The Wunderland that is Europe covers large areas and a multitude of Nations. Some are able to handle snow, Swiss whereas others stumble from one year to the next, never getting it right. UK rely on salt, often lacking when the snow comes. The author is ignorant, loves knocking Israel Our third year in Israel, 2 with snowfall , and am impressed how life goes on pleasantly Do Not Blame Sima

and not everything works as planned. I was in Virginia in '96 and the blizzard hit that winter for about 2 days and it was a mess.Snow falls in those regions every year and plenty of it, and yet you had the usual difficulties to repair fallen line, get to stranded areas, and worse. So please stop your sorry ass attempt at behaving like you are so concerned about the state of affairs.

If the State had allocated the funds for European or American style snow removal equipment then we would have all yelled at the expense! And justly so! How about some gratitude instead of your Monday morning quaterbacking.

i lived for about the same time in germany and i don't remember ONE winter with the power outages you describe. in all big cities- definitively the size and importance of Jerusalem electric lines run underground. people there tend not to depend one one source of energy. most households have electricity and gas. it would be a good idea also for israelis not to put all the trust in the IEC. we were not prepared as we are not prepared for other major natural catastrophies (earthquakes). it's high time for the individual to prepare and not rely solely on a system that crashes in emergencies

The infrastructure cannot be prepared for a storm that is more severe than any over the past 100 (150?) years. The storm was too extreme to expect some of the trees and electric poles not to be toppled by the wind. Now that it has happened, more precautions can be taken. Yes, I am sure these weather related failures happen everywhere.

You're whining. Every city and town here in the northeast comes to a standstill when there's a little snow. And we get MUCH more of it. Be cool and quit being so bitchy.

Kadmon, your cries of "third world incompetence" are uncalled for! Here in the Washington, DC area we average such a snowstorm usually once every 5-7 years, though a few years ago we experienced three such storms in a single season, which we came to call snow-mageddon. Yet even with such experience, with all our snow plows and power crews and crisis management centers, with each such snowstorm there are scores of thousands left without power, often for days. Train service is halted, and the Metro operates only underground. Flights are cancelled and people are stranded People abandon their cars in the snow and the focus is in clearing the main roads. (And yes, we have people crying, "What about us?") Nature is a bitch, especially if she shows her fury only once in a hundred years. The mature deal with it.

the Municipality is a bunch of big talkers "there proud of their efforts" what a joke!! this is a regular storm in the northeast USA... Do you know what what they do in the city of NY?? Just put a plow on every gargabge truck and drive the streets... how hard is that? all u need to invest is 200K for some plows! yes, and have cause "maybe" it can cripple the entire capital! doesnt that make sense?? (And use at least oncce a year for the past couple of years..) some sense.. to close roads just shows we cannot help you prople.. now suffer till the sun shines... BIBI I LIKE THOSE POSES FOR THE CAMERA.>>>

Hi, if anybody out there has a friend in the electric co, I, in telz stone, and also abu ghosh, still have no power

Obviously this amount of snow in the center of Israel is not a common occurrence. So, let's learn from our mistakes. Clearly, equipment to clear snow must be purchased, salt, sand, gravel, and the equipment to spread them should be made available. If this equipment was on hand, there woud be no need to strand thousands of motorists on the road between Tel Aviv and Yerushalayim. So, please government representatives let us be better prepared for the next storm.

"the past 48 hours is equivalent to much less than what we will suffer here every five minutes in a war with Iran." so it's not really about the snowstorm, is it? if it were, i would have expected an ending something like: "we shouldn't need a commission of inquiry to learn from this that our shelters are in a state of neglect and we are unprepared for events that would disrupt our infrastructure and our lives. we need to improve home front readiness!"

Back in 2008 we were hit by a storm smaller then what just hit Israel. We didnt have power for 2.5 weeks (lucky for the schools we were on winter break) There were trees everywhere but maybe 2 feet of snow and we are used to weather like this but it still shut down the entire city for 2.5 weeks until (the night before school) everything melted and it was as if it never happened...Moral of the story, stuff happens you can try the best you can to fight it but Hashem (or nature whatever you want to call it) will always be stronger and the best thing to do is find the bright side (time to hang out with family and friends, instead of tv, computers and fully charged smartphones, time to sit and play board games, go to sleep on time and not stay up till midnight or later, see the beauty of the city you live in!!)

Please can u write about the emergency services that did amazing work. Incredible little country does not need complaints and blame mongers

is not paralizing the whole country for long time and not demolish electric grid so badly. Same in Canada, Russia. Those who defending the goverment are North Korea style supporters that obviously did not spend last 3 days and nights in cold dark rooms. Where are the resque teams? Still busy in Phillipines and Haiti? Goverment is helpless when come to disaters as forest fires on the North or snow in the hights. Have any doubts that predicted earthquqe in Israel will be a national catastrophe?

Europe and the US have major epic storms on a regular basis. They get lots of second chances to try again. But did you notice what happens in Europe when something extraordinary hits them, like a sweltering summer heat wave ? Many, I mean dozens, drop dead like flies.

Government gives people gas mask kits as standard so why not hand out free snow shovels, snow chains for tires and cold weather gear? This is supposed to be a modern country but its like a third world one because government didnt' give us the basics for if we have one of these once every 50 year storms'. Disgraceful its like a third world country so we better make sure the Iranians don't know otherwise they will invent special missiles to make it snow so they can cripple the country.

First of all, the storm Israel experienced is exceptional, even in Europe and is far from 'a regular winter day'. Here in Holland, Northern Europe, we haven't seen a snowflake yet this winter, let alone nothing that could compare to what Israel has had over the past week. And even when we do have snowstorms, the country is just as paralyzed as Israel was. The trains stop running, roads close and there are many problems. And this is in a country where snow is far more common than in Israel. Is it strange that Israel is less used to snow when the average temperature in winter is 15 C? How do you think European countries would handle the 40 C summer's that Israel is used to. Countries differ in climate and therefore in preparedness for climate-related calamities. I thought a 5yo knew that, but clearly you didn't, or you wouldn't have written this ridiculous editorial.

Most people here have nothing bad to say about this situation, which i find ironic because thats very unisraeli of you. It seems your all here to defend Israel's honor and your doing a good job. I would add only that youn cant have it both ways to pretend everything is normal and ok and be prepared for next time. just because you think Israel is lacking in certain areas doesn't mean your less patriotic

In NZ, we know the South Island will get snow every year, but when the snow is heavy, lambs die, power goes down and houses are cut off- sometimes for more than a week. In NZ journalists dont bash their own country the way Israelis do. We are always 1st in the world after..Stop it.

shelters that are accessible for everyone. This kind of storm happens only ever so often, rockets from gaza or Lebanon or Syria are far more likely to fall on Israel than heavy snow.

A bit of snow fell, some people got stuck in cars, some lost power, no big deal. In snowy countries it happens a lot, here it's a novelty. The police, army and electric company worked hard and got things straightened out. The only failure was the screaming hysteria of the media. In a cynical and malicious attempt to profit from others misfortune the media is out to destroy the people who really worked. The only inquiry needed is into the atrocious behaviour of the media.

A "bit" of snow ? "some" people got stuck in cars ? "some" lost power ? More than 30,000 people lost power . You forgot that we are NOT a snowy country ! The media in hysteria ? they reported what people wanted and needed to know .

@#39 - just read another article about kids having to steal to eat. We don't need to waste money on more plows etc so they can be used once a year maybe. Yes power cables should be underground so people doesn't lose electric. I remember in America hearing a major storm was coming I would go shopping and stock up my kitchen. We had warning this storm was coming. Grow up people our Gov't handled this as best as they could - And tell me what is wrong with Bibi having his picture taken? what did you expect him to start shoveling snow? And I am NO Bibi fan

I like your sense of humour and how you always have something to argue in fabor of the israeli goverment investments! Wow but the israeli goverment shut down the Dimana Nuclear facilities since january 2012, Why to invest in a CERN membership for 13.7 million dollars per year???- isint that out of touch?

And this same bunch of squabbling finger pointing authorities will still be there squabbling and finger pointing over the misfortunes, no catastrophes, of an ill-advised self-declared war, Do reconsider Bibi

Every day theres no public transportation for workers, customers, students, teachers, etc is millions of shekels the goverment is losing taxes . Time is money! And money is what keeps a healthy economy in shape. Israel goverment can get tons of salt from many water desalinations facilities.