If war breaks out - the war which everyone claims no one wants - it will be a disaster. Not only because the war was defined as superfluous even before it started, but also because the public has absolutely no faith in the information services and spokespeople who are supposed to be of assistance when zero hour arrives.

Much has already been said about the overall failure of the home front during the Second Lebanon War. However, as time passes, the long-term effects of these failures are becoming more deeply entrenched. Not only is there still a lack of shelters, there is also an utter lack of trust in the information and guidance provided to citizens during wartime. Even before the war has broken out, the public has expressed a complete lack of faith in the sources of information it requires. It longs for the warmth of the tribal bonfire, but lacks the material to spark the fire.

A dreadful sense of isolation, mixed with a pinch of cynicism hangs over the public - which has lost faith not only in the state and its leaders, but also in those who explain and inform on their behalf. How can they buy into a message of critical importance from someone who they would not buy a used car from? If Kohelet were alive today, he would update the expression "all is vanity" with the statement "all is spin." How innocent the days of the Gulf War seem, when it was possible to convince us that duct tape was the ultimate solution for a chemical warhead.