Complaints have flooded in about failures in the gas mask kits which were distributed in recent days throughout Israel amid fears of a possible chemical attack by Syria. State Controller Yoseph Shapiro has ordered an investigation on the distribution kits.
“We found failures with the gas mask kit,” said MK Yisrael Eichler (United Torah Judaism). “There has been no production of gas masks suitable for people with beards.”
Eichler did not skip a beat in bestowing blame upon the government for this incapability. “It is further proof that the government does not tolerate a Jew with a beard,” he protested.
According to him, the Ministry of Finance refuses to fund kits suitable for beard-wearers, despite several complaints made by haredi Members of Knesset,
The IDF spokesperson said in response that “the special gas masks kits are designed for people with medical problems who meet the criteria and adults over the age of 73 who have no other option. In light of the high cost of the kits, they are not distributed to men with beards.”
Foreign workers in Israel are also not eligible to receive the kits. MK Nachman Shai, has taken up their cause and petitioned Shapiro on the matter.
Shapiro called upon Chairman Amnon Cohen of the Knesset State Control Committee to convene a meeting without delay to discuss corrections of shortcomings in the last comptroller's report about home front defense.