“It is insulting that Israeli companies source products from abroad instead of supporting them.”

“We feel like soldiers holding down a post and refusing to leave, but not a single person gets through,” says Uri Tyroler, a member of Kibbutz Snir and a prominent figure in the wine scene of Israel's Galilee, which has now been empty for 11 months is.

Tyroler is CEO of Kamisa Winery in Dalton Industrial Park, one of 14 wineries located about 3.4 miles (5.5 km) from the Lebanese border. “We keep our restaurant open, pay wages and wait for visitors,” he explains.

“Yehuda Kamisa's father, the winery owner, emigrated from Tripoli and fought in the War of Independence. My father came from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and giving up is simply not an option for us. This year we have planted 100 hectares of vineyards in the Golan, with another 150 planned.

Kamisa Winery, like others in Dalton Park, was completed just months before the war. It was built with an investment of 30 million shekels (US$7.5 million) and beneath the visitor center and restaurant is a 12,300 square meter bombproof wine cellar. Tyroler notes that wine production is on a significant growth path with increasing sales revenues, but that the closed visitor center is causing a decline in earnings.

The wineries at Dalton Industrial Park, near Moshav Dalton in the Merom HaGalil Regional Council, typically supply the Israeli market and export over 4 million bottles annually. Since most workers have been evacuated from surrounding communities, only a few continue to operate the wineries.

“We opened to visitors about six months before the war, and in a single day everything stopped,” says Yehoram Kamisa, a winemaker from Safsufa and descendant of a family of experienced winemakers.

“After the restaurant was closed for a while, we decided to reopen it to at least attract locals. We used to be fully booked weeks in advance, but now hardly anyone comes. Every interception above us silences the area for a week.”

At the end of October last year, the Sayada family was scheduled to inaugurate their new Lueria winery, an investment of 15 million shekels ($4 million). But despite the lack of income for their life's work, the state, like most wineries in the region, does not recognize their financial problems.

“Everything is normal outside, but for us the entire tourism sector, the winery, the event hall that we started building – all this income has disappeared,” says Gidi Sayada, the winery manager and winemaker.

“The state has not provided any compensation to our ancillary revenue centers beyond wine sales. But for me, a deal would mean Hezbollah winning in a big way. We remain open here for locals to take a breather, enjoy a glass of wine, good cheese and pleasant music.”

Salomon (Lalo) Vilensky, CEO of Dalton Industrial Park and member of Kibbutz Parod in the Upper Galilee, emigrated from Uruguay nearly 50 years ago. His vision was to build a combined industrial-tourism complex “in the most beautiful part of the country, with the Hula Valley, Mount Hermon, Mount Meron and the hills of Safed,” he says.

“I'm so frustrated that everything is falling apart before my eyes. More than half of the workers here are either evacuated or in reserve. The government has decided to give compensation to factories within three miles of the border and we are just over three miles away. We waited almost a year for field shelters. For example, people who work in the Kibbutz Sasa Industrial Park receive about 3,000 shekels ($780), but here we are 300 meters away from any compensation. We sit here, between the air traffic control base and Northern Command, constantly under fire and interceptions overhead. We have to beg to be added to the list. They gave us subsidies for two months, then everything stopped.”

Vilensky adds that even factories operating at half capacity and visitor centers under lockdown still have to pay full property taxes. Since the beginning of the war, only one minister has visited the industrial park: Economics Minister Nir Barkat.

“He came to ask if we needed anything and that was it. I'm doing my best to keep this area growing and alive, but we don't have a state here. Nobody has our back. I've spent over 25 years building this place and I can't stand to watch it collapse with no future. We've built something new and unique here, a project I've always been proud of, but now I feel like it's slipping through my fingers. The only people who come forward are the military, who ask us to take in soldiers and donate from our factories. We help as best we can, but we also need someone to give us a hand.”

Tyroler points out that around 60% of Dalton Park wineries' wine revenue comes from direct sales to visitors, allowing them to purchase without intermediary fees. Despite the circumstances, he says, Israeli customers remain loyal to wines from the Galilee and the Golan Islands, keeping sales steady, but vineyard owners expect more shows of solidarity.

“A delegation of 20 officials visited us, traveling by minibus from Jerusalem, to discuss a grant plan that would cover 50% of the cost of equipment to expand production,” he explains. “But it turned out that there were only factories within 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) of the limit to qualify. The Dalton Industrial Park is excluded from this. Which factories are actually on the border? They are closed! The state is making fun of us. Forget the money – we will survive. It’s shameful to see things being handled this way.”

Kamisa added: “The only benefit we received from the government was the extension of income tax payments to eight installments instead of six.”

Uri Naim, coordinator of the Galilee and Golan Winery Forum and member of Kibbutz Yiftah, who has now relocated to Ginosar, says they have reached out to some of the largest companies in Israel and tailor gift packages with local Galilee and Golan products to suit every budget have offered.

“Israeli companies that buy from Turkey and China need to wake up. It is insulting that Israeli companies source products from abroad instead of supporting local goods, especially now. Few companies have stepped up to support the Galilee economy. We expected banks, who knows how to provide loans, to show support also by purchasing Israeli products.”

Before saying goodbye, Gidi Sayada from the Lueria winery asks wine lovers to pay a visit to the region's wineries. “We don’t need people buying our wine to support us – it sells itself and deserves the praise it gets. What we need is the arrival of visitors from central and southern Israel who are wary of coming here. People view the region as a dangerous war zone. But I raise my children here; We don't live in trenches. I understand that people are afraid, but we live here. We have protection, and that makes life possible.”

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