The Israel Defense Force has decided not to begin the general distribution of gas masks to civilians at this time in order to avoid provoking hostile action by the unpredictable Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Gen. Dan Shomron, IDF chief of staff, announced Thursday night.
He spoke after near panic gripped some parts of the country, following threats by Hussein to use chemical warheads against Israel if Iraq were attacked by Israeli warplanes masquerading as American.
Shomron explained on Israel Television that the decision to defer the general distribution of gas masks and anti-chemical warfare kits was made because if they were distributed to Israeli civilians now, Saddam Hussein might assume an attack by Israel was imminent, Shomron observed.
Shomron said the Iraqi charge of Israeli collusion with the United States seems to have two objectives.
One is to convince the Arab states that Israel is their common enemy, and that they should therefore join Iraq in confronting Israel and its American supporters.
The second objective is to warn Israel to take no action against Iraq.
Under these circumstances, Israel should refrain from hasty action which might engender a warlike atmosphere, the chief of staff said.
Without offering details, he suggested that the situation is not as dire as many Israelis thought it was earlier in the day.
But the situation was not helped when the director general of the Prime Minister’s Office, Yossi Ben-Aharon, warned Thursday that Israel must be prepared for an Iraqi chemical attack at any moment.
In some areas, concern approached panic when it was learned that civil defense organizations would not complete the distribution of gas masks and anti-chemical warfare kits until the end of the year.
The kits contain disposable syringes with atropine, an antidote against nerve gas.
The fear was most pronounced in the densely populated Tel Aviv area and Safed in Galilee, the parts of the country slated to receive gas masks first.
It was less evident in Jerusalem, where residents entertained the notion that the large Arab population and the presence of Islamic shrines would serve as a protective umbrella.
Gas masks and protective kits are not unfamiliar to Israelis. They have been distributed experimentally in recent years, though not at such critical times as now.
The earlier trial distributions proved a farce. Follow-up investigations showed that gas masks were damaged or misused by many of the civilian recipients.
Children ended up playing with them as toys, and many wore them to Purim costume parties. Farmers wore them to dust crops or driving tractors over dusty roads.
Now, with fresh threats from an Iraqi ruler known for his hostility and ruthlessness, some Israelis have demanded that gas masks be distributed immediately.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
