Kibbutz Kindergarten Hit by Hezbollah Missile Reopens With Israeli President

A powerful symbol of recovery and hope emerged in Israel’s north as President Isaac Herzog returned to Kibbutz Manara on Thursday to reopen a kindergarten destroyed by a Hezbollah missile during last year’s conflict. The Upper Galilee community, perched along the volatile Lebanon border, had suffered under direct fire from Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists a front that opened just a day after the October 7 Hamas massacre in the south.

“A year after our visit to Kibbutz Manara when it was damaged, under threat and nearly abandoned we returned this morning with great hope, to reopen the kindergarten that had suffered a direct missile strike,” Herzog wrote, sharing the moment with Israelis across the country.

The president’s heartfelt remarks recalled his December 2024 visit, made in the wake of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that ended more than a year of hostilities. During that earlier visit, Herzog walked among the rubble and pledged that the children of Manara would soon return to a rebuilt, safe space. On Thursday, he fulfilled that promise.

In the video released by his office, Herzog gestures to the place where a Kornet anti-tank missile had ripped through the school. "We want the kindergarten renovated, and we want to see the children return as quickly as possible," he had said at the time. Now, standing among smiling children and educators, Herzog declared, “We see a lovely kindergarten reopened, with these wonderful children, who are the future generation of the State of Israel. From here will come good news from Manara and from the entire north. Rise and succeed!”

The reopening marks more than the restoration of a building it’s a declaration that border communities will not be abandoned. Manara, once nearly emptied under the constant threat of rocket fire, is coming back to life. Children are playing where only silence and fear stood a year ago.

The moment was especially poignant as regional tensions remain high. On the same day, the Lebanese Armed Forces claimed to have completed the first phase of a national disarmament plan in southern Lebanon. But Israeli officials remain skeptical. While calling the move “an encouraging beginning,” the Prime Minister’s Office insisted it was “far from sufficient,” pointing to Hezbollah’s continued rearmament with Iranian assistance.

“The ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States between Israel and Lebanon states clearly, Hezbollah must be fully disarmed,” the statement said. “This is imperative for Israel’s security and Lebanon’s future.”

Yet despite the uncertainty just across the border, Thursday’s ceremony radiated hope. It showed what Israeli determination looks like not in military might alone, but in the rebuilding of homes, schools, and the spirit of its people.

From the ashes of destruction, the children of Manara now return to a space filled with laughter and promise. That, more than any speech or statement, is the truest answer to terror.

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