Israel's bad infrastructure is a recurring problem - it's time to fix it

This problem has to do with a lack of attention to detail and is part of the general attitude here with issues that don’t pertain to matters of security of “yihiye b’seder”, “it will be okay.”

By JPOST EDITORIAL
Flooding the the center of Israel following heavy rains. (photo credit: FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE)
Flooding the the center of Israel following heavy rains.
(photo credit: FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE)
We have all gotten used to the images: A big rainstorm accompanied by massive flooding across the country. Pictures of cars underwater, streets turning into rivers and people having to carry their children and friends across running streams that used to be sidewalks.
This was the story of Tel Aviv, Holon and across the Sharon region on Thursday. Emergency authorities said they had to evacuate more than 100 homes and rescue people from submerged cars.
The train station in Herzliya has been closed due to flooding in the area and rail services will not stop at the station. Alternative means of transportation have been devised to allow people from the area to arrive at Tel Aviv - University station.
Several major roads, including Highway 2 and Highway 5 have been blocked due to the heavy rainfall.
Rainfall is a blessing, especially in our part of the world. Israel, a country with a constant shortage of rain, is grateful for the strong downpour.
Nevertheless, there is something deeply disturbing about the recurring floods throughout the Tel Aviv area. It’s simply not a situation that should just be accepted. Kfar Saba is not a city from the 15th century, and there’s no reason that it should be turned into a modern version of Atlantis.
Heads of the National Fire and Rescue Authority went as far as to blame climate change and global warming on what was happening. It’s an issue the country certainly needs to address in the coming years, with increased urgency. But while those global issues may indeed be part of the severe weather affecting us, there is another, bigger, problem that has long plagued Israel – a failure to build the infrastructure needed to run a country.
We see this daily on our roads, which are too small, too narrow and too packed to sustain the growing number of cars in the country. We see this in our hospitals, where there are not enough of and are short on beds, doctors, nurses and medicine. We see this in our schools, which are overcrowded with students and where teachers are underpaid and overworked.
What we don’t see is what is happening under our streets, unless it rains and then we discover that the city that built the roads failed to install the necessary drainage and sewage pipes to ensure they do not flood.
In Jerusalem, a perfect example is Emek Refaim Street, located in the heart of one of the city’s most affluent and upscale neighborhoods, the German Colony.

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For years, after every big rain, the water simply sat on the side of the road due to a failure to install enough storm drains. It was a new road, paved just a few years ago, but for some reason without drainage.
This problem is across the country and its not because of a lack of resources. It has to do with a lack of attention to detail and is part of the general attitude here with issues that don’t pertain to matters of security of “yihiye b’seder”, “it will be okay.”
Unfortunately, it isn’t always okay. The residents of cities in the Sharon whose homes were flooded on Thursday do not feel like it will be okay and the people in Tel Aviv and Holon whose cars were ruined by the rain do not feel like it will be okay.
The scenes of the heavy rains and flooding Thursdays brought back the horrifying recollections of Stav Hariri and Dean Yaakov Shoshani, the young Tel Aviv couple who drowned in January after being trapped in a flooded elevator of their Hatikva neighborhood apartment building.
After that tragedy, residents of the area complained that the infrastructure to prevent flooding hadn’t been updated in years, and that another disaster was just waiting to take place.
Israel has to start taking civilian infrastructure seriously. The fact that it took over a decade to build a high-speed train between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv – the country’s two largest cities – is further proof of the lack of investment and attention when it comes to this country’s critical infrastructure.
This can change. It can change if the government starts to focus on the citizens and their needs when it comes to education, health and transportation.


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