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Beit Alfa (Hebrew: בית אלפא) is a kibbutz in the Northern District of Israel, near the Gilboa ridge. The kibbutz was founded in 1922 by Hashomer Hatzair volunteers. In 1940 some of the members, affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair, moved to Ramat Yohanan kibbutz, in exchange for supporters of Mapai from Ramat Yohanan. Its dairy was the first Israeli dairy to use robotic milking technology.
The Beit Alfa Synagogue National Park in the nearby kibbutz of Heftziba, contains an ancient Byzantine-era synagogue, with a mosaic floor depicting the lunar Hebrew months as they correspond to the signs of the zodiac.[1]
[edit] Controversy
Kibbutz Beit Alfa has been controversial because one of its main industries is riot control equipment that is sold to regimes that abuse human rights. During the 1980s, Beit Alfa sold water cannon to the apartheid regime in South Africa.[2] Officials from Beit Alfa have defended selling such weapons to human-rights abusing regimes, on the grounds that compared with live ammuniton, water cannon save the lives of demonstrators who otherwise might be shot dead with live ammunition.[3]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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