Herzog: Submarine corruption to blame for lack of bombshelters

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog suggests “corrupt considerations” regarding a deal to buy three German submarines may be to blame for a lack of home front preparedness noted in a State Comptroller report released today.

“This report heightens the feelings of most citizens that everything has been abandoned,” Herzog says in a statement. “If we have got to the point where corrupt considerations are connected to the purchase of submarines, and now it has been made clear that they [the government] have not dealt with protecting children and families from rockets, then everything has been abandoned.”

The report said between a quarter and half of all Israelis do not have access to a proper bomb shelter in the case of an emergency. The document, a review of the country’s preparedness against rocket and missile tanks, finds numerous gaps and failures in the government and military’s plans to protect Israel’s civilian population. A similar report, released last year, also noted shortcomings in the country’s home front defense.

Last month it emerged that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s personal lawyer worked as a representative of the German company in Israel, in what may constitute a grave conflict of interest. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has ordered the police to look into allegations that David Shimron used his close relationship with the premier to push Israel to purchase several submarines from ThyssenKrupp, award the company a contract for naval vessels to defend Israel’s gas fields, and allow it to build a shipyard in Israel.