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State Comptroller says home front unprepared for rocket threat
Israel’s State Comptroller issued a report yesterday warning that Israel’s home front is unprepared for a sustained missile barrage in a future conflict.
The 65-page report is critical of Israel’s preparedness on a number of levels. In particular, State Comptroller Yosef Shapira took issue with the lack of bomb shelters available to Israeli citizens. The report calculated that as many as two million Israelis have either no access to such protection or that their shelters fail to comply with regulations. In particular, Shapira raised concerns that 32 per cent of Israelis in the north of the country reportedly do not have access to a bomb shelter.
Shapira also said that the early warning systems for residents remains inadequate. Although a multi-year budget for ongoing upgrades to missile defence and rocket alert systems was approved in May 2013, the report said such upgrades are yet to be implemented.
Shapira’s report also criticised a lack of formal coordination between the Defence Ministry and the Public Security Ministry regarding the potential evacuation of towns which may come under sustained attack. Shapira said that this deficiency “could harm the preparedness of the home front”.
Zionist Union MK and retired Major General Eyal Ben-Reuven said the report showed “severe deficits” in the conduct of the government and defence establishments.
He added: “The threat in the north is dramatic in scope and this report’s findings paint a picture of a country neglecting its citizens.”
The report did note the IDF’s “attack and interception capabilities,” such as the Iron Dome anti-missile system, which successfully intercepted a significant number of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge in summer 2014. However, Shapira suggested that “the IDF must still prepare for the scenario in which thousands, even tens of thousands, of rockets and missiles are fired at Israel during a war-time period, a number of missiles that raise great doubts as to whether the IDF has sufficient means to defend against them”.