"All of the threats that are currently being directed against the Israeli home front are dwarfed by a particular threat, different in scope, different in substance, and therefore I reiterate that Iran cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at today's cabinet meeting today.
"There has been a significant improvement in our home front defense capabilities, in Iron Dome, in the Arrow, in structural reinforcements and bomb shelters, in warnings and in other areas. One cannot say that there are no problems in this field because there always are," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu went on to say, "For decades, governments did not invest enough in home front defense. The missile era began in 1991, during the Gulf War, and some people say that it began before then. I think that there has been a great change under our government. We established a separate ministry to deal with this.
Ministers hold bi-weekly meetings, along with the National Security Adviser, and monitor the necessary steps to upgrade home front defense. We are investing billions in home front defense, in Iron Dome, in the Arrow, and in other systems that are under development. We are investing a lot of money in defending facilities, institutions and homes. We are holding preparedness exercises for various scenarios regarding home front defense; such an exercise is being held today. We are thoroughly upgrading our warning systems, in which Israel is among the most developed in the world and we are doing other things which I shall not detail here."
Netanyahu updated the cabinet on his conversation with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon about reports that he intends to travel to a conference of non-aligned countries in Tehran. "I told him that with all his good intentions, he must not give legitimacy to a regime that disseminates horrific anti-Semitism, the likes of which we have not seen in several decades, since World War II, and to a regime that declares its intention to destroy the State of Israel, that violates all UN decisions, not just against its nuclear program, but against the convention against genocide as well."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 12, 2012
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