With gas masks running out, half of Israel remains unprotected

About half of Israel's population will not receive an Atomic Biological Chemical (ABC) protective kit, which includes an age-appropriate gas mask, when the Israel Defense Force's Home Front Command halts its distribution program in two months' time. According to defense officials, the program is no longer sustainable due to lack of funds, and gas mask manufacturing plants would eventually have to be closed down if no budget is allocated.

Currently there are two plants in Israel that manufacture protective kits: Supergum Industries in Rosh HaAyin and Shalon Chemical Industries Ltd in Kiryat Gat. Homefront Defense Minister Matan Vilnai (Independence) has ordered the plants to keep manufacturing the minimum amount of gas masks required to keep them afloat, some 100,000 masks through the end of 2012, in a last-ditch attempt to prevent the closure.

However, the plant owners have said that their current budgets will run out in the coming months, and barring any significant policy changes, they will have no choice but to close certain assembly lines, and possibly both plants.

Shalon Chemical Industries Vice President Itay Barel said Monday that the company had fired more than 40 employees over the past month, and that 30 more would be laid off in the coming weeks. "The current budget will last us through June. If we don't receive more money, closing the plant will be unavoidable," he said.

"We're talking about 70 employees being laid off – that's a blow to 70 families in Kiryat Gat," he went on to say. "Instead of hiring 700 people to make up for the shortage of gas masks, we're laying people off."

Currently there are 4.2 million protective kits in Israel, with 3.8 million already distributed to the general public. The remaining 400,000 will be distributed in the coming months.

A Homefront Command official said recently that the main shortage is in adult gas masks, with NIS 1.2 billion required to produce enough masks for every adult in Israel. The Homefront Command is asking for an annual budget of NIS 250 million, at least for the coming years, in order to equip every citizen with a protective kit.

Only 61% of residents of Gush Dan, the most populated area in Israel, have gas masks. In the general population the percentage of citizens who own gas masks drops to 48%.

Israelis are expected to be ready to strap on a gas mask in the event of an unconventional weapon attack. The last time the Israeli populace was ordered to use gas masks was during the 1991 Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein's Iraq launched SCUD missiles into Israel. Saddam's weapons were suspected of carrying biological or chemical warheads. The SCUDs ultimately turned out to be conventional explosives, but at the sound of the siren, every Israeli citizen with a gas mask headed for a safe room and strapped it on.