More than a third of Israelis live without access to a standard protected space against ballistic missiles, a fundamental failure of the state to ensure basic civilian safety. In response to this systemic gap, a private initiative, Angels of the Shelter, has emerged to connect unprotected individuals with available safe rooms, exposing the reliance on individual charity to manage a collective crisis.
The platform was developed by Tamir Cohen, a biomedical engineering student at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Cohen, 26, created the website after his personal experience four years ago finding a place to stay while hiking, and observing friends and relatives “wander from house to house” during missile warnings. He also noted articles about people sleeping on light rail or in parking lots, and about weddings held in shelters.
Cohen, who served in the IDF in intelligence technology, is participating in the LEADERS program of the Entrepreneurship Center 360 at the university. The Angels of the Shelter initiative mediates between shelter owners willing to open their homes and people without protection looking for shelter, arranging accommodation in advance.
Users of the platform can view shelters within a few minutes’ walk and filter them by host type, accessibility, and distance. Cohen stated, “I was interested in promoting solidarity, bringing people who have protected spaces in their homes or gardens and are ready to welcome neighbors who lack them.” His parents in Kiryat Ono, who have a protected space, also share it with others.
The State's Abdication
The existence and necessity of such a voluntary, private platform underscore the state’s abdication of its responsibility to provide universal civil defense. The fact that over a third of the population remains vulnerable to ballistic missiles from Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, and Yemen highlights a systemic failure to invest in collective safety infrastructure for its working population.
Instead of universal provision, the burden of safety is shifted onto individual citizens, creating a class stratification where those with private protected spaces are expected to provide for those without. This reliance on individual acts of charity, while presented as “mutual responsibility,” masks the state’s failure to guarantee basic security for all.
Entrepreneurship as a Patchwork
The LEADERS program, which fostered Cohen’s initiative, is headed by Gadi Bahat, who emphasizes cultivating entrepreneurs who “know how to create value in a changing reality.” Bahat stated, “We select excellent students, set a high bar for them, and accompany them with real tools that also develop a sense of competence, to turn ideas into action – because in the end, this is what produces results.”
Bahat’s vision for students includes achieving “professional and personal achievement – whether in a job at a great company, or as the CEO of their own.” This entrepreneurial ethos frames systemic failures as opportunities for individual innovation and market-driven solutions, rather than collective political demands for state accountability and universal public services.
The Entrepreneurship 360 Center, which established the LEADERS program, promotes innovation and entrepreneurship in the Negev region, aiming to transform ideas from university communities into “impactful initiatives.” This focus on market-oriented solutions diverts attention from the structural causes of the civil defense deficit and the state’s role in perpetuating it.
Cohen expressed a desire to turn this cooperation into one used in routine times, “for example, so that people, including the elderly, won’t feel alone.” This aspiration, while seemingly benevolent, further entrenches the idea that private, voluntary networks are the primary means of addressing social needs, rather than robust, publicly funded infrastructure and services. The program’s curriculum focuses on developing business ideas and turning them into “successful business opportunities,” preparing individuals to manage the contradictions of the existing system through private ventures rather than challenging the system itself.