Media circus causes panic in Israel
News anchors, security experts and Knesset members are all raising the panic level through the media over the rocket fire, enjoying the attention they are receiving during the “disaster marathon.”
“I'd propose that we don’t start to panic. The Israeli public knows how to act. Everybody knows what to do if the alarm goes off,” said Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, who was trying to lower the public’s anxiety level — but to no avail.
Huldai, who's also a brigadier general in the reserves and a former fighter pilot, was being interviewed July 8 for the main news broadcast on Channel 2, shortly after the siren went off in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, and a rocket fired from Gaza was shot down over the skies of Tel Aviv. The original purpose of the interview was to inform Tel Aviv residents that the municipality had decided to open its public shelters, and to deliver a soothing message. Instead, Huldai found himself in the center of a media event that is disconcerting to say the least.
