It starts: Mayor of Ashkelon bans Arab workers from schools
It took a little longer than I thought, but good evening from 31,000 feet above the Atlantic. According to my trusty map, we are just about due south of Newfoundland right now, heading across 'the pond.' Air travel in the modern age is quite bizarre. First, we pulled away from the gate and they announced that we have a half hour hold because otherwise we will show up in London before their curfew ends at 6:00 am (you can't land at Heathrow before 6:00). And now we're going over 740 miles an hour and it keeps going up. I don't recall ever going more than a few miles per hour faster than 700....
In the wake of Tuesday's terror attack in Jerusalem, Ashkelon Mayor Itamar Shimoni has banned all Arab workers from his city's schools. 'Temporarily' of course. Here's what it gets rich: The workers were building shelters to protect the kids from Hamas' rocket fire from Gaza. As you might imagine, the Left is seething....
The mayor explained that the increased presence of Arab workers in
close proximity to educational institutions is potentially harmful to
residents' security, and therefore their employment will stop until the
tense security situation improves.
The contractor which performs the work in the schools in the city is
employed by the Defense Ministry, and it should be noted that the work carried out in Ashkelon is done by Israeli Arabs and not by Arabs living
in Judea and Samaria.
The decision angered Meretz MK Issawi Frej, who accused Shimoni of "racism of the lowest kind.”
“Under the poor excuse of a 'sense of security', Shimoni wishes to
make the city of Ashkelon clean of Arabs and contaminate it with
anti-Semitic racism,” charged Frej. “I call on Interior Minister Gilad
Erdan and on the Chairman of the Local Government Center, Haim Bibas, to
publicly condemn Shimoni and ask him to reconsider his decision with
all its consequences."
The decision was also condemned by the President of the Israel Democracy Institute, former Kadima MK Yohanan Plesner.
But Shimoni was also condemned by Labor MK Nachman Shai of the 'sane' Left, as well as by Ofer Shelach of Yesh Atid, which is in the coalition (one has to wonder for how long). Here's guessing that Shimoni's decision will stand, at least for now. And here's hoping that every neighborhood in Jerusalem makes the same decision.
Video: Ashkelon house takes direct hit from rocket
Six members of an Ashkelon family were lightly injured this morning when a rocket slammed into the master bedroom of their home just after the parents had gone to awaken their children and lead them to a safe room.
Ashkelon resident John Daly recorded the moment of impact and
uploaded the video to Facebook. "Two blocks over and a direct hit," he
wrote. "Alarm goes off and my cat knew we were headed to film so she
went to the window with me. You can hear the sound of glass shattering
up and down the street from the shockwave. The 'shaking' of the camera
is from the explosive force, look at the tree - it is shaking as well."
And a lot of people outside the house were hurt as well.
While national news outlets put the number of people hurt at six, Ashkelonet,
a local news outlet, reported that 50 people were brought to Barzilai
Hospital following the rocket attack. Of these, it said, 21 suffered
light physical injuries and 29 suffered from emotional shock.
Is this really how we can expect to live for the next several years?
17-year old seriously injured by rocket fire in Ashkelon
Unfortunately, eventually, a rocket is likely to hit something. A 17-year old was seriously injured and a 60-year old was lightly injured by a rocket in Ashkelon on Sunday. Both were evacuated to the city's Barzilai Hospital.
A 17 year old boy has been seriously injured during the last volley
of rockets fired on the city of Ashkelon, according to multiple sources,
along with a 60 year-old man who suffered light injuries.
Both have been transferred to Barzilai Hospital for immediate medical treatment.
Islamic Jihad, not Hamas, has accepted responsibility for the rocket fire.
Simon Logesi, head of Ashkelon Branch of Ichud Hatzalah, spoke to Arutz Sheva about the injured teen.
"This is a rocket which landed near a building," he said. "The boy was hit by shrapnel."
"Following first aid, the boy received medical treatment by Hatzalah
medics on the scene, and was brought to Barzilai Hospital were he is in
serious condition," he added.
Both Logesi and Ashkelon mayor Itamar Shimoni encouraged all
civilians to follow Home Front Command (HFC) instructions during a
siren, and immediately go to protected areas and shelters in the event
of an alarm.
But keep saying the rockets are harmless, 'international community.' If only it were so.
For those who have forgotten, here's a video from 2004 that highlights the debate over Israel's expulsion of Gaza's Jews and abandonment of the territory. Who was right and who was wrong?
Let's go to the videotape (with English subtitles).
Speaking of history, for what it's worth, one of my children told me last night that he had a conversation with Mrs. Carl while I was in the US in which he said "I remember Abba telling me all about Obama eight years ago. Every single thing he said would happen has come true." I invite you to go back to my archives from 2006 and 2007 and see how many more things I predicted correctly.
Unfortunately. this blog did not exist until January 2006, and my predictions with respect to the Gaza expulsion were wiped out when Charles Johnson purged all comments on his blog from those who did not agree with his new political views.
The calm of Shabbat was interrupted in southern Israel on Friday
evening, as terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza fired a Kassam rocket
at the region.
The rocket, fired shortly after 9:00 p.m. local time, exploded in an
open area in the Eshkol Regional Council. There were no physical
injuries or damages.
The IAF struck an Islamic Jihad terrorist on a motorcycle on Sunday morning, taking him out of commission for a long time to come. According to the IDF spokesman, the terrorist was responsible for Thursday's rocket fire on Ashkelon and constituted an immediate danger.
The target, named as Ahmed Sa'ad, took part in the firing of rockets
at southern Israeli communities, the IDF said, and planned further
attacks in the near future.
Palestinian media sources said a missile struck a 22-year-old
motorcyclist in Gaza who sustained serious injuries, along with a
12-year-old boy who suffered moderate injuries.
"We acted to remove an immediate threat to Israeli civilians," the IDF
spokesman said. "Sa'ad was personally responsible for the firing of
rockets at Ashkelon last Thursday," he added, referring to an attack
that saw five rockets fired at the southern city in the middle of the
night, setting off air raid sirens. The Iron Dome anti-rocket system
intercepted all of the projectiles heading to Ashkelon in that attack.
Sa'ad was also involved in planting rocket launchers, the IDF spokesman
added. During Operation Pillar of Defense, in November 2012, and an
earlier escalation, in March 2012, Sa'ad fired rockets at Israel as
well, according to the military.
According to Palestinian news agency Ma'an, two other Israeli air
strikes on sites used to train Palestinian militants in central and
southern Gaza left no reported injuries.
The good news is that Iron Dome went 5 for 6. The bad news is that it had to.
'Palestinian' terrorists shot six rockets at Ashkelon on Thursday morning. Five of them were close enough that Iron Dome had to shoot them down. The sixth one landed in an empty field.
Let's go to the videotape.
It's wonderful that Iron Dome shot down five rockets this morning, But this is no way to live. And the fact that the 'Palestinians' had five rockets out of six that were close enough to need to be shot down is downright ominous.
The IDF has been involved in a cycle of rockets being shot at us followed by the IDF hitting empty buildings all week. It's time for the IDF to be allowed to do more.
And here we go again... Hamas launched three rockets at southern Israel this morning. Fortunately, this time they all landed on the Gaza side of the fence.
The rocket attack marks the first time Palestinian terrorists in Gaza have attempted to strike Israel for nearly two months.
No damage or injuries were reported.
The
Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) ordered
the closure of the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Gaza and
Israel.
About 20 rockets have been fired by militant groups this year. Several
rockets were fired during US President Barack Obama’s visit in March.
The
rocket fire broke a months-long period during which the Hamas regime in
Gaza restrained elements in the coastal enclave, bringing about quiet.
Since Operation Pillar of Defense in November, there have been few
incidents of rocket fire.
The London-based pan-Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat reported last month that Hamas is actually trying to stop the rocket fire.
Last month, the London-based Arab language daily Asharq Al-Awsat
reported that Hamas replaced policemen at the Gaza Strip border areas
with fighters from its Kassam Brigades in an effort to stop rocket fire
at southern Israel.
The paper quoted a Palestinian source as
saying that Israel passed messages to Hamas through Egyptian mediators
threatening to launch another large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip if
the rocket fire didn't stop.
Hamas's Kassam Brigades have set up
fixed and mobile roadblocks and have begun searching cars in areas near
the border. They were also deployed to areas further away from the
border that were used in the past to fire rockets at Israel, the
Palestinian source told Asharq Al-Awsat.
For the first time since Operation Pillar of Defense concluded in November, a rocket from Gaza slammed into Ashkelon this morning. No one was hurt but there was damage to a road.
The rocket failed to trigger an air raid siren, and the IDF is investigating why one did not go off.
"An explosion was
heard in the Ashkelon region experts searched areas experts and found one rocket
that struck, damaging a road but causing no injuries," Rosenfeld
said.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility by any groups
in Gaza, where Egyptian mediators helped achieve a truce after eight days of
punishing Israeli air strikes amid rocket attacks from the coastal territory in
late November.
The attack came after the death on Saturday of a
Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody which triggered protests in the occupied
West Bank.
Note no mention of Iron Dome (which I don't believe is dependent on a Code Red warning) either. Hmmm.
I've received word that the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon has moved its neonatal unit underground where it will be protected.
The hospital is also reevaluating patients and sending home all those who can be sent home because the hospital is not protected, and Hamas won't hesitate to target it (Hat Tip: Mrs. Carl).
Comment: If anything goes near Barzilai, I think we ought to level Shifa Hospital with the Hamas leadership in its basement.
On Tuesday night, the city council of Sacramento, California will meet to decide whether to enter into a sister city relationship with rocket shelled Ashkelon in southern Israel. Opponents are attacking Ashkelon as an 'apartheid' city, claiming that Arabs and Jews do not enjoy equal rights in the city (by law they do) and claiming that Arabs were expelled from Ashkelon during the 1948 War of Independence (no, Ashkelon is not over the 'green line') in which the nascent Jewish state was attacked by five Arab armies aided and abetted by the British.
Ironically, Sacramento already has a sister city relationship with another city in which Jews are excluded from political life and Christians are gradually being forced to convert (to what else - Islam) or leave. That city would be Bethlehem in the imaginary state of 'Palestine.'
When Sacramento entered into its sister city relationship with Bethlehem in 2009, one of the promises made was that Sacramento would enter into a similar relationship with an Israeli city in the future. The future is now. And on Tuesday night, we will see whether Sacramento joins New York, Los Angeles and Boston and other US cities in having a sister city relationship with a city in Israel.
According to a group calling itself, “No Human Rights, No Sister City,” Ashkelon is such a den of overt discrimination, that if Ashkelon is approved as a sister city it will expose Sacramento to law suits because “discrimination on the basis of national origin is prohibited in the U.S. and California constitutions.” Under this reasoning the more than forty cities across the United States which already have sister-city relationships with towns in Israel, many of which have been in existence for decades, are all vulnerable to discrimination suits. Those cities include New York (Jerusalem), Los Angeles (Eilat), Chicago (Petach Tikva) and Boston (Haifa).
The anti-Ashkelon activists also describe Ashkelon as having been the thriving “Palestinian” city of Majdal Asqualan whose residents were thrown out in waves of ethnic cleansing by Israeli military, starting in 1948.
The ancient Biblical connection between Ashkelon and the Jewish people is not included in the hate literature. Ashkelon is the site of the most famous haircut in Jewish history – it is where Delilah cut Samson’s hair, depleting his strength, in the famous Biblical story found in Judges XIV-XVI.
Although Arab Israelis have the same rights as do Jewish Israelis both in Ashkelon and throughout Israel, Sacramento does indeed have a sister-city where Apartheid reigns.
Some of you may be wondering what happened to the Iron Dome system in the Ashdod area on Saturday. The IDF says its malfunction was a technical glitch. But that appears to be just one of several excuses for the system not functioning.
Ashdod Mayor Yehiel Lasri said: "As far as we are aware the system was taken for calibration. We were told we would get the system back in the coming days." The IDF cited technical problems when trying to explain why the rockets were not intercepted.
The Home Front Command's South District Commander, Col. Doron Mor Yosef said: "The system was deployed hurriedly in light of the events and it took time before it could become operational in the relevant regions."
IDF Spokesman Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai said it was "a technical issue and not a manpower problem. Both batteries are now operational."
Deputy Ashkelon Mayor, Amram Ben-David was disappointed the Iron Dome battery was taken from the city. "I don't think a city this big should rely on miracles. The army must redeploy the system here. I also think we should response proportionately, in a language they understand. Each rocket should see an entire street in Gaza destroyed."
Two Iron Dome batteries are currently stationed in the Ashdod and the Beersheba area. The IDF has decided to keep them there in the wake of the recent escalation. Army officials stressed that the system cannot provide a comprehensive solution to the high-trajectory rocket threat.
Addressing the situation in the south, Mordechai said, "Hamas is the ruling element in Gaza, but at this stage it has remained passive."
"Through various ways, direct and indirect, we are checking to see how it is working to stop the escalation," Mordechai added.
"As of now, Islamic Jihad absorbed a painful blow from the IDF's response. It has been hit and it is feeling under pressure. Until now, they have had ten [members] killed, including Sheikh Ahmed Khalil, a member of Islamic Jihad's supreme military council. They also have a number of injured," he said.
As the de facto ruler of Gaza, Hamas should be held responsible. The rockets are an act of war and should be responded to accordingly. Hamas 'Prime Minister' Ismail Haniyeh and 'Foreign Minister' Mahmoud al-Zahar should be in the IDF's crosshairs. They're long past due.
Israel Radio is reporting a lull in rocket fire after a night in which some 30 rockets were fired into southern Israel from Gaza. This is a little surprising given that it is now about 8:30 am and the IDF reported at 7:50 am that Iron Dome (which we will have more about in a later post) shot down two rockets on Sunday morning.
Egypt attempted to broker two cease fires during the night. The first was to take effect at 3:00 am, but Islamic Jihad claimed that they did not know about it. According to another report, the 'Palestinian factions' did not agree to the 3:00 am cease fire. Ostensibly, there was a cease fire to take effect at 6:00 am but given this list of rockets, it remains to be seen whether the cease fire holds.
Beersheba residents woke up at 330 am as an alarm sounded throughout the city followed by sounds of explosions. Two rockets landed in open territory outside the city. Around 430 am, a rocket exploded in an open field north of Ashkelon.
Around 6 am, two more rockets were fired at the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council territory while another landed in the region of Lehavim and Rahat.
Here's a video from a damaged apartment in Ashkelon on Saturday night. The man with the white shirt and black yarmulka is the owner, and he says in Hebrew that thank God no one was in the house when it was hit, and while his children are upset, it's only property damage, and that can always be repaired. He actually seems quite calm.
Islamic Jihad threatens escalation in the next few hours; UPDATE: 1 DEAD
Israel Radio reports (11:00 pm) that Islamic Jihad is threatening that Saturday night's rocket fire is only the beginning, and that they will escalate in the next few hours. Four Israelis have been hurt thus far, one moderately to seriously, one moderately and two lightly.
One of two rockets fired at Ashkelon hit a home and directly struck gas containers causing shrapnel to injure one man moderately. Fire crews were dousing the flames. Paramedics were also treating shock victims.
An hour earlier, a long-range rocket fell in a parking lot between two residential buildings in Ashdod. One person was lightly injured and extensive damage was reported.
Ashdod mayor Yehiel Lasri told Channel 2, "Ashdod is under attack, without a doubt."
A Magen David Adom spokesman said: "This was a miracle. It could have ended much worse."
An additional rocket fell in Eshkol, causing damage.
One rocket hit a school in Ashdod which was empty at the time. A further rocket fell in the Gan Yavne Regional Council where passer-by was lightly injured by shrapnel. He was evacuated to hospital.
A rocket also struck the Be'er Tuvia Regional Council - which was also targeted earlier this week, while another slammed into the Pithat Shalom Regional Council.
Iron Dome is only stationed in Ashdod and Beer Sheva right now, and has shot down one rocket all evening.
What could go wrong?
UPDATE SUNDAY 12:00 AM
As Shy Guy notes in the comments and Israel Radio has just reported, 55-year old Moshe Ami of Ashkelon has died from a shrapnel wound in his midsection, which he sustained while getting out of his car to seek cover when the alarm went off in Ashkelon this evening.
Iron Dome is overrated, cannot protect Ben Gurion Airport from a 'Palestinian state'
Forgive me for pooh poohing our 'great success' but Iron Dome is overrated.
A third Iron Dome battery is to be deployed 'within ten days' outside of Ashdod. The two current batteries are deployed outside Ashkelon and Beersheva.
“We plan to move the Iron Dome forward and within 10 days we will have a third battery which will be able to protect over Ashdod in addition to Ashkelon and Beersheba, if there is another escalation,” Barak said.
By the end of 2012, Barak said that Israel would have nine operational Iron Dome batteries including thousands of Tamir interceptors. Each interceptor costs around $50,000 and usually two are fired at rockets slated for interception.
And what area will those nine batteries cover? No one is saying. But here's a hint: It's 14 kilometers from Ashdod to Ashkelon (see map above) and the government admits that the battery that is covering Ashkelon cannot defend Ashdod. For those of you who are mathematicians, please figure out how many batteries are required to cover the entire State of Israel (except for areas within seven kilometers of the Gaza, Lebanon and possibly - God forbid - 'Palestinian' border which cannot be defended by Iron Dome). An inside source informs me that the number that the government is currently using is 24 batteries to protect the entire country. Color me skeptical.
Barak (as in defense minister Ehud Barak) hints at where this is going:
“This is something that completely changes the way we protect our citizens, who still need standard shelters, but will also increase the government’s operational freedom in the future,” he said.
In case you didn't get the hint, the Washington Times' Eli Lake makes it explicit.
The battlefield success of Iron Dome could change the political calculus in Israel by providing protection against attacks that prevented Israel from withdrawing after it dismantled settlements in Gaza in 2005.
Mr. [Israel's Ambassador to the US Michael] Oren said 1,000 Qassam rockets were fired into southern Israel from August 2005 to May 2006. At the time, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon formed a political party, Kadima, to complete what he called disengagement, or the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the dismantlement of settlements in Palestinian areas of the West Bank that the Jewish state did not intend to keep within its final borders. The continuous barrage of rockets from Gaza is widely seen as stopping disengagement in its tracks.
“This restores Israel’s deterrence against a weapons system that Israel’s enemies believed Israel was incapable of defending against,” said Patrick Clawson, the director of research for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “Second, by doing that, it makes it politically possible to talk about trading territory for peace, even if you are not confident that the new authorities can stop missile attacks by terrorists from that territory.”
That, of course, explains why the Obama administration has given Israel $205 million to purchase four Iron Dome batteries: They hope that Iron Dome's 'success' will 'help' Israel to feel confident returning to the 1949 armistice lines. But what is perhaps more telling is that the IDF has yet to commit to purchasing a single battery of Iron Dome. And for good reason. (Note that this article - contrary to my source - says 16-18 batteries will be enough).
In a radio interview on July 21, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, a former IDF deputy chief of staff, attempted to cool the Israeli public’s response to the July 12 test, explaining that Iron Dome is at best 80 percent effective at intercepting incoming rockets [so far it's at 85% - a bit better than predicted. CiJ]. He also explained that cost issues would prevent Iron Dome from being permanently deployed on the southern and northern borders.
Israel would only be able to procure and maintain a handful of batteries with the $205 million U.S. grant and the IDF has no plans to fund multiple Iron Dome batteries. Ha’aretz estimates that each intercept missile could cost approximately $40,000 and each Iron Dome battery $500,000, while Hamas’ Qassam rockets cost roughly $150 each to produce.
Senior IDF officers, including Deputy Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, continue to insist that the IDF should not have to pay for the system from its budget, and alternate sources of funding, potentially from sales of the system to other governments, have been touted as a solution. India has expressed interest in either the David’s Sling, a medium-range missile intercept system being developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. in partnership with the Massachusetts-based Raytheon Company, or the Iron Dome system, also produced by Rafael. The Israeli government, however, has banned the transfer of David Sling’s technology to foreign customers, a major hang-up that could derail sales negotiations. With funding issues a priority, however, the pressure to reach a deal is high. Singapore has also expressed serious interest in the Iron Dome system.
Ha’aretz reported on July 21 that Gantz, “who observed the trials Monday, was impressed with the system's capability, but was doubtful this would alter the army's view on funding.” His comments suggest that the IDF continues to focus on preparing for conventional ground and air assaults against renewed attacks from Hamas and Hezbollah. Gantz expressed this view previously in a May 31 interview with Defense News, then hinted at further confrontations in Lebanon and warned that Israel has learned from the mistakes of the 2006 Lebanon War and is prepared “to keep all [its] horses in the stable for as long as possible, because when [Israel] let(s) them out, it will be painful [for the enemy].”
Mind you that article is from a year ago. Since then, the cost of an interceptor has risen to $50,000. And the IDF still hasn't committed to purchase a single battery.
MK Avi Dichter (Kadima) pointed out that “we did not hear even a weak condemnation of the terrorist attack and rockets from the Palestinian Authority. Launching rockets from Gaza must be part of the reconciliation between Hamas and the PA.”
Dichter also called for the government to quickly buy and build more Iron Dome missile defense systems.
“The fact that there are only two [Iron Dome] batteries is unacceptable,” Dichter said. “Students lying under school desks while rockets fall are like ostriches burying their heads in the sand.”
MK Amir Peretz (Labor) said the government was supposed to buy 13 anti-missile batteries, and added that the government should find a way to pay for it even if it does not receive adequate funds from the US for the purchase.
Translation: There is NO Israeli money committed to paying for this (Refael - the company that developed Iron Dome - is sort of a hybrid of a private and a public company, and is no longer a part of the IDF as it was years ago).
So to this point, we have shown three weaknesses of Iron Dome: It doesn't work within seven kilometers of any border (did I mention that Ben Gurion Airport is less than seven kilometers from the '1967 borders'? See below), it covers a small area which will necessitate dozens of batteries to cover the entire country, and it is very expensive, especially in comparison with the cost of the 'Palestinian' rockets it is shooting down.
On Saturday, the terror groups attempted to break through the intercept system's defenses by firing a particularly large volley of rockets at Be'er Sheva, where one of the batteries is deployed.
...
After the Palestinian launch teams realized that the intercept systems deployed in the past two weeks around Ashkelon and Be'er Sheva provided near-perfect protection from rockets, they began targeting Ashdod and Ofakim more frequently. And when they did aim at Be'er Sheva on Saturday night, they did not fire one or two rockets, as in the past, but rather a volley of seven rockets almost simultaneously. Iron Dome intercepted five of them successfully, but one penetrated the defense system, exploding in a residential area and killing Yossi Shushan.
And wounding eight other people and doing lots of property damage. Seven rockets cost Hamas $1,050 ($150 each). The six that Iron Dome shoots down cost $600,000 to shoot down ($50,000 per interceptor, two interceptors per rocket). The one got through cost one dead Israeli, eight wounded Israelis, and several hundred thousand dollars in property damage. That sounds like a pretty favorable calculus for the terrorists.
Hezbullah is said to be capable of shooting hundreds of rockets at once from the north, which will only make matters worse.
Obama wants us to give up territory for a 'Palestinian state,' which would create a third direction for terrorist rocket fire, with Ben Gurion Airport only four miles (which is less than seven kilometers) away from that 'Palestinian state.' So does our own Left. In other words, in addition to its limited effectiveness, Iron Dome cannot protect Ben Gurion Airport.
Iron Dome has worked well enough that the terrorists are changing tactics to avoid it.
On Saturday, the terror groups attempted to break through the intercept system's defenses by firing a particularly large volley of rockets at Be'er Sheva, where one of the batteries is deployed. The Defense Ministry, for its part, has accelerated its timetable in order to double the number of available batteries within six months.
The IAF's Air Defense Corps intercepted 15 of the rockets launched from the Gaza Strip since Thursday. Iron Dome is capable of determining which rockets are liable to hit populated areas, and intercepts those rockets only in order not to waste the expensive intercept missiles on incoming rockets that will land in uninhabited areas.
After the Palestinian launch teams realized that the intercept systems deployed in the past two weeks around Ashkelon and Be'er Sheva provided near-perfect protection from rockets, they began targeting Ashdod and Ofakim more frequently. And when they did aim at Be'er Sheva on Saturday night, they did not fire one or two rockets, as in the past, but rather a volley of seven rockets almost simultaneously. Iron Dome intercepted five of them successfully, but one penetrated the defense system, exploding in a residential area and killing Yossi Shushan.
But the biggest problem with Iron Dome is that there are not enough batteries.
Even before the recent escalation in the south, the Defense Ministry decided to accelerate the production timetable for additional Iron Dome batteries. As a result, the ministry and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which manufactures the system, hope to deliver a third battery to the IAF in September, with a fourth scheduled for delivery within the next six months. The air force has already trained additional air defense operators for these batteries.
Two more batteries are scheduled for delivery to the IAF by the end of 2012, bring the total number of operational Iron Dome systems to six.
That's all well and good, but if batteries deployed in Ashkelon and Beersheva cannot protect Ofakim and Ashdod, how many batteries do we need to deploy to protect the entire south? What happens when Hezbullah starts shooting in the north at the same time Hamas is shooting in the south? And what happens if they both start shooting before the end of 2012?
Iron Dome is better than I expected it to be as far as it goes, but it is no substitute for rooting out the terrorists entirely via conventional warfare. The failure to destroy the terrorist infrastructure will leave the state of Israel exposed to terror attacks and broke from trying to shoot down missiles. Recall the following from Evelyn Gordon:
[A]side from billions of shekels in development costs, each Iron Dome system costs $15 million (NIS 53 million) for the battery plus $40,000 (NIS 142,000) per missile. During the Second Lebanon War of 2006, Hezbollah fired some 4,000 missiles at Israel; intercepting them all with Iron Dome (had it been available) would thus have cost about NIS 568 million for the interception missiles alone.
I was too optimistic when I guaranteed that the Gaza cease fire that was declared by Hamas on Monday would not last until the end of the month. It didn't even last until the end of the evening. I'm writing this several hours before you'll see it, but at this writing there have already been three Grad rockets that were shot at Ashkelon and two more that fell in Gaza.
One Kassam rocket exploded on Monday night in an open area in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council after two further rockets exploded earlier in the evening. One of the rockets that fell south of Ashkelon earlier sparked a fire near a kibbutz, and was later doused police said.
The attacks once again placed reports of an unofficial ceasefire in question and have shattered a period of around 8 hours when no projectiles were fired at southern Israel.
Earlier on Monday, Taher a-Nunu, spokesman for the Hamas government, said that the factions in the Gaza Strip and Hamas announced that they are willing to comply to truce, if Israel agrees not to carry out more strikes.
The Popular Resistance Committees, the group Israel says is behind a deadly terror attack last week near Eilat, announced Monday that it would adhere to a cease-fire as an escalation in Gaza seemed to calm. The announcement followed reports that Palestinian factions had agreed to stop firing rockets at Israel.
"We will temporarily stop firing rockets for the sake of our Palestinian people," the terrorist group said in a statement posted on its website, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported. The PRC had previously resisted committing to a cease-fire.
Over a dozen rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel since Sunday night and the IDF struck back in the Strip at least once. No Gaza-based group took responsibility for the rocket launches. No injuries were reported from the rockets.
It's been a long time since I've pointed this out, but for those of you who are wondering why the terrorists keep trying to hit Ashkelon as opposed to other targets, here is why.
The strike on Ashkelon ... exposes three extremely strategic vulnerabilities certain to alter the tenor of debate within Israel's security cabinet. The sensitive sites include:
The Rotenberg Power Plant, Israel's second-largest generating station which supplies an estimated quarter of the country's needs.
The Ashkelon Seawater Reverse Osmosis Plant, the largest desalination plant of its kind in the world. Launched last August, the facility is ramping up to provide an annual flow of 100 million cubic litres of water, an estimated 15 per cent of domestic demand.
The Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company, which controls three oil pipelines reaching to the port cities of Eilat, Ashdod and Haifa.
So a strike in Ashkelon could lead to a real disaster - exactly what the terrorists want.
Breaking: Grad rocket hits Ashdod; UPDATED WITH VIDEO
One person was seriously injured and another moderately injured when a Grad rocket landed in a yeshiva courtyard in Ashdod on Friday morning. Israel Radio is reporting that the person who was seriously injured suffered from shrapnel wounds in his abdomen.
A number of other people were treated for shock following the attack.
Light damage was caused to the building as a result of the rocket fire.
...
Earlier on Friday, at least 10 rockets were fired at various targets in the South including Ashkelon and Beersheba.
All of the rockets landed in open territory and no injuries or damage were reported.
This looks like it could escalate. Is Hamas really in control in Gaza and looking the other way to allow rockets to be fired? I would bet on it.
And where was Iron Dome? Probably down the road in Ashkelon.
UPDATE 10:30 AM
Reports now say six people were injured and that Iron Dome got all the rockets except the one that hit the yeshiva (some reports say it was a synagogue) in Ashdod.
Let's go to the videotape.
I just came back from my daily Talmud class. The man who sits next to me was supposed to be away for the Sabbath, but he was there today. He told me that they were headed for Ashdod on Thursday, but when they heard about the terror attack near Eilat they turned back. That was probably a good move. It sounds like a rough weekend ahead in the south.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
