Minister says Haredim, Bedouin missing rocket warnings due to IDF reliance on phones

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi accuses the IDF’s Homefront Command of ignoring the needs of ultra-Orthodox Jews and Negev Bedouin by limiting incoming missile warnings to electronic devices and stationary klaxons.

Writing to State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman, the senior Likud politician alleges that “extraneous considerations” stand behind “the Homefront Command and the IDF [Information and Communication Technology] Division refusing to take responsibility for the serious gaps in warning reaching the ultra-Orthodox and Arab communities,” according to a copy of the letter published by the ultra-Orthodox Kikar Hashabbat news site.

When Houthis in Yemen fired a ballistic missile at Israel yesterday evening, most Israelis “received warnings on their smartphones, television, radio, and alarm sirens. In contrast, ultra-Orthodox Israeli citizens, who have kosher phones, no television, and listen to the ultra-Orthodox radio networks, did not receive advance warnings and life-saving instructions in the north and south,” he writes.

Complaining of the alleged “inexplicable stubbornness and irresponsibility on the part of those responsible for the security of the country and its citizens,” Karhi says that the IDF has declined to allow regional radio stations to expand their areas of broadcast in order to reach niche sectoral audiences with warnings.

According to Karhi, Bedouins in southern Israel “do not receive the two regional Arabic-language channels because they only broadcast in the north” and Haredim in northern Israel are unable to tune into Haredi channels which serve their community in other areas of the country. This is critical as many Haredim lack internet access while some members of the Arabic-speaking public “suffer from poor cellular coverage,” he asserts.

According to the Israel Democracy Institute, a 2018 report by the State Comptroller found that 46 percent of Arab citizens live in buildings without protected spaces, compared to 26% of the general population. The report also found an almost total lack of public shelters in most Arab locales, including in large cities like Umm al-Fahm and Rahat.

The Home Front Command and Defense Ministry have begun implementing a NIS 100 million ($29 million) plan to revamp Israel’s protective infrastructure following the war with Iran, but Arab Israeli locales — despite a glaring shortage of protected spaces — have been largely overlooked in the campaign, say local officials.