Knesset Member Rabbi Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism) said this week that the Israeli home front remains exposed, vulnerable to wartime attack and unequipped for national emergencies. According to Porush, there are not enough gas masks, shelters or secure rooms for the citizenry. 
MK Porush expressed concern over the insufficient supply of specially equipped gas masks.
"Civilians must receive accurate instructions and even subsidies for those without secure rooms in their residences," MK Porush said. "As for bomb shelters, the defense establishment assigns responsibility to the municipalities. But most of the municipalities, as is known, are facing budgetary problems."
According to Eshkol Regional Council Chairman Chaim Yellin, an additional 500 million NIS is needed in order to complete the construction of reinforced secure rooms just in the western Negev region for which he is responsible.
In addition to the matter of bomb shelters, MK Porush expressed concern over the insufficient supply of specially equipped gas masks for people with beards. In a letter to Deputy Minister of Defense Matan Vilnai, Porush called upon him to prepare enough gas masks for bearded men. He decried the errors and failures that came to the fore during the last gas mask distribution many years ago.
Deputy Minister Vilnai replied to MK Porush by quoting Home Front Command (HFC) data, which showed that 2.5% of the public is bearded. Twice that percentage of the nation's population, the HFC data showed, will be issued gas masks equipped with a special bellows for providing filtered air. The bellows-equipped gas masks provide an appropriate solution for bearded men and for the elderly, according to HFC claims.
HFC is currently in the process of collecting and upgrading all the gas masks that were issued to the public in the past. However, there remain significant lag-times between collection and upgrade, with budget constraints preventing completion of this HFC mission.
MK Porush also commented on the National Emergency Authority, which was proposed following the 2006 Second Lebanon War to coordinate the efforts of all agencies assigned to treat civilians during a national emergency such as war or a flood. The new Authority is under the jurisdiction of the Deputy Defense Minister, whom Porush praised as a skilled and highly experienced officer able to cope with the complicated assignment.
Porush added, however, that "as the Defense Ministry's top priority will be managing the front-line war, it behooves us to consider concentrating the Home Front activities in the Ministry of Public Security. And it will be necessary to amend the legislation regarding home front preparedness."
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, on the other hand, boasted Wednesday of his government's efforts to rehabilitate and improve the northern areas of the country, which suffered significant physical and financial damage during the 2006 war. According to Olmert, the government's 2.75 billion NIS allocation to communities in the north has gone towards refurbishing bomb shelters, upgrading schools, paving roads and other initiatives.
"The prosperity of the north finds expression in unprecedented domestic and international tourism there, including many tourists who have never visited there before," the Prime Minister told the Cabinet for Strengthening Haifa and the North.
Prime Minister Olmert added that the efforts of the focused Cabinet were intended "mainly to serve as a lever for strengthening the periphery in the State of Israel, south as well as north."