Middle East News
Israel begins largest-ever home-front emergency drill (Roundup)
Apr 6, 2008, 13:44 GMT
Tel Aviv - With fears of Iran's nuclear programme very much in mind, Israel embarked on its largest-ever home-front emergency drill Sunday, meant to simulate responses to war and other emergency situations, such as a large-scale terrorist attack.
The operative part of the five-day drill, dubbed 'Turning Point 2,' will begin Monday and will include, among other scenarios, simulated missile attacks on towns in populated areas.
Rescue services will simulate mass evacuation from hit zones - including those hit with chemical and biological weapons - and hospitals will practise treating thousands of casualties.
Israel regards Iran as is biggest existential threat, given Tehran's nuclear ambitions, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statements that the Jewish state should be wiped off the map.
During the exercise, the security, or inner, cabinet will also conduct meetings throughout the exercise, aimed at examining the effectiveness of the decision-making process during enemy attacks.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet has come in for intense criticism for its performance during the July-August 2006 war with Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.
In addition its decision-making process during that conflict, the government has also been slammed for its unpreparedness, and that of the military's Home Front Command, to the thousands of missiles Hezbollah launched at Israeli population centres.
Olmert told his ministers at Sunday's cabinet meeting in Jerusalem that the exercise was 'only a drill, with nothing hiding behind it.'
Alluding to recent tensions with Syria, the premier said that 'this drill is not part of anything else. It seems to me the Syrians know this as well; they have no reason to analyse the drill differently ... The State of Israel is not intent on any violent confrontation with Syria.'
On Saturday night Defence Minister Ehud Barak had described Israel;s northern front, which borders southern Lebanon and Syria, as 'especially sensitive.'
Israel Radio quoted him as saying that 'in our day and age, the preparedness of the home front is a critical component of military victory.'
COMMENT
blog comments powered by DisqusLatest Headlines in Middle East
- 1. Jerusalem prelate tells Arab Spring youth to have confidence
- 2. More than 100 killed in Syria ahead of ceasefire deadline
- 3. At least 43 killed in Syria, despite UN criticism
- 4. 19 killed in Syria as ceasefire deadline approaches
- 5. Pilgrims flock to Jerusalem for Easter, Passover
Older Talkback
page: 1
iranian, your regime-of-evil president ahmadinejad doesn't say 'Israel' because he refuses to accept the reality of Israel and probably fears that he would choke on the word 'Israel'.
I personally hope ahmadinejad finds himself suffering from an OCD, saying 'Israel' non-stop until something 'good' happens to him.
ahmadinejad prefers to say 'zionist regime', the islamist code word for Israel, and threatens genocide against Israel AKA 'the zionist regime'.
How do iranian rockets aimed at Israel only attack a 'zionist regime' and not the inhabitants of Israel?
Would you be upset if the leader of a country said something like 'wipe the islamist regime currently occupying tehran or mecca'?
I think you would.
Apparently an American cares more about Israel than America. A Person with dual loyalty or may be just one loyalty to Israel.
If the American really cares about Israel he or she should move to Israel not to enjoy the convenience of US and then give lip-service to Israel.
A regime could be over-thrown, as the Iranian No. 1 pointed out.
Israeli regime was created by a minority population against the wishes of the majority, has systematically disenfranchised against arab population and its stated goal is to precisely root out and wipe out that population.
No government in the world is more committed to genocide than the government of Israel. So the American's case falls flat on its face.
Ahmadinejad was calling for over-throwing the regime at Telaviv, which is not entirely a horrible thing, since the American government routinely calls for overthrowing regimes it deems unfavorable to its strategic interests, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Soviet Union, Venezuela and the list goes on and on.
The Israelis previously were called for overthrowing every arab governemnt from Nile to Euphrate, so if Israel can do that, so can any body else.
Remember what Moshe Dyan the Israeli war hero said,
'We came here to a country that was populated by Arabs and we are building here a Hebrew, a Jewish state; instead of the Arab villages, Jewish villages were established. You even do not know the names of those villages, and I do not blame you because these villages no longer exist. There is not a single Jewish settlement that was not established in the place of a former Arab Village.'
—Moshe Dyan, March 19, 1969, speech at the Technion in Haifa, 'Israel' quoted in Haaretz, April 4, 1969. (385 villages have been destroyed within pre-1967 Israel...)
iranian #2 said...
>Apparently an American cares more about Israel than America. A Person with dual loyalty or may be just one loyalty to Israel.
I side with the USA and its Allies. You iranian #2 side with islamist thugocracies, enemies of the US and Western civilization.
>If the American really cares about Israel he or she should move to Israel not to enjoy the convenience of US and then give lip-service to Israel.
Yada, Yada, Yada. I expect that your current day regime-of-evil will suffer the same fate as your prior hero nazi Germany did with the big difference that the Israelis are not the unarmed Jews of WW2.
BTW iranian #2, remember what happened on Decmember 11, 1941? nazi germany declared War on the US. On May 7th 1945 nazi Germany surrendered, unconditionally to the US, UK and Soviet Union. I expect the iranian regime will suffer the same fate as nazi Germany.
> A regime could be over-thrown, as the Iranian No. 1 pointed out.
I look forward to the inevitable over-throw of the persian/“aryan” regime-of-evil with help from friends of the US outside and INSIDE iran.
> Israeli regime was created by a minority population against the wishes of the majority, has systematically disenfranchised against arab population and its stated goal is to precisely root out and wipe out that population.
arab interlopers invaded Israel and now the arab invaders are upset that the original owners want their property back? Remember iranian #2, Islam is a late comer on the scene. Judaism and Christianity PREDATE Islam. The Jews were in Israel BEFORE Islam. The Koran mentions Moses and Jesus, the People of the Book. The Old and New Testaments have no mention of mohammed/muhammed or Islam.
> No government in the world is more committed to genocide than the government of Israel. So the American's case falls flat on its face.
Another Islamist/Socialist fantasy. There are over 1.5 million Arabs living IN Israel. Supposedly 3 million Arabs living in the “territories”. 4 million Arabs. How are 4 million Arabs a genocide? Were there 8 million Arabs in Israel before?
The fact is that the regime-of-evil, the axis-of-evil are planning a genocide of Jews, Christians, Hindus, Ba-Hais, Buddhists to bring back the “12th Imam”.
The Islamist taliban of Afghanistan destroyed with dynamite, the two 1,500 year old Buddahs of Bamyan Afghanistan. An example of Muslim respect for non-Muslim holy sites? Look it up.
So if any case falls flat on its face, it is the case of apologists of Islamism and the iranian regime.
> Ahmadinejad was calling for over-throwing the regime at Telaviv, which is not entirely a horrible thing, since the American government routinely calls for overthrowing regimes it deems unfavorable to its strategic interests, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Soviet Union, Venezuela and the list goes on and on.
Really? Exactly where in Iranian #1 posts did islamist, genocidal ahmadinejad mention “Telaviv”?
Thankfully with fidel out of the picture, the castro dictatorship of Cuba is on its last legs.
> The Israelis previously were called for overthrowing every arab governemnt from Nile to Euphrate, so if Israel can do that, so can any body else.
Q. Proof where Israel said such a thing – or just another fantasy?
A. The latter.
> Remember what Moshe Dyan the Israeli war hero said,
Moshe Dayan, the Israeli general who troops defeated Arab armies in the 6-Day War. A true War Hero.
'> We came here to a country that was populated by Arabs and we are building here a Hebrew, a Jewish state; instead of the Arab villages, Jewish villages were established. You even do not know the names of those villages, and I do not blame you because these villages no longer exist. There is not a single Jewish settlement that was not established in the place of a former Arab Village.'
—Moshe Dyan, March 19, 1969, speech at the Technion in Haifa, 'Israel' quoted in Haaretz, April 4, 1969. (385 villages have been destroyed within pre-1967 Israel...)
Arab villages were established in place of Jewish villages. Remember, Judaism came long before Islam. Moses, whom you call Mussa, was a JEW, NOT a Muslim. Or did Islam hijack Moses too?
BTW JORDAN is “palestine”. The late King Hussein of Jordan ejected several thousand plo terrorists who were attempting to hijack the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
The president of the iranian regime has stated his goal of the genocide of “Israel”. Infact the 'moderate' iranian religious leader rafsanjani (normally a religious leader is a man of peace, but NOT in iran) stated that he is willing to suffer the deaths of 15 million to destroy Israel.
So here we have an iranian calling for genocide of Jews AND Muslims.
I have seen Iranians who wish to overthrow the iranian theocracy. There are many people working towards the elimination of ahmadinejad and his puppet masters.
And most importantly, Israel is just one country that is under attack by radical Islam.
Majority Hindu India almost had a nuclear war with Muslim Pakistan over land, Kashmir.
Do not be so foolish to think that Israel is alone and defenseless and can not punish its attackers.
page: 1
IranianApr 6th, 2008 - 16:48:59
When it comes to the remarks made by Dr. Ahmadinejad and the following zionists media propaganda, this is what our president said.
'The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time'.
Word by word translation:
Imam (Khomeini) ghoft (said) een (this) rezhim-e (regime) ishghalgar-e (occupying) qods (Jerusalem) bayad (must) az safheh-ye ruzgar (from page of time) mahv shavad (vanish from)
Dr. Ahmadinejad did not refer to Israel the country or Israel the land mass, but the Israeli regime. This is a vastly significant distinction, as one cannot wipe a regime off the map. Our president does not even refer to Israel by name, he instead uses the specific phrase 'rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods' (regime occupying Jerusalem). That's because the word 'map' was never used. The Persian word for map, 'nagsheh', is not contained anywhere in his original farsi quote, or, for that matter, anywhere in his entire speech. Nor was the western phrase 'wipe out' ever said. Yet YOU are led to believe that Iran's President threatened to 'wipe Israel off the map', despite never having uttered the words 'map', 'wipe out' or even 'Israel'.
Report this comment