Iron Dome into Storage

J. E. Dyer
Contentions/Commentary
10 November '10

The case of Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system will continue to be instructive. Iron Dome has reportedly performed very well in testing, impressing expert observers and encouraging missile-defense advocates. (See here, here, and here for a taste of the reporting on it.) But the IDF announced this week that it will be putting Iron Dome in storage for the time being, bringing it out for deployment only in the case of dramatic increases in rocket and missile attacks.

Although the IDF complained about Iron Dome’s cost this summer (see link above), the U.S. has added substantial funding for missile-defense systems to our defense package for Israel. The thrust of Obama’s policy response to the threat from Iran is, in fact, expanding missile-defense options for Israel. Putting Iron Dome in storage is therefore unlikely to be a result of simple cost or training concerns. It’s more useful instead to parse this decision in terms of overall national-defense policy.

(Read full post)

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
.

Hamas considers Israeli missile defense to be "terror"

Elder of Ziyon
23 May '10

Hamas' English website has learned the lessons of propaganda very well. They just have to repeat over and over again: good is evil, up is down, and defending civilians is terror:

In a dangerous and condemned step, the United States Congress voted Thursday to approve $205 million in aid to Israel for the Iron Dome missile defense system. The funding passed by a vote of 410 to 4, with eight abstentions.

By this unjust and prejudiced decision of supporting Israeli terror, US declares full hostility against the unarmed Palestinian people.

(Read full post)

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
.

Obama’s Backing of Israeli Rocket Shield: Charm Offensive or Harbinger of More Pressure?

Jonathan Tobin
Contentions/Commentary
14 May '10

The White House’s charm offensive toward Israel’s supporters continued this week with a nice dividend for the Jewish state: financial backing for the country’s “Iron Dome” anti-missile system designed to protect Israeli towns against Palestinian rocket attacks. Haaretz reported yesterday that the Pentagon informed Israel’s Defense Ministry that the president had approved the transfer of $205 million for the purchase of 10 Iron Dome batteries that could help shield southern Israelis towns such as Sderot that have been battered in the past by Katyushas and Qassam missiles from Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Iron Dome has, of course, been in the works for years, and the decision is merely a continuation of U.S. support for the project that began during the Bush administration. But to Israel’s great frustration, approval of the money for these purchases had been held up for the past couple of years. Obama’s critics could well point out that he deserves the blame for stalling the Israelis for the past 16 months as well as the credit for the final approval. That said, if the weapons system works as well in practice as it did in tests, it has the potential to minimize the missile threat from Gaza in the future.

The timing of the decision may have been dictated by the administration’s desire to walk back from the hostility its stands on Jerusalem and insults to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provoked from friends of Israel. The charm offensive belies the left’s claims that most American Jews back Obama’s Israel-bashing. The White House’s clear desire to undo the impression it had previously sought to foster of America distancing itself from the Jewish state is an indication that it doesn’t believe most American Jews support a policy of further pressure on Israel.

(Read full post)

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
.

'Iron Dome doesn’t answer threats'

Military analyst says claims of effectiveness are disingenuous.


Ben Hartman
JPost
09 May '10

Tel Aviv University professor and noted military analyst Reuven Pedatzur on Saturday strongly criticized a ballistic missile defense conference and exhibition held in Tel Aviv last week, calling the organizers’ and speakers’ claims that current defense systems can protect Israel from missile and rocket threats false and disingenuous.

Pedatzur’s harshest criticisms were reserved for the Arrow missile defense system, which, he said, does not present a defense against a possible nuclear strike from an Iranian ballistic missile. He said that since the system is not sure to work every time, and because a single atomic bomb can constitute an existential threat to Israel, the system is pointless.

He added that it didn’t matter if the system worked 99 percent of the time, and called its developers’ claims of such success rates “absurd and ridiculous.”

Pedatzur, who spent decades as an IAF fighter pilot, said “there are enough simple countermeasures that can be deployed to make the effectiveness of the Arrow basically zero.”

When asked why he thought such a conference would be held if the ineffectiveness of these programs is well known, Pedatzur replied that “for the aeronautics and defense industries, it’s a matter of money; and for politicians, supporting such projects allows them to tell the public that they’re doing something, they’re trying to find answers to the threats we face.”

(Read full article)

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
.