Rocket attacks on Ashkelon at this point do not constitute a Home Front emergency situation, said Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday, pointing out that the port city had been hit with far fewer attacks than the much smaller Gaza Belt community of Sderot.
Barak expressed concern that declaring an emergency situation in Ashkelon would send the city's more than 100,000 residents into a panic. The statement came as a response to Labor Knesset Member Yoram Marciano's request that he declare a state of emergency in the wake of a Grad missile attack on the coastal city.