In the early hours of Friday morning, fifteen jeeps headed out of Tel Aviv toward the embattled north. They were laden with supplies donated by private individuals: Blankets and food, medicine, books and games, electronic equipment, stretchers. On reaching the north, the column quickly dispersed and each jeep went to its pre-designated destination: shelters in Safed, Acre, and Nahariya. On Thursday, a bus of 50 clinical psychologists set out from Bar-Ilan University for the north. The psychologists fanned out through the bomb shelters and houses, trying to help the shell-struck population.

All over the country, this phenomena is being repeated.  Groups of citizens get together, create an action committee, set up headquarters, enlist volunteers, collect products and services, and send them to the north. Private companies organize campaigns. Supersal, Israel's biggest grocery chain, has put together  a series of subsidized food parcels for families, singles, and soldiers. Their customers can call the supermarket and order a parcel. Supersal gets it delivered to the north. Hundreds of thousands of parcels like these have already been delivered. Other chains, like Superpharm, the pharmaceutical chain, have followed suit with parcels of their own.

Where is the government of Israel in all this? What is being done with the enormously high taxes Israelis pay? Where are the municipalities, the local councils? The city of Carmiel, located in the heart of the Galilee, is a unique example that shows what is wrong with everything else. Even though the city is being shelling almost non-stop, the municipality has reorganized the city. Summer camps for local kids are being held in bomb shelters and the cities services - from street cleaning to social services - are in full operation; older people, poor families, and disabled citizens are all being taken care of. Shelters have been found for everyone, cleaned, organized, and put into operation. Meals are being served and supplies are being delivered. But Carmiel is unique. It is the only example of what should have been the rule. In Kiryat Shemona, Shlomi, Acre, Nahariya, Safed, and Hazor, the local government has evaporated. The municipality of Nahariya cannot even tell us where aid is needed, reported one volunteer, on arriving in the city with a truck full of privately bought supplies.

In the army, the situation is not any better. Soldiers are privately buying military equipment - like light-weight battle stretchers, because the army is not supplying them. Volunteers are sending in socks, underwear, towels, soap, food, and medical equipment to supply the front line. The soldiers'  wives, parents, and relatives are taking upon themselves the task of taking care of the families of the fallen and wounded.

Israelis are people who do not believe in "the system." Two thousand years of survival have left their mark. Israelis can get organized, run their lives, and operate their communities without the appointed officials, who were generally always out to get them. But this time, it is their own people who are doing this to them. It is Israeli government ministers who are talking about the "hard times that we have to face," but are doing nothing to help. The government officials, led by the officials of the Ministry of  Finance, seem to be worried much more about their reputation with the World Bank than the wellbeing of their own country. Even the financial compensation that the government owes by law for war damages is not been paid in full or on time.

Israelis are busy people. Once the war is over, they will return to their homes and businesses and get on with their lives. High taxes (national and local), high interest rates, and the need to bankroll the large government and military establishment will force them back to the task of earning money to pay off all these. But they will not forget. The anger  felt today in the streets will express itself politically. The fiasco of this war has brought us face to face with the ineptitude of Israel's government and military establishments. The experience will have its consequences.