Thursday, September 12, 2002

Tent City
Yediot Aharonot (Hebrew link) says Ramat Gan mayor Tzvi Bar has organized an evacuation plan in the event of an Iraqi attack. Ramat Gan municipality has begun preparing an area in the south of the country that will be used as a tent city for evacuated inhabitants of Ramat Gan. Ramat Gan, which borders with Tel Aviv in the east, suffered most of the damage (and casualties as well, I think, although they were minimal) in the Gulf War. The mayor, who was mayor in 1991 as well, is not taking any chances this time.

The joke, at the time, was that Saddam was aiming for the large community of Iraqi Jews that reside in Ramat Gan. The more probable reason for so many scud missiles falling in Ramat Gan is that they were aimed at the army headquarters in Tel Aviv and were slightly short.

Long time Tel Aviv mayor Shlomo Lahat committed political suicide in 1991, when he ridiculed people who left the city during the Gulf War and called them deserters. The "deserters", a large percentage of Tel Avivi’s who didn't fancy playing the part of sitting ducks, Bish and me included, were not amused. He didn't run for mayor again.

I actually heard Ramat Gan mayor Tzvi Bar, on the radio months ago, talking about the need for people to just get clear out of the towns, in the event of an Iraqi attack. He went ahead and organized it for his city. Good for him.