Iron Dome, Israel’s rocket defense system, fundamentally altered the dynamic between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza. The system intercepted about 90 percent of the thousand or so missiles launched by Hamas. Israelis, for the most part, survived the onslaught, certainly in comparison to the casualty toll among Palestinians. But as the ceasefire negotiated on Wednesday takes hold, it’s important not to overstate the system’s role in taming the crisis: Iron Dome reduced tensions by preventing civilian deaths, but it didn’t thwart Hamas’s aims. It may have provided a window for negotiations, but the negotiators did all the work themselves.
Nonetheless, Iron Dome has been described in various media reports as the “break-out star” and the “game changer” in this conflict. Idan Yahya, a 22-year-old gunner with the Israeli Air Defense Wing, is being lionized as a Hollywood-style hero, with stories about how he grew up playing the video game Warcraft and now holds the title for striking down the most Hamas rockets.
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Juliette, you delicately avoided a key point about this conflict. Iran is supplying and advising Hamas as it attacks Israeli civilians with mortars and rockets. Iran is trying to deter Israel so that the Islamic fascists of Teheran can proceed with their nuclear weapons program. By the way, the leader of Hamas still asserts that Israel has no right to exist. This is a temporary truce in an ongoing low-intensity war.
"Ozark says Juliette, you delicately avoided a key point about this conflict". You are too kind here. The correct word here is not "delicately" here, it is DELIBERATELY. And see my blog above. And also recall, Juliette is also one of the Globe columnists who condemned that awful VIDEO that the White House said was the cause of the Benghazi, Libya embassy attacks. She knows the score here, but she doesn't want you to know.
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With thousands of mortor rockets coming their way and with a price tag of $100,000 a whack and the ensuing ground attack that would have produced casualties neither side could afford, the futility of continuing finally lit up a lick of sense. What happens next is either the same old thing or the peek into the abyss by both sides may allow more moderates, the majority on both sides, to craft a workable solution to reduce the ongoing misery.
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Juliette's article is also DISHONEST in another way. She also doesn't want to tell us that Hamas and its benefactor, IRAN, really are EMBOLDENED by the reelection of Barack Obama. Their leaders see Obama is just a TOUGH TALKING but DO NOTHING Commander in Chief. Obama is showing time and time again that he is incredibly WEAK agasinst America's enemies. He much prefers to threaten Americans instead. NOBODY believes Obama's BOASTS "I will not allow Iran to posess a nuclear weapon". By insisting that the US military budget be cut, and by his secret agreement with Russia (off mike)Obama is telling the whole world that the US WILL allow Iran to get a nuke.
In case you couldn't see through the haze of Conservative Right Wing smoke that envelops you this weak president is the one who eliminated Osama Bin-Laden and has used drones to eliminate other Al-Queda leaders. Of course, I understand that if Romney was elected he would meet with the Iranians, tell them to cease and desist, and they would then do as he demanded.
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"Kitch" Every defense analyst I have read has said a conflict between Israel and any Arab state is a complete mis-match. Israel is the dominant power in the Middle East with a technologically advanced military plus an estimated 300 - 500 nuclear missles including submarine based.
That being the case it would seem to me Israel holds all the cards in terms of a peace deal. The Palestinian and Arab politicians can make all the street noise they want about destroying Israel but they all know this is not possible. Beyond Israel's own power the US would never allow it. I recognize the Israeli's desire to hear the words, "Israel has a right to exist", but even without that it seems to me they could make the peace and ignore the noise. Perhaps it is time for them to make a peace without the words, work with the Palestinian authority to improve the lives of Palestinians and then see what happens.
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Pres. Obama did away with the missile shields in Poland...to appease the Russians.
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Rhetoric is fodder for journalists and people who have too much time on their hands. The facts on the ground are what really matters when it comes to survival. The words-war will continue until the next attack on Israel is launched. Unitl then, both sides will study the successes and failures of their own systems and try to outguess the other. Meanwhile, the rocket attacks have ceased. Let's count the days until they begin again. That's the way Hamas gets heard, and that's one thing they have learned from this newest misadventure of theirs.
The violence will only end when Arabs recognize Israel as a Jewish state in its own homeland.