Victory for the Negev vision: Light Rail will reach gates of the intelligence campus - opinion

Israel invested billions in establishing the Intelligence Campus in the Negev, a strategic project of the highest national importance. Yet the Treasury’s proposal to settle for a partial and limited transportation solution would have led to transportation chaos. The Prime Minister’s courageous decision in favor of a light rail system with high capacity secured the future of the project and the establishment of Beersheba as Israel’s capital of innovation. For this vision and for standing up for the tens of thousands of soldiers and employees, we, the residents of the Negev, express our gratitude.

Every great national vision, such as the one intended to reshape the face of the Negev, encounters bureaucratic and political obstacles from time to time. Sometimes these are narrow budgetary considerations attempting to extinguish the flame. Such was the fate of the enormous project to relocate the intelligence bases to Lakit in the Negev, which began in 2003, when the original government decision was made to move IDF bases southward.

After working as the “Israel for the Negev Association,” we fought for several years to bring the project to fruition, which was crowned with success - in the face of fierce opposition from the then-Chief of Staff, Aviv Kochavi, and the senior intelligence leadership - we turned to a no less important struggle: transportation accessibility to the new campus. It was clear that without a full and rapid rail solution, the arrival of tens of thousands of soldiers and employees every morning would be disrupted, impairing the operation of this large-scale project. As a result, it would also harm the establishment and development of Be'er Sheva's technological ecosystem.

The latest attempt to derail the project came from the Finance Ministry, which believed that for the section between Beersheba and Lakit, it would be sufficient to settle for a rail-like bus line (BRT) - an alternative that most experts rejected as unacceptable. While the light rail (LRT) can carry approximately 7,500 passengers per hour, the limited BRT solution serves only about 3,000 passengers and is exposed to traffic congestion and delays, which would have turned the commute into a daily nightmare.

But this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided courageously and resolutely that the light rail in Beersheba would reach all the way to the gates of the Intelligence Campus in Lakit. This is the first line within the framework of the entire metropolitan project. With this decision, the Prime Minister resolved one of the most difficult issues that had accompanied the project from its inception; it reflects a correct vision for the development of the Negev and the implementation of a historic vision.

The Prime Minister’s decision, following recommendations by experts whose opinions were placed before him, to prefer light rail technology over inferior “train on wheels” solutions, is far more than a technical ruling. It is a strategic step ensuring that the new Intelligence Campus, a national project in which approximately 12 billion shekels have been invested, will not become an isolated compound.

Had the Treasury’s proposal to impose a split transportation line been accepted - a light rail line within Beersheba and a separate “train on wheels” (BRT) line from Beersheba to the Intelligence Campus - the meaning would have been catastrophic: a soldier arriving from central Israel would have been forced to change three different means of transportation just to reach his base, while depending on a limited bus system subject to the mercy of traffic jams on Highway 60. Under such conditions, that soldier would begin his workday in Military Intelligence only at 11:00 a.m., exhausted and worn out, something that would inevitably damage his productivity. This is not how one builds and manages an advanced intelligence system when its soldiers are stuck in traffic every day on their way to base.

The Prime Minister’s decision has put an end to this absurdity. The light rail will provide a solution for the existing and expected capacity of soldiers and career personnel and will ensure transportation continuity connecting Beersheba directly to the campus itself.

This is the news the residents of the Negev have waited years for. This is the response the Negev periphery expected, suffering from severe resource and opportunity disadvantages and awaiting anchors of growth and employment that will advance these regions, which were also badly affected by the recent war.

The construction of the light rail is a central pillar in the broader government decision (No. 3474) for the development of the Beersheba metropolitan area, with a scope of approximately one billion shekels. The decision focuses on economic growth, improving quality of life and personal security, and developing infrastructure that will enable young men and women to tie their future to the Negev.

One cannot speak about developing the Negev without placing Beersheba at its center as a strong, accessible, and competitive core city. At present, Beersheba faces an absurd and challenging reality: while it is supposed to serve as the primary anchor for employment and housing, it suffers from a built-in disadvantage in incentives to attract people, especially compared to the extensive tax benefits granted to the surrounding cities and communities. This situation has led to resource cannibalization, harming the city’s ability to attract a strong, high-quality young population.

The Prime Minister’s decision in favor of the light rail is a clear declaration that Beersheba is the spearhead of regional development. Modern transportation accessibility is the fuel that will drive a series of historic processes currently taking place in the city - the establishment of the Innovation District, the arrival of defense industries, the staffing of the military communications campus, which will create interaction with the academia that trains 50% of Israel’s engineers, and with high-tech companies. This comes alongside the expansion of activities by technology giants such as NVIDIA and Microsoft, all located in the high-tech park, and the establishment of an additional hospital in the city, “Sheba Negev.” All these will ensure that Beersheba becomes a national center of gravity from which Ben-Gurion’s vision of making the Negev desert bloom will be realized in practice.

The light rail is therefore the connecting link that transforms these projects from a collection of isolated initiatives into a living, breathing technological and economic ecosystem in the Negev.

It is important to understand the scale of things: the relocation of the intelligence and communications campuses to the Negev is not merely a real-estate or military event, but the most significant economic move the state has known in recent decades. This project is expected to inject approximately 60 billion shekels into the regional economy over 20 years. This is an unprecedented investment and economic activity that is a tremendous growth engine, not only through construction and infrastructure, but also through the creation of thousands of high-quality jobs in the first and second circles.

When the most advanced military technology and the flourishing defense industry, which continues to grow and develop in the region, meet academia and civilian industry in Beersheba, a “multiplier effect” is created that attracts foreign investment, strengthens local purchasing power, and raises the level of services for all residents. This is how Israel’s high-tech market developed over four decades in the “State of Tel Aviv.”

The Prime Minister’s decision ensures that this enormous public investment, together with the development of advanced transportation infrastructure, will indeed yield its benefits for the entire Israeli economy.

As a public activist who dedicates a considerable part of her life to the Negev, I am often accustomed to criticizing the leadership and decision-makers. I criticized them for the delay in the momentum of Negev development, for the failure to advance the periphery and for its neglect, and for the ongoing abandonment of the country’s two great regions - the Negev and the Galilee - which together cover 80% of the state’s territory. These regions constitute Israel’s enormous potential, compared with an overcrowded, overloaded center on the verge of collapsing in on itself.

This time, however, I feel a personal and public obligation to share praise for the Prime Minister. Benjamin Netanyahu rose to the occasion. He knew how to decide boldly, to see the big picture, and to understand that national resilience is measured not only by tanks and aircraft but also by the ability to connect the country's edges through arteries of progress and technology.

Mr. Prime Minister, you chose the national vision over sectoral dictates. You proved that the Negev is indeed a pillar of our national security. Now, as the gates of the Intelligence Campus are about to open, we are not merely moving bases southward - we are laying the tracks that will propel the entire Negev into a new era of prosperity. The capital of the Negev needs connectivity, and today we received it. This rail line is the escape route from the traffic jams and the royal road toward transforming the Negev into Israel’s center of innovation.

And one final word to my fellow activists, members of the “Israel for the Negev Association,” and to the residents of the Negev on whose behalf we act: we proved that when citizens take responsibility, they change reality; we proved that when one stands by the right principles, with courage and integrity, it is possible to defeat short-sighted budgetary thinking.

We are determined to take responsibility in shaping our lives in the Negev so that our children and grandchildren will also find their future here, together with new immigrants, residents of central Israel, and young couples who will understand that, truly, the future is here.

Here, in the Negev, renewed Zionism beats strongly.