When the Siren Sounds, One in Five Israelis Can’t Reach Safety

Mar 18, 2026

David Lepofsky, Canadian lawyer and longtime disability rights advocate working with Israeli groups, outlines how nearly one in five Israelis with disabilities can’t reach safe rooms during missile alerts. He explains inaccessible shelters, alert failures for deaf or blind people, tech and bureaucratic barriers, and practical fixes that have been known but not implemented.

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INSIGHT

Scale Of Disability Crisis During Air Raids

Nearly 1.8 million Israelis live with disabilities and face life-threatening barriers during air raids.
Barriers include inaccessible shelters, missed or delayed alerts for deaf or blind people, and seniors who can't reach shelters alone.

INSIGHT

One In Five Israelis Has A Disability

About 19–20% of the Israeli population has a disability, a figure rising with an aging population.
That translates to roughly 1.8 million people in a population of 9 million who require accessible emergency planning.

INSIGHT

Accessible Shelter Rules Have Not Been Enacted

Despite long experience with conflict, many Israeli bomb shelters remain legally unregulated for accessibility.
A regulation requiring accessible shelters was ordered years ago but the government has not enacted it.

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Two Israeli seniors were killed overnight when an Iranian cluster bomb hit their Ramat Gan apartment. The husband reportedly needed a walker to get around.

When a missile warning sounds in Israel, people have only seconds to act — to get to a safe room or bomb shelter. But what if you can’t get there in time?

Nearly one in five Israelis lives with a disability. And for many, reaching safety isn’t always possible. Some shelters can only be accessed by stairs. Others may not receive alerts in time — or at all — if they’re deaf, blind, or unable to use smartphone apps. And for seniors or those without access to technology, those life-saving warnings can fall short.

Canadian lawyer and disability rights advocate David Lepofsky says this is a hidden crisis — one that’s been known for years, but still not fully addressed.

On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star, he joins me to explain how this war is exposing those gaps — and why they’re now a matter of life and death.

Israel, disability rights, accessibility, emergency alerts, public safety, war, human rights, bomb shelters, civil defense, Canada, CJN, North Star Podcast

Related stories

Learn more about the Israeli disability rights organization Bizchut
Subscribe to David Lepofsky’s new podcast called “Disability Rights and Wrongs: The David Lepodcast.”
Hear Montrealer Neil Oberman’s first-hand account of receiving alerts on the phone and running to a bomb shelter, on The CJN’s ‘North Star’ podcast from March 2.

Credits

Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner )
Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director)
Music: Bret Higgins

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