers.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tSigal Malachi, left, and Hadas Harlap, community coordinator, stand in Malachi\u2019s Nursery in Moshav Liman on March 10, 2026. (Diana Bletter\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much insecurity and uncertainty,\u201d Malachi said. \u201cPeople have anxiety and panic attacks. Teenagers walk around, not knowing what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that some children are so frightened that they don\u2019t leave their family\u2019s protected room. One mother had to beg her son to go outside to spend at least 15 minutes in the sun.<\/p>\n

\u201cI distributed gift baskets on Purim with some other women to cheer up the children,\u201d Malachi said. \u201cI\u2019d like to organize more events. We\u2019re allowed to have up to 50 people gathered in one place, but I don\u2019t want to take the responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that some people are resigned to the fact that this latest round with Hezbollah might be \u201cjust a Band-Aid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe war will stop for now, and there will be another round every few months,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re going through it all over again\u2019<\/p>\n

On a nearby farm, Michal Schwartz was getting ready to drive to Nahariya, five miles away, where she volunteers with the Magen David Adom emergency medical service. When not volunteering, Schwartz runs FLOW, an exercise studio, on her family\u2019s property. From the studio entrance, there is an unbroken view of pastures and then the Mediterranean Sea.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tMichal Schwartz, right, hangs on an exercise bar with her children near her FLOW exercise studio in Moshav Liman on March 10, 2026. (Diana Bletter\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n

Before October 7, Schwartz said she used to train about 90 clients in her studio. Since she returned to Moshav Liman in April 2025, she has trained about 60 people. Then the latest war began.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow they\u2019re scared to come even though there\u2019s a bomb shelter right next door,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her husband, Yaniv, was working to repair the family restaurant founded by his father, Yonatan, and where his late mother, Esther, used to be the chef. The building was damaged during the war, and they hope to open it again.<\/p>\n

During the evacuation, Schwartz and their three children stayed on Kibbutz Beit Oren near Haifa while her husband stayed behind as a member of the emergency response team. He also took care of their trees and farm.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tMichal Schwartz, a Magen David Adom volunteer from Moshav Liman, on her way to volunteer on March 10, 2026. (Diana Bletter\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids were so lost during the evacuation,\u201d Schwartz said. Since they returned, they were \u201cjust getting back to an ordinary routine, and now it seems like we\u2019re going through it all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family sleeps in the house, but they have their shoes ready in case they have to run to the shelter in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to look at the glass half full,\u201d she said, sounding upbeat. \u201cLife continues. I try to teach my kids resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MOSHAV LIMAN \u2014 On a recent sunny afternoon, three of Maya Yaacobi\u2019s daughters were playing in the backyard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-335043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}