Reuters file photo
Ron Cantor/Messiah's Mandate | Israel's Iron Dome defense system is not 100 percent effective.
After a week of quiet, it is back on. Hamas is firing rockets (sometimes 10 at a time) all over Israel.
But it's all paradise in the Holy Land, because we have the Iron Dome. Or is it?
While the U.N. Humans Rights 'cartel' says we have unfair advantage over the terrorists who attacked us and even hinted that we should share our Iron Dome technology with Hamas, there are some myths about its effectiveness.
1. IronDome is 100 percent effective.
While the Iron Dome has been a miracle in so many ways, 10 percent of the missiles evade it. That means one out of every ten missiles the Iron Dome targets will get through. While these are pretty good odds, we are talking about a living, functioning society. Imagine San Francisco being bombarded with rockets. I use San Francisco because of Nancy Pelosi's absurd declaration that Hamas is a Humanitarian organization—or at least the Qataris assure her of this (by the way, the Qataris, those fine humanitarians told the leader of Hamas that if he signed the Egyptian ceasefire, he could be kicked out of the country).
Thank God for His intervention. Today a rocket slammed into an Ashkelon mall injuring no one! All my in-laws are from Ashkelon.
Another soldier reports targeting a Hamas missile with the Iron Dome but missing three times. He said the rocket would've hit close to Tel Aviv's tallest building, but at the last minute, a powerful gust of wind redirected it into the sea. Thank God, but still, we must live with these near misses.
2. Because of the IronDome, Israel's economy has been unaffected.
My friend Yosi works as a cook at a beachside restaurant in Ashkelon. When we delivered a check to him and his wife to help with their expenses, he was going to work for the first time in three weeks. Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire. Of course, by the time we left, the Iron Dome was taking on incoming fire. That was one of the eight ceasefires that Hamas has broken.
Yosi is back home.
Israel's tourism industry has taken a hit. Who wants to come to a country that is being bombarded with Rockets? Families are not going out to eat. Jobs are being lost. Wages can't be paid. Hamas knows this—the media doesn't tell you.
Sure, it is easy to say that this is nothing compared to what Gazans are going through—and that is true. But Israel is taking on fire simply because we exist as a Jewish state. Gaza is taking fire for blatant, belligerent and illegal targeting of noncombatants by their Terrorist leaders. Israel has no choice.
3. Israelis must be enjoying the action knowing that the Iron Dome will protect them.
I shot this video while seeking protection from an incoming rocket. When it was all over and I got back on my bike to ride home, I broke down in tears over the absurdity of living in a country where terrorists indiscriminately target civilians to murder them—and then other countries justify it.
I am a 49-year-old man—and I was in tears. Imagine being a 5-year-old boy or girl … Living in Ashkelon, not Tel Aviv … where every night you have to run for your life—several times! It is traumatizing, illegal and inhumane. A country cannot be expected to live like this.
I was driving home from Ashkelon last week when I saw traffic stopped on the other side of route 4. On the other side, a car was engulfed in flames. While I am sure the there was no one inside, as we are told to leave our cars as soon as the siren sounds, it doesn't lessen the emotional trauma on children seeing that image.
The aforementioned Yosi has been sleeping in a tiny protective room with no air conditioner in 90-degree heat, along with this wife, child, mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
4. The Iron Dome quietly does it job.
My brother-in-law has an Iron Dome battery almost next door to his home. I don't have the exact stats, but of the over 3,400 rockets fired at Israel from Hamas, Ashkelon has been a favorite target. I would guess that about 15 to 20 rockets a day are launched towards the coastal city.
Each time, a siren sounds that is designed to wake you up quickly. Then, if the Iron Dome believes the rocket is a threat to civilians, it targets the rocket. My brother in law told me, "Each time it is like a plane taking off"—from his backyard. Try getting a good night's sleep.
5. Once the Iron Dome hits it's all is good.
This is true, unless shrapnel falls from the sky and hits you. In the moments after I shot the video of the Iron Dome taking out its target—a Hamas Rocket meant to kill innocent civilians—a huge piece of shrapnel fell to the ground at a murderous speed, landing in a public park where children were playing.
While I was writing this, Hamas sent 13 rockets to areas all over Israel.
According to Israeli Police, pieces of rocket (shrapnel) fell on Jerusalem's Hebron Road, a major thoroughfare in southern Jerusalem. A boom was heard over the capital minutes before, likely from the interception of the rocket. (TimesofIsrael.com)
The giant piece of shrapnel fell in a public park where kids were playing.
6. Israel can shoot Iron Dome anti-rocket missiles forever.
Well, hopefully we can, but please understand, each rocket costs $50,000. That amount is well beyond the average yearly income of Israelis.
7. Hamas Rockets are "not armed."
I heard a legal advisor for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas state this. In reality, each Qassam Rocket has between 12 and 44 pounds of explosives in its warhead consisting of metal bearings. You must fact-check EVERYTHING that the Palestinian Authority or Hamas say. The same adviser said Hamas is absolutely not using children as Human Shields, despite the overwhelming proof to the contrary.
8. The Iron Dome eliminates any lasting trauma.
Understand that I missed most of this war because I was in the U.S. Since returning, I have only had to run from rockets four times. And still, every sound that I hear, whether it is a car speeding up, a washing machine on the spin cycle, or children playing, I think it is a siren announcing an incoming rocket.
If that is what I am going through, imagine what type of PTSD symptoms the children of S'derot, Ashkelon and Ashdod are experiencing. Fear of going to sleep, dreaming of incoming rockets, thinking that you will die before summer's end or that you parents will be killed … this is a traumatic experience I would not wish on anyone.
Just today a woman was seriously injured in a traffic accident when the sirens began to blare. So despite the lack of direct success that Hamas rockets have achieved, there is an indirect success that can life altering and deadly.
In conclusion, I would to suggest that every talking head, like Jon Stewart, who assumes that living through a war like this is easy because we have the Iron Dome, come to Israel and rent a hotel room in Ashkelon or S'derot. Let's see how long you last. And maybe, just over your hotel, to be fair, we won't use the Iron Dome … as you say it is using disproportionate force. But what you will discover, is that when it is you and your family being attacked, disproportional force is exactly what you will want!
Ron Cantor is the director of Messiah's Mandate International in Israel, a Messianic ministry dedicated to taking the message of Jesus from Israel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Cantor also travels internationally teaching on the Jewish roots of the New Testament. He serves on the pastoral team of Tiferet Yeshua, a Hebrew-speaking congregation in Tel Aviv. His newest book is Identity Theft. Follow him at @RonSCantor on Twitter.
For the original article, visit messiahsmandate.org.
