Israel Matzav

Iron Dome to protect... the IDF (and not civilians) because it can't protect the border areas

Remember Iron Dome, the anti-missile system that probably should never have been developed (because there was an American system that could have been bought off the shelf five years ago)?

Remember how it was finally ready and then... the IDF (seemingly irrationally) decided to store it rather than deploy it?

Remember how I argued that no one is telling you that Iron Dome is not capable of protecting Sderot or other communities that are too close to the border line, because there's not enough time to shoot down missiles there. And we were warned this would happen. Well, now it's happened.

Iron Dome is being deployed, but not to protect communities that are near Lebanon or Gaza like you thought. No, Iron Dome is being deployed to protect the operational capabilities of IDF bases. Tuesday night, IDF Northern command chief Gadi Eizenkot announced that the communities on the Lebanese border would 'have it a bit rough' for the first few days of any war. And the residents of the border communities - north and south - are furious.

Active rocket protection systems, such as the Iron Dome and Arrow, are designed to protect IDF offensive capabilities, and not necessarily civilians, Northern Command Chief Major-General Gadi Eizenkot said Tuesday.

Eizenkot stressed that "the residents of Israel shouldn't be under the illusion that someone will open an umbrella over their heads."

During a speech at the University of Haifa the military official said that "the systems are designed to protect military bases, even if this means that citizens suffer discomfort during the first days of battle."

Discomfort? Like civilian casualties are nothing more than having to sleep in bomb shelters? What a moronic thing to say! Please tell me this guy is not going to be snapped up by one of the major parties when he leaves the IDF (like we all know he will be). This reminds me of Yitzchak Rabin calling terror victims 'sacrifices for peace.' What a stupid thing to say.

Eizenkot's comments caused outrage among residents and officials in the Gaza vicinity with Shaar Hanegev Regional Council head Alon Shuster saying that he was not entirely surprised by the major-general's comments.

"In a sense it explains the ambiguity surrounding our appeal. Every one knows that the government promised the Iron Dome for the protection of Israel's citizens – no one mentioned IDF bases in the decision," he said.

My dear Mr. Shuster: You've been told a lie. Iron Dome cannot protect your area - its reaction time is too slow. So the IDF will use it to protect IDF bases instead. After all, we spent so much taxpayer money developing it.

In fact, there may not be any system on the market that can protect an area like yours. You see, at some point, territory does matter, even though we live in an age of missiles and air forces. That's why we cannot give up territory that will put hostile entities on our borders. That's why the unilateral withdrawals from Gaza and southern Lebanon were such horrible mistakes. Now, there is - God forbid - a price to be paid.

Would the last one out please turn off the lights?

Labels: anti-missile systems, Hamas, Hezbullah, Iron Dome, Phalanx

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:40 AM