Minister: IDF can't even defend itself

Responding to exposed weakness in Rabin Base security, MK Eldad says IDF can't even defend self. Past and present Base workers not surprised by findings

Yael Branovsky|Published: 12.03.06 , 14:57

Following the exposure of the Israel Defense Force's weakness and faulty defense of Rabin Base in Tel Aviv, MK Arieh Eldad (National Union-National Religious Party) said Sunday that "the IDF's failure to guard Israel both from the north and the south is expressed in its failure to defend itself."

These failures were discovered following a surprise security investigation that was executed on the base. The investigators discovered smug guards, faulty equipment, and pedestrians being able to walk in and out of the base freely.

The soldiers were even able to execute a few mock terror attacks.

Security Breach

Mock attack carried out against general staff base

Hanan Greenberg

Rabin Base, containing offices of IDF generals, defense minister and prime minister in Tel Aviv, discovered to be very exposed to terror threats, according to security investigation

Mock attack carried out against general staff base

"The government was very aware of the severity of the security faults, but still dismissed the proposal for the law on protecting strategic devices that I proposed just two weeks ago – not because they were unaware, but because they couldn’t reach common ground between the clashing interests of the internal security minister, the defense minister and the prime minister;" said MK Eldad.

Eldad also announced that he plans to hold an urgent discussion in the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on the discovered faults.

Soldiers not surprised

Soldiers who have served on the base in the past were not surprised to hear about the security failures.

Shauli Samuelov, a soldier who served there between 1996-1999 responded by saying nothing has changed in a decade.

"In my time they also performed surprise inspections and found many faults in security. I even remember that once someone entered the base with a fake ID," said Samuelov, "furthermore, because of personnel shortage, I was posted at the gate quite a few times, even though I have no professional training for that."

Samuelov also added that many of the soldiers serving on the base have their share of personal problems, which distract them from their tasks: "The shifts were supposed to be 7 to 8 hours long, but sometimes were made longer…… this caused the soldiers to completely lose motivation."

Most of the soldiers serving on the base today were not willing to comment on the security breaches that were found.

One of the guards on the base explained how easy it was for the investigating team to get the mock explosives on to the base: "Since there's no physical check after presenting a pass, someone could have simply obtained a pass from the officials on the base, and entered with the fake explosives on the base."