Iron Dome Fails to Intercept Rockets Fired from Lebanon into Northern Israel

Iron Dome Fails to Intercept Rockets Fired from Lebanon into Northern Israel

Posted: 22 Aug 2013 09:56 PM PDT

Israeli police officer guards home damaged by Lebanese rocket attack. (AP/Jinipix)

Yesterday, Lebanese militants fired four rockets from south of Tyre into northern Israel. One landed in Lebanon. Of the remaining three that hit the western Galilee, Iron Dome only intercepted one (Hebrew). That’s a success rate of 33%. Not the 80-85%% the IDF boasts. Here is a further article in the Israeli media about Iron Dome’s failure yesterday.
The U.S. is spending $500-million on deploying the anti-missile defense in Israel, yet it fails more than it succeeds. This raises the further question: in the next Lebanon war (for there surely will be one sooner rather than later), when Hezbollah rains 10, 000 or 20,000 such rockets down on Israel and Iron Dome intercepts only 50 or 60%, leaving 5,000 or 10, 000 to find their mark on Israeli soil, killing and maiming Israelis, what will the IDF say then? They’ll do anything to change the subject. Then rapidly pretend they never made the claims in the first place.
For the past year, almost alone among western media sources, I have been reporting the flaws in Iron Dome (along with military analysts like Reuven Pedatzur in Haaaretz).  He and I have cited MIT Prof. Ted Postol as one among a number of missile engineers (including at least two Israelis) who’ve debunked the IDF’s bogus claims for Iron Dome.  It seems the weapons system, despite it’s inflated cost and reputation, serves as a convenient sop to Israel in the U.S. effort to deter it from attacking Iran.  We’ve offered virtual carte blanche in building and deploying it in Israel as a quid pro quo (among many I presume) for not attacking Iran.
Another important question regarding yesterday’s news is: who was responsible? A shadowy Al-Qaeda affiliate in Lebanon took responsibility for it in a tweet. Israel was only too happy to accept this is prima facie proof or authorship. But others of us who are more dubious of Israel’s claims, are waiting for more definitive proof. You’ll recall that after the Eilat terror attack Israel lied outright in blaming the Popular Committees in Gaza for being the culprit when it later turned out Sinai Islamists were responsible.  After massive air attacks on Gaza in retaliation, 30 innocent civilians were murdered, and for no reason other than Israel could blame Gaza, but not Egypt.  It seems clear Hezbollah was not responsible for yesterday’s assault since Israel, when it retaliated today, did not target that group or its fighters.
Instead, AP reports that a village known as a stronghold of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Central Command was bombed. In this case, the IDF’s actions speak louder than the Israeli government’s words. My money is on PFLP as the culprit rather than al-Qaeda. Must as I respect Twitter as a news source at times, I’m not buying it this time.
For the Hebrew speakers among you, I recommend the histrionic Walla article linked above as a sample of what Israel believes it can do if it can prove that it is under attack from all sides by “global jihad.”  If al-Qaeda were the culprit for yesterday’s attack, then overwrought Israeli security advisors (like the one who served as the source for the Walla nonsense) can paint a terrifying image of Israel surrounded by a sea of Islamists bent on its destruction.  This, in turn will (supposedly) generate enormous sympathy in the world community and draw western nations into an alliance that will wage a sort of holy war against global Islam. From there it’s but a hop, skip and jump to not just a region, but a globe filled with Armageddon-like battles between forces of Light and Darkness.
In case western security officials aren’t paying attention, Israel is increasingly drawn into this End Times sort of narrative, which the rest of the world must not buy into.  If we examine how Israel has played the Egyptian coup, it’s the same story: the crazed Islamists of the Brotherhood must be stopped once and for all; and the Egyptian army is just the one to do it.  Israel encouraged the generals to mount their coup and the savage massacres that followed.  For it, it was the same sort of Doomsday scenario it sees playing out in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, Sinai, Syria, and elsewhere.  A rising sea of Koran-wielding Green Goliaths armed to the teeth with scimitars, against the few small pockets of Blue and White resistance with only their paltry slingshots as the barrier between savagery and the destruction of world civilization.