Eye on the Enemy: General Benny Gantz warns from draft dodging

A military source told "Walla!News" that "if the crew had been adhering to the procedures then the missiles wouldn't have dislodged. The penalties imposed on the officer and the NCO, were appropriate. "It is a miracle that a disaster haven't occurred, had there been a soldier standing under the interception projectiles, he would have been seriously wounded and in the worst case he would have been probably killed."

Last Thursday, it was revealed that troops from the air defense unit failed in installing interceptor projectiles in one of the rocket systems during an exercise in the school of the unit near Kibbutz Ramat in Naqab (Negev), where 20 of them fell several meters off and were damaged. The initial investigation revealed that the soldiers who have loaded the projectiles improperly secured the missile while being loaded onto a truck for maintenance, which then fell off of the back of a truck. No one was injured in the accident, but the Air Force was financially damaged, and the rockets were rendered useless. The cost of each interceptor projectile is estimated about 50 thousand dollars, and hence the total damage assessed is at a million dollars at least. The projectiles damaged were transferred to Rafael to check their functionality.
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General Benny Gantz warns from draft dodging

Amir Bohbot - Walla!News

Chief of Staff - Major General Benny Gantz, warned against the phenomenon of evasion, and called to increase the recruitment rate of ultra-Orthodox to the "Israeli" Army. Speaking yesterday at the ceremony of Ben Gurion prize, Gantz warned that "the internal division in society is increasing, and becoming a dangerous rift".

The prize, worth 50 thousand shekels, is awarded annually by "Yad Ben Gurion" Association for advancing development of the Naqab (Negev). This year it was awarded to the "Israeli" army and Chief of Staff who took in charge the Bedouin Reconnaissance Battalion, to develop educational plans for the soldiers who serve in it.
The ceremony was held in the presence of President Shimon Peres and with the participation of former chiefs of staff Gabi Ashkenazi , Amnon Lipkin-Shahak and Minister Moshe Ya'alon. Gantz said that they need to address urgently the problem of draft dodging. "We must continue to integrate women in every position where they can fulfill the tasks, and we must continue to integrate our fellow Druze, Circassians and Bedouins. We must act to recruiting more Haredis, without harming them or harming the battalion in which they serve," Chief of Staff explained.

Gantz said, "Recently, due to the budgetary distress and the need for more operations, concepts are being developed and voices are heard calling to concentrate resources only in raising the alert for any conflict that might break, and focus only on a significant military action". He stressed on the importance of military education, and said that "compulsory service should be for everyone, and only later, when everyone will take an active part in building the country and protection, we can deal with complex threats."

Yitzhak Navon, the former president delivered a speech at the ceremony in which he spoke of the latest ultra-Orthodox protest in al-Quds (Jerusalem) yesterday. "We saw a shocking imitation of the extermination camp prisoners, with a yellow star on their clothes. A little boy was standing there with his hands up in fear. "Who taught him that?" Navon questioned. "How will this child grow up with such circumstances?
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HFC to Alert Citizens against Incoming Missiles Via SMS

Walla!News

Home Front Command has conducted tests yesterday (Sunday) and today to the "text message" system that will warn the residents in real time, according to location, of incoming missiles and rockets.

The experiment took place between the hours of eight thirty in the morning and ended around five in the afternoon, and it stimulated a rockets' fall on the HFC'S camp Zeevi, near the city of Ramallah. Anyone found in the region will receive a SMS on his mobile phone with a warning of an incoming missile. Home Front Command emphasized that nearby mobile phones will receive the messages- in the camp, in the cities of Lydda and Ramallah and the Gezer Regional Council.

"since the computerized information system uses a set of horns and the surrounding neighborhood citizens can hear the siren and move to a secure area, it was decided to try another system by which we send text messages to mobile devices of the citizens", a senior officer at ICT explained to Walla! News.
"The test was a success during "Turning Point 5" civil defense drill ", the senior officer said."During the experiment hundreds of civilians received the message" this is a test message, Home Front Command wishes you a good day", while in the real time they will be notified of an incoming missile so then they know they have to move quickly to a more secure area ".

Sirens will be activated in one street rather than in an entire city
The second phase will include system development for e-mail messages, taking over radio and television channels. According to the officer, the issue of transferring messages via various media channels is being discussed with relevant companies and related institutions to regulate the issue during an emergency.

In addition to these systems, other systems were developed, which enable the Home Front Command to know the location of the missile precisely, the damages it caused and gather these information at one center. "This is a system called a " ram's horn ", which includes a large number of sensors in the Air Force that identify the missile type, size and its location and according to these info the system of sirens will be turned on," the officer said. He said that the system will turn on the sirens in a specific neighborhood street thus they won't be activated in the entire city.


Source: Hebrew Newspapers, Translated by moqawama.org team