Emergency Drill Held in Bnei Brak – But No One Even Notices

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bnei-brakDowntown Bnei Brak barely noticed the siren that wailed through the bustling streets at 11 a.m. yesterday morning, marking the signal for all Israelis to rush to their designated bomb shelters as part of the weeklong national drill meant to prepare the Israeli home front for expected future missile barrages from Iran, Hezbollah or Hamas. Despite the minute-long siren, nobody left the streets for the nearest bomb shelter, as per government instructions. Nobody even stopped talking. One driver stuck in traffic on the corner of Rechov Akiva and Rechov Tarfon honked harder so his exasperation could be heard over the siren.

Everyone seemed oblivious to the drill, which is being touted by authorities as critical for Israel’s preparedness for the massive assault its cities are expected to absorb in any new round of fighting.

Israelis were notified of the drill through television and radio ads, newspaper announcements and even SMS messages sent from the IDF’s Home Front Command.

Did they even know about the drill?

“Sure we did,” said a young woman moments after the siren. “It was on the radio – everybody listens to the radio. And they put little magnets on all the front doors of all the apartments in my building warning us about it.”

The trouble was that she didn’t know where the nearest bomb shelter was. “I have one in my apartment building, but at 11 a.m., I’m at work,” she said, stacking candy in an aisle of her convenience store on Rechov Tarfon.

“Everybody knows about it,” confirmed an old man standing in the street outside a nearby yeshiva. “But like any other Israelis, we won’t run around for the practice. If it’s ever for real – God forbid – then we’ll go to the shelters.”

But others were not so optimistic.

“My building’s shelter is full of old furniture, and it’s rusted shut,” said an old woman from Rechov Jabotinsky, a thoroughfare that cuts through the Ramat Gan-Bnei Brak urban sprawl.

“My shelter isn’t ready yet,” added another old woman, who would identify herself only as Pesia. “I just hope we never need them in real life.”

In a hat store across the street from one of the ubiquitous neighborhood yeshivos, 20-something Itzik Azoulay was quietly reading Yediot Acharonot.

“I know about the drill from the papers and the radio,” he says, “but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Do you see signs to the nearest shelter? I don’t even know who to call to find out.”

 {Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel/JPost}


5 COMMENTS

  1. i am totally sickened by this! if some of the shelters are not rady then why doesnt the gov go and fix it? and what happenes if chv there is a need for a drill then what? huh?

  2. What a shame that no one notices?
    Bombs and rockets can not determine one Jew from another. Get alive and follow safety procedures. If you do not want to follow the governments siren then do one on your own between mincha and maariv.

  3. But like any other Israelis, we won’t run around for the practice. If it’s ever for real – God forbid – then we’ll go to the shelters.”

    Is this halacha lemeisa? We do not do it for practice******do you go for annual medical checkups? do you bring in your car for service & maintance? do you defrost your freezer?

    Find out where the shelters are, clean them out, prepare as any yirei shamayim would.

  4. The Chazon Aish said that in bnei brak there will never be a terrist attack and was there ever? SO WHY do they need bomb shelters?

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