A key difficulty for civil defense authorities will be in identifying those exposed to the virus and quickly administering antidotes. Currently, Israel does not face an enemy with nuclear weapons. Regardless, there is no effective protection from a nuclear attack and dealing with the nuclear threat mainly comprises deterrence, an issue beyond the scope of this article. During the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq fired 42 missiles at Israeli cities, setting a precedent for a future attack. Still, Israel's deterrent capabilities make it extremely unlikely that an enemy would use nonconventional weapons against the Israeli population.
Some planners maintain that civil defense has no price.
But even such an approach cannot ignore cost. For the taxpayer, the price might seem reasonable. But for policy planners, who must also fund major weapons systems, the cost is simply too high. The government must launch a policy that does not aim to provide Israelis with total protection but rather limit casualties to a level tolerable for a country at war. This would allow the leadership to wage war without diverting resources from the battlefield to attack missile launchers that threaten the home front.