Kfar Giladi (Hebrew: כְּפַר גִּלְעָדִי, lit. Giladi Village, Arabic: كفار جلعادي) is a kibbutz in the Galilee Panhandle of northern Israel.^[2] Located south of Metula on the Naftali Mountains above the Hula Valley and along the Lebanese border, it falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 702.^[1]

Quick Facts כפר גלעדי‎, Country ...

Kfar Giladi כפר גלעדי‎
Founders' house
Kfar Giladi Show map of Northeast Israel Kfar Giladi Show map of Israel
Coordinates: 33°14′33″N 35°34′30″E
Country	Israel
District	Northern
Council	Upper Galilee
Affiliation	Kibbutz Movement
Founded	1916
Founded by	Hashomer members
Population  (2022)[1]	702
Website	www.kfar-giladi.org.il

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Kfar Giladi is also notable for archaeological discoveries such as Neolithic and Chalcolithic findings^[3][4] as well as the remains of a Jewish mausoleum dating from Roman times.^[5]

Kibbutz Giladi was founded in 1916 by members of Hashomer on land owned by the Jewish Colonization Association. It was named after Israel Giladi, one of the founders of the Hashomer movement. The area was subject to intermittent border adjustments between the British and the French, and in 1919, the British relinquished the northern section of the Upper Galilee containing Tel Hai, Metula, Hamra, and Kfar Giladi to the French jurisdiction. After the Arab attack on Tel Hai in 1920, it was temporarily abandoned. Ten months later, the settlers returned. Several older buildings stand on the kibbutz that memorialize previous battles on the site, before and during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

In 1921 a top secret arms store was dug 10 metres into the hillside. Measuring 5 by 5 metres square and 2 metres high its entrance was concealed in a stable. It was never discovered by the Mandate authorities.^[6]

Between 1916 and 1932, the population totaled 40–70. In 1932, the kibbutz absorbed 100 newcomers, mainly young immigrants. From 1922 to 1948, between 8,000–10,000 Jewish immigrants were smuggled into Palestine through Kibbutz Giladi, circumventing the Mandatory ban on Jewish immigration.^[7] The immigrants came from Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eastern Europe.

In an operation known as Mivtzah HaElef, 1,300 Jewish children were smuggled out of Syria between 1945 and 1948. At the kibbutz, the children were dressed in work clothes and hidden in the kibbutz chicken coops and cowsheds.^[7]

In August 2006, during the 2006 Lebanon War, twelve reserve IDF soldiers were killed after being hit by a Katyusha rocket launched by Hezbollah from Southern Lebanon. The group of artillery gunners were gathering on the kibbutz in preparation for action in the conflict.

The economy of Kfar Giladi is based on agriculture, a quarry, nurseries, an eyewear factory (Galilee Optics, which closed in 2005) and a hotel. The kibbutz grows apples and avocados, utilizing volunteers to help pick fruit during the harvest. Other crops include lychees, corn, cotton, wheat and potatoes. The kibbutz also raises chickens and dairy cows, and operates fish ponds.

Eight historic buildings built in 1922 are being preserved and restored. Built of Galilee stone and materials imported from Lebanon, they are among the few remaining vestiges of early kibbutz housing.^[2]

• Keeping the Kibbutz (2010 documentary about Kfar Giladi)