40% of Israelis left without gas masks

60% of Israelis have received gas masks, IDF Home Front Command Lt.-Col. Lior Gabay told the Knesset Subcommittee for the Readiness of the Home Front for Emergencies. He added that the 40% of Israelis without gas masks was due to the absence of an organized budgeted multiyear plan. The gas mask distribution offices will be closed within a month.

Lt.-Col. Gabay said, "Were it possible to turn the clock back, the defense establishment would not have decided to distribute gas masks until it could guarantee that the entire population could be covered.

Subcommittee chairman MK Zeev Bielski said, "The decision to set up the office was correct from a professional perspective, but in practice, the government made the decision for political reasons. Ministries' emergency preparations should have priority, but it seems that only a few ministries can be said to be in the right, and all the others have simply failed to act." He added, "The government's decision to distribute gas masks when it knew that there were not enough gas masks for the entire population was moronic. It's a decision that is liable to cause a catastrophe when it will be necessary to use the police due to the accumulated pressure."

Minister of Home Front Affairs Matan Vilnai was appointed Ambassador to China earlier this week. No successor has been named to his post.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 14, 2012