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skies of Tel Aviv, which happens all
the time. Radio announcers had to
explain that it was not one of
Saddam's missiles.
The Netanyahu government at first
instituted a "low profile" information
policy, meaning that government offi-
cials only said that things were under
control and there was no need for
panic. This policy came under attack
from just about everybody.
So a lineup of army generals and
health officials gave a high-profile
press conference and said, in one
voice, that there was a minuscule
chance of an Iraqi attack on Israel.
And even if, in a last-ditch, despera-
tion move, Saddam managed to load
one of his few launchers with some of
7- his few missiles and succeed in hitting
Israel, people's gas masks and sealed
rooms offered them sure protection. If
anybody happened to be without his
or her gas mask when chemical or bio-
logical agents fell near them, the hos-
pitals and clinics had enough antidotes
to neutralize the danger, officials
insisted.
But it wasn't certain that even the
amended policy of talking to the pub-
lic would have the desired effect.
Referring to reports that Prime
Minister Netanyahu was preparing to
"address the nation" late this week, a
woman at the Tel Aviv distribution
center said, "This proves that some-
thing serious is going on."
Part of the problem was the public's
memory of how Israeli authorities pre-
/ pared them for the Gulf War. In many
cases, their memories were wholly dis-
torted. "They told us nothing was
going to happen the last time, and
look what happened," said one man.
In fact, everyone knew and everyone
said that Saddam was going to bomb
Israel in 1991.
But the authorities did tell Israelis
before and during the Gulf War that
their best protection was to pick out a
room in their apartment, seal its doors
and windows with masking tape against
gas or biological agents, and sit out the
Scuds inside. The gas and biological
agents never arrived, but the Scuds did,
and the sealed rooms and masking tape
were no defense against them.
So uncertainty, mistrust and gallop-
ing fear are in the Israeli air today as a
U.S. attack on Iraq seems to draw
closer.
As former Air Force commander
Avihu Bin-Nun said, Israelis were
fighting Saddam's psychological war
for him. "He's not even threatening
us; we're threatening ourselves."

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