The Home Front is not prepared to respond to disasters, warns Brigadier-General (res.) Amatzia “Patzi” Chen. Different organizations tasked with first response still do not coordinate their actions, despite previous tragedies such as the Carmel fire disaster, he told Arutz Sheva.
“The lack of coordination between systems brought about all the problems that were revealed during Operation Cast Lead and the Second Lebanon War,” he said.
“Avi Dichter’s appointment is really the marking of the first person to be fired by the committee of inquiry that will be set up if the Home Front is attacked,” he warned. “So I suggest that Dichter check to see if all the systems that are supposed to work are working, and to see how to get them ready for a state of war.”
The United States set an example by learning from disasters in Vietnam, he said, and putting a top commander in charge of communications between forces – a move that helped the American army in Iraq. Israel should do the same, he said, “There should be coordination between all government offices and every branch of the IDF.”
Chen called for public discourse over Home Front preparedness. Currently, the topic “isn’t on the agenda,” he lamented.
Instead, he said, there is a public discourse on the possibility of an Israeli strike in Iran. He condemned those who openly called on pilots not to obey strike orders, calling them “an irresponsible gang motivated by personal interests” that is “undermining the foundations of democracy.”