WarSclerotic

Israeli soldiers from the Home Front Command rehearse rescuing an injured soldier during a drill. Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

Drivers across Israel found themselves stuck in a massive (and unnannounced) “emergency scenario drill” on the busy Thursday afternoon rush hour.

Israel follows a Friday-Saturday weekend schedule, meaning that the Thursday afternoon drivetime is the week’s second busiest after the Sunday AM drive. It is also the time when Israeli authorities held an impromptu massive terrorist attack rehersal.

The war drill was the nation’s largest since Gulf War I and involved the simulation of multiple terrorist attacks and hostage negotiations. All well and good — Israel is in a precarious geopolitical situation.

But interestingly, the drill included simulated gunfire attacks on extras playing “civilians.”

But the scale of the attack rehersal, again, was massive: Tel Aviv’s central freeway was shut down in several sections along with the only highway that connects Tel Aviv and Jerusalem within Israel proper.

The primary highway connecting Tel Aviv with Netanya and Haifa was shut down at one intersection as well, forcing commuters onto low-capacity local roads.

Israelis were not prepared for the drill, Yedioth Aharonoth reports:

The drill was kept secret until Thursday morning, and was expanded by afternoon, prompting especially huge traffic jams in Tel Aviv. Local resident Ofer told Ynet he never saw such unusual sight.

“I’ve been living here for 38 years and I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “Tel Aviv is like a pedestrian mall; people are walking on the road like they do in Yom Kippur. Motorists are coming out of their cars.”

“It’s unclear why they didn’t announce it in advance,” he said. “I would have stayed home.”

Vered, another Tel Aviv motorist, said “There’s never been anything like this.” She left the court towards Ramat Aviv, and “after three quarters of an hour I’ve hardly moved.” She also had serious qualms with the police.

“This is what they do on Thursday afternoon? It’s unbelievable. I’ve never been so long in a traffic jam in my life,” she said.

The scale of the drill, which essentially paralyzed Israeli rush hour traffic, begs the question: What are the Israeli preparations for imminent war with Iran, Hezbollah or Hamas that we’re not hearing about? Meanwhile in Israel, a gas-mask credit card scam has surfaced.