Head of company responsible for planning country’s electrical systems says Israel would be uninhabitable after 72 hours without power; after furor, claims he misspoke

Israel is not prepared for the damage its electricity infrastructure would sustain if a full-scale war were to break out with Hezbollah, the head of the company responsible for planning the country’s electrical systems warned on Thursday, though he later cast that remark as “irresponsible.”

“We are not in a good situation, and we are not prepared for a real war. We are living in a fantasy,” said Shaul Goldstein, who leads Israel’s Independent System Operator Ltd, known by its Hebrew initials NOGA.

“We cannot promise electricity if there is a war in the north. After 72 hours without electricity, it will be impossible to live here. We are not prepared for a real war,” said the NOGA CEO during an appearance at a conference in the southern city of Sderot after he was asked whether he could guarantee continuous power in an emergency scenario.

“If Nasrallah decides to neutralize Israel’s power grid, he only needs to pick up the phone and call the head of Beirut’s power grid, which is [largely] identical to Israel’s,” Goldstein claimed.

After his comments began grabbing headlines, Goldstein sought to walk some of them back, telling the Kan public broadcaster: “I made irresponsible remarks that I shouldn’t have.”

His warning came amid increasing concern that the situation on Israel’s northern border could escalate to a full-fledged war between Israel and the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah. The Shiite militia is believed to possess some 150,000 rockets that it could use to target Israeli infrastructure.

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