From the Liveblog of
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Interior minister: Home front unprepared for war
Israel’s home front may be unready for the exigencies of war.
In an apparent hot mike moment, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri is heard telling new Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman at the cabinet meeting this morning that “the home front is not prepared” for the next war.
His words are caught on a microphone before the meeting officially begins, apparently without his knowledge, and are broadcast Thursday evening on Channel 2.
“We have a terrible failure here, we have no inventories, we have nothing,” Deri tells Liberman.
“I intend to raise this in a big way on Sunday, this can’t continue,” he adds, referring to a special cabinet session on home front preparedness called for Sunday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Deri is believed to be pushing to move oversight of home front preparedness from the Defense Ministry to the Interior Ministry, a move recommended by the National Security Council.
“The NSC are giving us assignments, coordinating with local councils,” Deri says to Liberman, referring to the recommendations. “But there isn’t a penny, no salaries, nothing. Everyone is in a state of ‘trust me,’ until something falls and then they’ll understand,” he warns.
The Times of Israel Community.