There was something tragically symbolic about “Poshko’s” death in Kibbutz Misgav Am on March 22nd. “Poshko” was the nickname of Ofer Moskowitz, the ebullient, beloved 60-year-old avocado farmer and de facto kibbutz spokesman. Returning from his grandson’s brit in Pardes Hanna, he was struck and killed instantly by a shell in the heart of the kibbutz. Ironically, it was Israeli artillery — a botched barrage that felled this indomitable force of optimism.

The fact that friendly fire claimed the kibbutz’s most recognizable figure says a great deal about what this community and its neighbors endure: the very army — tasked with protecting them — unwittingly is putting them in harm’s way. The government, which should be prioritizing the survival of the country’s border community, has offered little more than lip service as the kibbutz absorbs the many dangers and daily hardships of yet another round of fighting.

Kibbutz Misgav Am (literally “the people’s fortress”) was established in 1945 by a small cadre of Palmach fighters marking the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. Misgav Am was never meant to be just another rural village and its location was no accident. Perched nearly a kilometer above the Hula Valley, facing Mount Hermon and literally contiguous with Israel’s northern border – the kibbutz is surrounded on all sides by Lebanon. Misgav Am was part of a broader strategic effort to anchor Jewish presence in the Galilee. Its early members came from a Tel Aviv youth movement and were later joined by immigrants from Turkey, Bulgaria, and the former Soviet Union, who helped stabilize and expand the young settlement.

Misgav Am entered Israel’s national consciousness on April 7, 1980, when terrorists from the Arab Liberation Front infiltrated the community’s nursery at night.........

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