A real danger to life: a
significant number of the armored vehicles that travel in threatened areas in Judea and Samaria are disabled or in very poor condition, due to the security situation and the numerous stone throwing and IDF attacks, along with several incidents of shooting at buses, Israel Hayom has learned.
The situation is so bad that officials who are aware of the details say that the day is not far when there will be a shortage of buses to transport students.
"We are close to the day when children will ask for transportation to school, and there will be no bus to transport them," warns a security official.
For many years there has been no regular budget to finance bullet-proof vehicles, while in some areas there is an obligation to travel only as part of public transportation and student transportation.
Instead, the ministries of transportation and defense received tens of millions of shekels as part of coalition agreements.
The problem is that in the last three years the budget given to the entire system was tiny and ridiculous.
Stones, anti-aircraft guns and gunfire reduced the number of vehicles, photo: Gil Eliyahu/Gini
This created an absurd situation: the terrorists target the buses and emergency vehicles, but their budget is meager to non-existent.
The security system estimates the critical annual need for the economy to be at least 45 million shekels, but while in 2018 and 2019, 60 and 55 million shekels respectively were received from coalition funds, because a dedicated budget has not arrived for years - in 2020 and 2021 no Funds were received at all, with the exception of NIS 4.8 million that arrived in 2019.
In the past year, no amount was given, but after the matter was published in Israel Hayom, and under pressure from MK Orit Strock, 15 million shekels were provided as emergency funding to repair the vehicles.
Non-theoretical risk
From data obtained by Israel Hayom, it appears that out of 158 bullet-proof buses that are in use by public transportation, as of last October, 109 are in a medium-minus condition.
Out of 272 buses that are used to transport students, 229 - 84% - are defined as having a medium plus capacity.
No less than 118 out of 267 small shuttle vehicles are defined as low-quality - 44% of all vehicles that are used to transport students, among them special education students.
Since October, additional buses have been severely damaged by stone pelting and even gunfire.
For example - last week a shooting attack was carried out in Binyamin against a bus with passengers inside.
Judea and Samaria, photo: Miriam Tzachi
Miraculously no Israelis were hurt, but now this bus is shut down until further notice.
The failure to protect the vehicles does not only concern the transportation of students, and it is even worse when it comes to operational vehicles that are used every day.
Out of 45 RBS vehicles, 15 are defined as low-quality only. Out of 50 MDA bullet-proof ambulances throughout Yosh, as of last October, 20 are low-quality. The risk here is not theoretical at all - last week an ambulance was hit while passing Beit Azon Traveling on some routes in unprotected vehicles, which are a target for terrorists, may pose a life-threatening risk to patients or their passengers. Officials in the Ministry of Defense warn that the severe lack of budgets means that the vehicles' competence is critically impaired, and they have no ability to provide a maintenance response to the existing vehicles. This means that if a bus is hit by stones, it remains in the garage or lot and cannot be repaired.
No reply
Also, there is no response to the natural growth of the settlers, which includes families with many children.
On top of that, there is an expectation of price increases, and even when a budget is allocated - it will take a long time until the tool is delivered.
In order to overcome the gap, the government must act immediately to provide an emergency budget that will make it possible to repair buses and armored vehicles, and later add a significant and permanent budget to ensure the regular activity of the system for years.
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