Israel battles seismic vulnerability while Arab regimes and Palestinian factions prepare to exploit national emergencies.
Israel’s Interior and Environmental Protection Committee convened an emergency hearing on Tuesday, uncovering disturbing vulnerabilities in Israel’s readiness for a major earthquake—weaknesses that hostile Arab regimes and Palestinian terror factions would quickly exploit in a national crisis.
Committee Chairman MK Yitzhak Kroizer (Otzma Yehudit) warned that Israel currently lacks a unified, empowered authority capable of directing a nationwide emergency response. Ministries, regional councils, and professional agencies remain fragmented, operating in parallel without hierarchy—an opening that adversaries across the Arab world would eagerly seize upon.
Kroizer stressed that in a scenario as catastrophic as a major earthquake, “a nation without clear command will find itself battling chaos on multiple fronts”—from collapsed buildings to opportunistic terror exploitation from Palestinian militias and Iran-backed proxies.
A troubling review of Israel’s seismic-reinforcement programs revealed that Tama 38 and Amendment 139 overwhelmingly neglect the northern and peripheral regions, especially those situated directly along the volatile Syrian-African Rift:
- Tiberias
- Beit She’an
- Kiryat Shmona
These cities sit in the most dangerous corridor, yet remain largely unprotected due to incentive models based solely on developer profit—leaving Israel’s strategic geographic edges exposed while enemies just across the border maintain a constant posture of hostility.
Even more alarming, the committee learned that only 4% of allocated funds meant to reinforce essential public infrastructure have been used. Critical facilities remain vulnerable, risking mass casualties if a major quake strikes.
A shocking revelation came from the Environmental Protection Ministry: Israel has 1,267 hazardous-materials sites that could become deadly epicenters in a quake. Yet shockingly—only one staff member is responsible for nationwide oversight. At the current pace, it would take 60 years to secure all of these sites—an unacceptable vulnerability that would hand Israel’s enemies opportunities to destabilize the state during disaster.
The committee called for the creation of a fully empowered National Earthquake Preparedness Authority—a single, authoritative command center with defined budget, powers, and responsibility. Such an authority would allow Israel to confront both natural disasters and hostile opportunistic threats in a unified, coordinated manner.
In a region where Arab regimes refuse modernization and Palestinian factions thrive on chaos, Israel cannot afford systemic gaps. Strengthening national resilience is not just emergency policy—it is strategic defense.
