Israel's 'home front' exercise shows country not ready for war
DEBKA is reporting that the massive five-day exercise that is going on throughout the country this week exposes the lack of readiness for war on Israel's home front. In fact, if anything, we may be worse off than we were when the Lebanon War broke out in 2006.DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the 19 o’clock warning siren Tuesday, April 3 – day three of the nationwide missile defense exercise – was not heard in many parts of Israel, including the Knesset – as criticism of the exercise spread.Today was April 8 not April 3 (okay, it was the third day of the Jewish month of Nissan) and the siren went at 10:00, not at 19:00 (7:00 PM). But what about the rest of this report? Is it accurate? Let me tell you what I know.
Most people did not know where to find public shelters – none were marked - and were given no answers about protection against chemical or biological missile warfare. While the drill aimed at improving the warning system to gain time for reaching shelters, most Israeli homes and workplaces do not have shelters.
IDF officers told our sources that the drill, organized by deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai, has had two consequences: It exposed the home front as no readier for missile attack than it was when Hizballah launched its rocket blitz in 2006; and, second, it infected the entire region with war fever.
Yet prime minister Ehud Olmert never tires of saying that, since 2006, Israel’s armed forces have restored their deterrent strength and the nation has never been more secure.
If that is so, who needs a nationwide missile defense exercise? And why did the defense cabinet, playing its role in the practice, talk about setting up tent cities [presumably for refugees from blasted or contaminated towns]?
Security experts point out that the evacuation of tens or hundreds of thousands of people from their homes to temporary shelter is a non-starter. Home front officers say that no one has thought of organizing a system to accommodate tent cities: no vehicles to evacuate distressed people, water, electricity, food or medical facilities have been laid on.
And anyway the country is too small for alternative sites to be safe from attack. Would Aviv inhabitants be better off in the Negev under flimsy canvas within range of Gaza?
DEBKAfile’s military sources agree that the five-day missile exercise is not much better than a charade and far from demonstrating to friend or foe that Israel is better protected now than it was in the summer of 2006. But the question most ask is this: Instead of wasting time, energy and money on a pointless drill, why does the Olmert government not pull itself out of its fatal inertia and finally use the armed forces for its key preventive mission, which is to wipe out the tens of thousands of missiles and rockets piled up on Israel’s borders by Iran and Syria before it is too late? There was more than one opportunity to bombard the convoys carrying weapons for Hizballah from Syria and Hamas' smuggling routes into Gaza.
We did hear the siren this morning, but no one in this neighborhood had been told to do anything. Only one of my children was told to do anything in school (four of my children are already on Passover vacation). He's in third grade and told us how his class was trained to lie down on the floor on their stomachs with their hands behind their heads. "Even the teacher." Not really very effective.
Because my apartment was built after the first Gulf War (1991), we do have a 'sealed room' in our apartment. But when we were told to 'prepare' it five years ago (there was fear Saddam would shoot missiles at us in response to the US invasion), we did not prepare our sealed room where the government intended. That room doesn't have a bathroom and therefore is not suitable for long-term occupancy by the entire family. It's also the smallest room in the apartment. So we made our sealed room in our master bedroom. And then didn't need to use it (thank God!). But was it airtight? I have no way of knowing. And we had a few weeks warning then. Will we have any warning the next time? I don't know. In any event, I'm not aware of any public shelters in our neighborhood, which was entirely built after 1991.
While the details in DEBKA's report may be off here and there, I believe their conclusions are 100% accurate. I can only add to them that for those who are wondering about gas masks, we don't have any. They were taken away for 'renewal' months ago and have not been returned. But fear not: At least the branja will be safe. And the drill is likely to become an annual occasion.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:28 PM
5 Comments:
The Olmert-Barak-Livni government is using the drill as a diversion from what really needs to be done. Israel's enemies built up their strength and the government keeps the most powerful army in the Middle East sitting on the sidelines out of the mistaken belief that Israelis are unwilling to die for their country if asked. And to make sure George Bush and Condi Rice are kept happy.
The motto of this mad government is from USA's "Mad Magazine's" mascot Alred E. Newman: "What Me Worry?"
The State of Israel has 40,000 missles from Lebanon to worry about thanks to the great ceasefire it negociated. The Syrians reportedly have Saddam's WMD stockpiles, Hamas has more and greater weapons. But we're waging "peace". Oh and btw happy 30th to peace when?
I live two minutes away from the Knesset, and they must all be deaf there because I heard the sirens perfectly. they don't seem to have their facts too straight, does debka.
Here we are in the worst scenario we've been in since watching Pharoah's army approach us on the shores of the Red Sea and Charlton Heston had to up and die this week!
I don't know about other areas of the country, but here in Karmiel, I can tell you that:
1) The sirens were audible all over town. There's nothing wrong with testing, in my opinioin.
2) My oldest daughter (in gan) knows where the gan's shelter is, and her class rehearsed how to get there.
3) Our apartment building older (pre-Gulf War), so our apartment does not have a shelter, but the building has one in the basement. The city of Karmiel renovated it last summer, and replaced the door hinges last month. The shelter is now secure and livable (has toilets, showers, running water, electricity)
I have a feeling that a drill like this depends as much on the readiness and competence of municipal officials as it does on the planning of the national government.
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