Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Doomed

"About 40% of Israel's population lacks gas masks, and 25% doesn't have access to adequate bomb shelters. Israel's minister of home front defense is leaving to become ambassador to China and no replacement has been named.  Israel's short-range rocket-defense shield, known as Iron Dome, barely protects the sparsely populated south. Planned deployments to cover Tel Aviv and key military facilities are in limbo because of budget shortages.  Meanwhile, the government is debating whether to trim its defense budget, leading military officials to warn that their ability to train reserves and defend the country is at risk.
"The scope of the failure to protect the home front … is almost incomprehensible," Haaretz columnist Sefi Rachlevsky wrote Tuesday."