The Israel Air Force (IAF) has issued a new directive asking soldiers not to order food to the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, fearing an uptick in orders could alert outsiders to military action, Ynet reported.
According to the new directives obtained by Ynet, the IAF is concerned about a system similar to the “Pentagon Pizza Index” being used to measure food orders to the Kirya.
The directives posted in the Kirya consist of several guidelines to “avoid giving advance warning to the enemy.”
Firstly, the document instructs soldiers to avoid unusual patterns, warning that “ordering food in large quantities or at unusual times” could be damaging. Further, it warns against sharing the real-time location of IAF headquarters with food delivery apps.
“Maintain a routine — deviation from routine is the strongest signal,” the page concludes.
Pentagon denies index's accuracy
The Pentagon pizza index is the idea that military action can be predicted by volume of food orders near military headquarters, like the Pentagon in Washington. Originating in the 1990s with a Domino’s owner in Washington when the CIA bought an extraordinary number of pizzas on the cusp of the Gulf War, some credit the index with predicting military movement in recent years.
As tensions between Israel and Iran reach their highest levels since last year’s 12-Day War, Israeli military officials reportedly believe that food delivery orders to bases could expose operational vulnerabilities, potentially enabling enemies to anticipate upcoming strikes.
Today, the phenomenon has a dedicated X/Twitter page that provides real-time updates on food orders in Washington based on Google Maps traffic data.
Still, the Pentagon has denied the accuracy of the index. Following the 12-Day War, a Pentagon spokesperson said that the abundance of food available in the Pentagon itself rendered the index useless.
“There are many pizza options available inside the Pentagon, also sushi, sandwiches, donuts, coffee, etc,” they said to Newsweek.