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An Israeli tries on a mask in 2003 (file)
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| By Israel Insider staff November 3, 2007 |
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| The billion dollar underground city being built near Modiin where a few thousand public officials and their families will flee in the event of a nuclear or chemical attack, while millions of Israeli have been left defenseless, without even the gas masks they once owned, because of a budget deficit of several hundred million dollars (Google Earth). |
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The IDF lacks more than NIS 1 billion ($250 million) to buy new gas masks and refurbish the millions of civil defense kits that have been recently collected from the public, the Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday, quoting defense officials. They said if the missing money was not appropriated in the coming months, the whole refurbishing project would be postponed and redistribution of masks to the public -- including those who voluntarily returned their masks -- would be postponed for years. The net effect is that virtually all of the Israeli population -- except those who have privately purchased civil defense equipment and several thousand elites eligible for shelter in government bunkers, will be unprotected in the event of a chemical attack.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently ordered that gas masks -- which were distributed to the public ahead of the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 -- would be collected from the public, supposedly so that they could be repaired, checked, and made suitable for current use. In October a massive campaign collected millions of civil defense kits. Barak's decision was made following a recommendation of the IDF Home Front Command.
But last Wednesday, according to the Post, high-ranking IDF officers said the Defense Ministry had yet to secure the necessary funding and lacked hundreds of millions of dollars. "Without the money, there is no way we will be able to stay on schedule," a top officer said. "If we don't get the money, then we will end up with a situation in which only half of the country has masks and the other half doesn't." And that's the optimistic scenario.
Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna'i is reportedly holding talks with the Prime Minister's Office and the Finance Ministry to secure the funding, but the sources are doubtful that the funds will be found in time. According to the defense sources, if war were to break out with Syria or Iran in the coming months, the Home Front Command would only have enough gas masks for 1.5 million adults and half a million children. That's less than a third of the Israeli population of more than seven million. The Defense Ministry has also solicited and received several proposals to make emergency purchases of gas masks from Israeli and American companies, "if the need arises." And the budget allows.
Likud MK Yuval Steinitz, head of a subcommittee of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that deals with preparing the country for war, confirmed to the Post that significant funding was lacking for the gas mask project. Referring to military sources, he said that the IDF would begin distributing gas masks to residents of the North in the coming months due to their greatest risk should war break out. Steinitz held out hope that public pressure would force the government to make civil defense kits available to all. "I feel that the moment they start distributing the masks there will be momentum and the government will have no choice but to complete the job in other parts of the country," he said.
Even if funds for functional gas masks are to be found, experts dismiss their practical value. In the event of a chemical attack, the lack of full-body protection and the limited duration that the masks could be operated would render them virtually useless, except as a placebo to prevent massive panic of the public should such weapons be used.
The government, however, is investing billions of shekels to build a huge underground bunker between Jerusalem and the airport to protect a few thousand public officials and their families, including facilities that can withstand nuclear attack and an underground train that, they hope, would ferry the lucky elites out of the country.
Why should those few thousand be fully protected while the other seven million Israelis are left defenseless? The answer, of course, is that they allocate the civil defense budget. |
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