Shaul Mofaz Slams Decision By Netanyahu on Gas Masks
Former Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz slams Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu: "It was a mistake not to provide gas masks to the entire population."
On the eve of the likely strike on Syria, former defense minister and current Knesset member Shaul Mofaz lashed out at the decision which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu espoused about three years ago to distribute gas masks to only 60% of the population. As chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Mofaz struggled to change that decision. In light of the recent run on the gas mask distribution centers, the pandemonium and the long lines, he said that the mistake should be rectified as soon as possible if only to increase peoples' sense of personal security.
The stocks cannot be replenished before the expected strike on Syria, because it would take months to complete an order for several hundred thousand gas masks. Yet in an interview to Al-Monitor, Mofaz estimated that the probability that Syria will attack Israel is low. He also supported the American decision to deal a military blow in order to prevent the dangerous precedent of using weapons of mass destruction.
The decision to procure gas masks for only 60% of the population was made during your term as chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. What was the underlying logic?
"It was to save money. This is a very complicated issue. As defense minister in 2003, during the Second Gulf War, I insisted that gas masks be provided to 100% of the population. Over the years, different decisions had been adopted, but in the last three years it was decided to hand out masks to only 60% of the population. As chairman of the committee, I was opposed to that decision. I said that there were two options: Either you hand out the masks to everyone or to no one. Obviously it makes no sense not to hand them out at all.
