Shuki and Moshiko Segal, father and son owners of the Segal Transportation company, experienced two weeks of protection terrorism - which included shooting at a bus, burning buses in Safed, and burning buses in the West Bank.
But tonight was a new record: the burning of the private car in the family home, with the young children exposed to terror.
Moshiko Segal, whose home in Mishmar Hayarden was attacked last night (Monday) and his car set on fire, closest to his children, responded: "State of Israel, you have lost the north. Tonight, terror came into my house, next to my children. My private car is on fire. Not in the garage, not on the street - in our house's parking lot, in Mishmar Hayarden.
""The criminals came to our house to make it clear to us that our blood was in vain. I am the owner of a company that employs 100 workers, that transports the children of the north every day, that serves the Ministry of Defense even under the fire of war.".
""But my real war is not against Hezbollah, it is against the internal terrorism that is burning us alive. This is not 'crime,' it is terrorism in every sense of the word, it is nationalist, criminal terrorism, and above all - the terrorism of protection that is strangling us, they want us to close the business.".
""Insurance companies are no longer willing to look at us, the police are registering complaints, and businesses in the north are simply collapsing. We are tired of statements about governance. We live in the Wild West. I am a law-abiding citizen, paying taxes - and I ask you: Who is watching my children tonight?!
""I will not remain silent until security returns to the north. They will not burn us in silence. Pay? It has never been and will never be an option. We are fighting for our home.".
His father, the company's founder, Shuki Segal, who has been in the transportation world for about 50 years, added: "The protection is not a criminal incident, so stop telling us stories - it is an existential security threat to the Galilee, terrorism that instills fear, paralyzes and harms the sovereignty of the state from within.
""Is the war with Hezbollah over? We've returned to the war we know, and against it we're fighting alone, without a state and without authorities. Without economic protection for the victims - the state is pushing those who are threatened to pay: If there is no insurance, no compensation, and no rapid recovery network, business owners understand that the price of refusal could be collapse. No criminal will blackmail me, we won't pay, and we call on all those who are threatened, and there are many in the transportation world - join us, say this is enough, come out openly and let's fight together.".
Yariv Ben Ami, founder of the civil organization of northern residents, 'So Far - Ending Protectionism,' commented on the event and said: "A country that does not dismantle weapons and terrorism within itself, on its territory, when it is a matter of a few families in total, how will it dismantle Hezbollah and Iran? Protectionism is a security and governance failure at the national level. When a citizen has to choose between paying for protection and seeing his business burn down, that is a failure. If the state does not make protectionism a top priority, it will lose not only businesses and the north - but the entire country."'
Gidi Harari, CEO of Ad Kan: "Without a compensation plan for victims of protectionism, just like a property tax in terrorist incidents and a tax on agriculture, there is no real solution for those dealing with protectionism terrorism. Without such an envelope and real deterrence, the state essentially leaves the victim alone. We at Ad Kan stand with them, assisting in every way possible, but we also need the state with us in the event.“
