Israel has come a long way since it abandoned the Home Front in the Second Lebanon War. Nevertheless, we have a lot of work to do before the situation is truly up to par.
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The 2006 war was a wake-up call for which Israel paid a relatively low price, and in that context, should be seen as a gift. The unbelievable situation in which local authority heads were seen fleeing their communities and shirking their responsibilities to residents, the central government avoided declaring a special situation in the Home Front for financial reasons, the Israel Defense Forces behaved as if the Home Front was none of its concern, and government ministries acted out of sync while holding others responsible has resulted in significant change.
The list of changes made is almost endless. The entire Israeli Air Defense Command has been revolutionized: The Iron Dome and David's Sling defense systems were developed and have proven their worth over the last four rounds of fighting in the Gaza Strip, as well as countless other incidents on all fronts.
Fields of responsibility were also defined: It was made clear to mayors and local authority heads that they were responsible for what happened in their cities and that all other officials are supposed to support them both in routine and emergency times.
Within this framework, the IDF's Home Front Command deepened its relationship with local authorities. Every authority now has an individualized file and participates in annual exercises. Additionally, the Defense Ministry's National Emergency Management Authority, established following the failures of that war, is supposed to streamline operations in routine but primarily emergency times.
As a result, Israeli citizens are far more protected than they were 15 years ago, and more importantly, they know who to turn to in times of need. The municipal system, rescue and emergency teams, and defense officials know exactly what to do and how to act in any situation, whether that be a rocket attack or terrorist infiltration or civilian scenarios such as fires, earthquakes, heavy snow, and even cyberattacks.
Yet while our responses have improved dramatically since 2006, so too has the threat grown. Israel is threatened by over 100,000 missiles and rockets from Lebanon, tens of thousands of missiles and rockets from the Gaza Strip, and a large number of various types of missiles and rockets from more distant countries like Iran, Iraq, and Yemen. Faced with this threat, the public must know the truth: Existing systems do not and will not have the ability to intercept every single rocket and protect every citizen. In an all-out war, civilians will need to be more disciplined than in the past. They will need to stock up on water and food and spend prolonged periods of time in safe rooms. Those who don't will put their lives at risk.
The country still has a long way to go to improve its civilian defenses. Following years of delays, a plan to protect homes in the North via a concrete border wall equipped with sensors, which was to be completed in 2020, was recently launched. It will take a while for it to be completed, and even then, it will provide only a partial answer to the significant threat posed by Hezbollah in the form of rocket fire and infiltration into Israeli communities. Much also remains to be done in the Gaza periphery region, which also demands attention and the allocation of significant funds beyond those in the defense system's current budget.
Above all else, the question remains: Why is the IDF responsible for the home front? The Home Front Command was established during the Persian Gulf War when as is usually the case, the IDF took responsibility because no other body was capable of establishing such a system in such a short time.
Thirty years have since passed. Israel should ask itself whether the military should be made to divide its attention between offensive and defensive operations, whether it truly has the ability and the means to deal with the home front, and whether it would be wiser to task a civilian office – the Interior Ministry comes to mind - that is in ongoing contact with local authorities and residents and is supposed to be their one-stop-shop in emergency times as well as routine times instead.
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