What was reported as another collateral hit in an “open area” during the Iranian missile attack on Israel earlier this week turned into a personal and professional disaster for the Simantov family. Missile interception fragments that fell during the night between Sunday and Monday struck the unique white lily plot at their Seeds from Zion nursery, causing severe damage to a rare preservation project developed over more than two decades.
The initiative began in 2004 during the excavation of the Carmel tunnels. Bulbs of white lily uncovered during the engineering works were transferred to the Simantov family with approval from the Nature and Parks Authority to save the rare plant. Using tissue cultures, they produced thousands of new bulbs - some returned to the wild in the Carmel, while others were kept at the nursery for propagation and conservation.
“When we started, there were only a few dozen bulbs,” Zion Simantov said. “Today we have tens of thousands of bulbs. We are practically the only place in the country that holds the original white lily from the Carmel - not a commercial variety but the real natural plant that returns from here to its natural location in the Carmel and to other suitable places in Israel.”
According to Simantov, the plot reached its peak just a month and a half ago.
“After 12 years of waiting, we saw an amazing bloom. Flowers about a meter tall. Thousands of people came to see, photograph, and be moved. We expected a large seed harvest that would allow us to continue and expand the project.”
The morning after the missile attack, the harsh reality became clear.
“Our dedicated Thai workers called and told me to come to the site immediately,” he recalled. “We found a huge crater, about six meters in diameter, right inside the plot. Parts of the area were blown away, and the damage is scattered over hundreds of meters.”
Shortly after, police officers and Border Police fighters arrived.
“They saw the hole, documented it, collected the fragments that were on the ground, and left,” Simantov recounted. “But so far, no government officials have arrived to inspect the damage itself.”
Representatives from the Property Tax Authority are expected only next week.
“And that’s exactly the issue,” he said. “This is not like an orange grove where you can count how many trees were hit and calculate their value. This is something unique, with almost no parallel in the country. You need an expert to examine what happened above and below ground.”
Hidden damage and uncertain future
The difficulty, he explained, is that much of the damage is underground. The lily bulbs take many years to mature and bloom.
“We still don’t know how many bulbs were destroyed,” he said. “It could be hundreds, it could be thousands. Only in months or even years will we know the full extent of the damage.”
Hila Friedman, Zion's daughter who manages the nursery with her father and husband, said this is more than a financial loss.
“This is not just an agricultural plot. This is heritage, this is nature conservation, this is something my father dedicated decades of his life to.”
A long road to recovery
While waiting for the official damage assessment, the family hopes that some bulbs survived.
“We do not intend to give up,” Simantov said. “But it is clear that the path to restoration will be very long. What was destroyed in an instant took us more than twenty years to build."