Middle East - AP
Israeli Government Recalling Gas Masks
Date: Wed, Jun 16, 2004
By STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - Israel will collect the millions of gas masks held by Israeli citizens, who have had them for more than a decade as protection against chemical and biological attacks, the Security Cabinet decided Wednesday.
Israeli officials said the gas mask kits, many of them no longer in working order, would be rounded up by a private company as a moneysaving step, reflecting the decreased threat of a chemical attack against Israel with the fall of Iraq (news - web sites)'s Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
Deputy defense minister Zeev Boim said just renewing old kits — which contain gas masks, filters, syringes with an antidote to nerve gas and powder for neutralizing chemicals — cost $66 million a year.
"The enormous economic benefit of this operation is clear," Boim told Israel Radio.
The radio said collection would begin soon, but gave no date.
The protective kits were originally distributed in 1990, ahead of the first Gulf war. During that war, Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel. All had conventional explosive warheads, causing considerable damage but relatively few casualties.
Before last year's U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the military instructed Israelis to report to distribution points to renew old kits.
With last year's invasion approaching, the military ordered civilians to open the kits and install a filter on the mask — rendering millions of filters useless after a few weeks at a cost of millions of dollars — and telling Israelis to carry their gas mask with them at all times.
Even at the time, the military was telling the public that the risk of a chemical attack from Iraq was extremely low.
Most citizens ignored the army order to carry their gas masks, and even Cabinet ministers were seen in public without them.
However, some Israeli officials continued to warn of the possibility that Saddam might launch a chemical or biological attack against Israel if his regime was about to fall. No such attack happened, and the military was strongly criticized for its costly orders.
Because no weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons, have been found in Iraq in the meantime, Israeli intelligence has come under the same scrutiny as U.S. and British services for its warnings.
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