Israel Matzav

'Iron Dome will work, will let Israel make tough decisions' says....

US Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro says that Iron Dome will work, that the US will lavish money for security on Israel and that all of this will let Israel make 'tough decisions' (i.e. to cut out the heart of our country).

Speaking at the Brookings Saban Center for Middle East Policy in Washington D.C., the assistant secretary spoke of the administration's intention to enhance the annual security aid it provides Israel, saying that in "2010, the administration requested [from Congress] $2.775 billion in security assistance funding specifically for Israel, the largest such request in U.S. history."

Shapiro linked the expanded aid package with the possibility of furthering peace talks with the Palestinian Authority, saying that it was the "hope that the administration’s expanded commitment to Israel’s security will advance the process by helping the Israeli people seize this opportunity and take the tough decisions necessary for a comprehensive peace."

"This Administration believes that pursuing peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and Israel and its neighbors can be a mutually reinforcing process," the assistant secretary said, adding that it was "more essential than ever to make progress on all tracks."

Shapiro reiterated what he called the U.S. commitment to Israel's security, saying that "Israel’s right to exist, and to defend itself, is not questionable. No lasting peace will be possible unless that fact is accepted."

"Israel is a vital ally and a cornerstone of our regional security commitments," Shapiro added, saying that "U.S. support for Israel’s security is much more than a simple act of friendship."

"We are fully committed to Israel’s security because it enhances our own national security and because it helps Israel to take the steps necessary for peace," the assistant secretary said.

Referring to the security threats which brought the administration to expand its aid package, Shapiro said, "Today Israel is facing some of the toughest challenges in its history," adding that the administration was "particularly focused on Israel’s security precisely because of the increasingly complex and severe threats that it faces in the region."

"While the most grave, the Iranian nuclear program is one of many serious security threats in the region," Shapiro said at the Saban Center, saying that "Iran and Syria both pose significant conventional challenges."

Intersecting with the threats posed by those countries, the assistant secretary said, were "the asymmetrical threats posed by Hezbollah and Hamas, whose rockets indiscriminately target Israeli population centers, and whose extensive arms smuggling operations, many of which originate in Tehran and Damascus, weaken regional security and disrupt efforts to establish lasting peace between Israel and its neighbors."

Shapiro also detailed the ways in which the United States planned to bolster Israel's security, which included the sale of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, joint training exercises, research and development, and the funding of the Iron Dome missile defense system, developed to answer the threat of short to medium ranged rockets being fired by both Hamas and Hezbollah.

"Iron Dome," Shapiro said, "fills a gap in Israel’s multi-tiered defense system. Israel has conducted thorough tests of Iron Dome components and we’ve conducted an evaluation of our own. We are confident that Iron Dome will provide improved defense for the people of Israel."

I've said before that I don't believe Iron Dome will work for reasons discussed here and here (and many other places). But even if it does work, what happens when the 'Palestinians' find a way to beat it? Or when it fails and tens of Israelis are killed God forbid? You can't make peace with people who don't accept your existence!

Full text here.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:50 AM