{"id":2968,"date":"2012-03-23T22:29:55","date_gmt":"2012-03-24T02:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/nsj\/?p=2968"},"modified":"2013-04-03T22:55:38","modified_gmt":"2013-04-04T02:55:38","slug":"israels-iron-dome-missile-defense-system-triumphs-over-terror-and-permits-greater-focus-on-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/nsj\/2012\/03\/israels-iron-dome-missile-defense-system-triumphs-over-terror-and-permits-greater-focus-on-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s \u201cIron Dome\u201d Missile Defense System Triumphs Over Terror and Permits Greater Focus on Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lee Hiromoto<\/strong><\/p>\n

The recent escalation<\/a> between Israel and Palestinian militants has showcased the effectiveness of the Iron Dome<\/a> system, which displayed an impressive intercept rate of nearly 80% during the weekend of March 9-12, 2012. This display of technological prowess offers the one million Israelis who live within firing range of the Gaza Strip a measure of security and will allow the Israeli government to focus its efforts on dealing with the threat posed by Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions.<\/p>\n

The Problem: Thousands Of Rockets Launched Into Israel By Gaza-Based Palestinian Terrorists
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nearly forty years after winning the territory from Egypt in the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel completely withdrew<\/a> both its military and civilian presence from Gaza in 2005, with the hope of spurring the peace process. Those dreams of peace were to remain just that, as over 9,000 rockets and mortar shells have been fired into Israel from neighboring Gaza since 2005, according to a report<\/a> by the Israel Security Agency (also known as the Shin-Bet).<\/p>\n

As a map<\/a> prepared by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson\u2019s Unit shows, crude mortar shells have a short range of about six miles, while larger and more sophisticated Grad missiles can reach up to 30 miles, well into Israel\u2019s territory. Be\u2019er Sheva, Ashqelon, and Ashdod are the three largest cities within the zone of fire. According to IDF estimates, about one million Israelis (out of a total population<\/a> of 7.5 million) live within range of Palestinian projectile fire.<\/p>\n

These rocket attacks constitute terrorism directed against Israeli civilians, having killed<\/a> and maimed<\/a> Israeli civilians. According to the Israeli human rights group B\u2019Tselem<\/a>, Palestinian projectile fire killed nineteen Israelis (four of whom were minors) between 2004 and 2011. Even those unaffected physically are liable to suffer from psychological effects<\/a> such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The most recent salvos of rocket fire have largely been launched by the terror group Islamic Jihad, believed to be supported by Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Politically, Palestinian rocket fire forces Israel into the strategic bind of choosing between the lesser of two evils: a moderate response of precision strikes against terror cells that may be perceived domestically as soft on terror, or launching a broader escalation at great cost in terms of military resources and diplomatic legitimacy. A similar political need to act in late 2008 prompted Israel\u2019s leadership to launch Operation Cast Lead<\/a>, an air, ground, and naval campaign against militants in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

In military terms, Operation Cast Lead was a success, as the frequency of Palestinian rocket fire decreased dramatically, by as much as 90% according to the Israel Security Agency.\u00a0 However, Israel paid a heavy diplomatic price for this victory. The IDF asserts<\/a> that 1,166 Palestinians died during the operation, of whom 709 were terror operatives, while B\u2019Tselem claims<\/a> that 1,390 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, of whom more than half (759) \u201cdid not take part in hostilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The high body count led to a widely-publicized UN report<\/a> by the South African Jewish jurist Richard Goldstone, which condemned<\/a> both sides but singled out Israel\u2019s actions as a \u201cdeliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population. . . .\u201d Additionally, the Gaza operation was the beginning of a marked deterioration<\/a> in relations between Turkey and Israel, with spillover effects in Egypt. A correspondent for the New York Times<\/a> called the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead Israel\u2019s \u201cworst diplomatic crisis in two decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, the threat of Palestinian rockets put Israel in the unenviable position of choosing between military action to defend its population from rocket attacks or exercising self-restraint to maintain its international legitimacy.<\/p>\n

The Solution: A First-Of-Its Kind Short-Range Missile Defense System<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2007, Israeli Minister of Defense Amir Peretz selected the Iron Dome<\/a> from competing short-range missile defense systems to answer the threat of rockets launched at southern Israel. The Israeli company Rafael<\/a> was charged with developing the Iron Dome, which consists of three components: detection and tracking radar, a battle management center, and the interceptor launch system.<\/p>\n

When a launch is detected, Iron Dome calculates the projectile\u2019s trajectory and analyzes the threat level. Should a threat be deemed critical, Iron Dome then launches an interceptor. By disregarding rockets not headed for populated areas, the system avoids unnecessary interceptions. The system was first deployed in early 2011 and scored its first successful interception<\/a> on April 7, 2011, marking the first time in history that Israel had successfully shot down a Palestinian rocket mid-flight.<\/p>\n

Recent events in the Gaza Strip have highlighted the Iron Dome\u2019s prowess in intercepting short-range projectiles. The targeted killing of a terror leader in Gaza<\/a> on March 9, 2012 led to a surge in the number of rockets launched at Israel. According to the IDF<\/a>, over 300 rockets were launched from Gaza from March 9 through March 13, of which over 165 landed on Israeli soil. Throughout the bulk of this period, the Iron Dome system boasted a successful intercept rate of 78.2%, having attempted sixty-nine interceptions and succeeded in fifty-six of them.<\/p>\n

The Result: Greater Israeli Flexibility In Addressing The Iranian Nuclear Threat<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although the Iron Dome is not perfect (it is not as effective in fending off multiple rocket attacks<\/a> and has suffered from technical failures<\/a>), the system\u2019s success could prove a game-changer for Israel, which is currently marshalling its diplomatic energies to stop Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions. In this context, Israel does not want its international focus on the Iranian nuclear program distracted by a large-scale Israeli operation in Gaza like Cast Lead. In fact, a colonel in the Israeli Air Force has stated<\/a> that the Iron Dome has prevented another potentially bloody Gaza offensive on the scale of Operation Cast Lead.<\/p>\n

Without the Iron Dome\u2019s purely defensive capabilities, Israel might be forced to take offensive action against militants in Gaza in response to domestic pressure to act. This would likely lead to global protests like those during Cast Lead<\/a>, shifting the global debate on Israel from Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions<\/a> to the Palestinians. Thus the Israeli diplomatic campaign against Iran (including high-profile interviews with its Prime Minister<\/a> and its Ambassador to the United States<\/a>) would be replaced by a defensive diplomatic effort that would consume all the ink and airtime allotted to Israel in the press while monopolizing the Middle East agenda among foreign policy makers.<\/p>\n

Given that prominent world leaders are opposed<\/a> to an Israeli military strike on Iran, Israel\u2019s current diplomatic efforts will play a critical role in advancing both diplomatic and military responses to the Iranian nuclear program. For example, Israeli lobbying<\/a> in the wake of a International Atomic Energy Agency report<\/a> on the Iranian nuclear program in late 2011 has yielded fruit in the form of stronger sanctions on Iran in section 1245 of the recently-signed National Defense Authorization Act<\/a> and President Obama\u2019s decision to freeze<\/a> the U.S. assets of Iran\u2019s central bank. Moreover, a successful unilateral military strike on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities would, according to some defense experts<\/a>, seriously strain Israel\u2019s capabilities, making international cooperation essential to a military resolution as well should diplomacy fail.<\/p>\n

Against this strategic landscape, the Iron Dome offers more than the tangible gain of intercepting an impressive majority of rockets headed for Israeli cities and providing a measure of security for the country\u2019s southern communities. By reducing domestic political pressure on the government in a manner that does not inflame international tensions, Iron Dome strengthens Israel\u2019s diplomatic position to address what it perceives as the even greater threat of a nuclear Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lee Hiromoto<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-online","category-student-articles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peZtUX-LS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/nsj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/nsj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/nsj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/nsj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/nsj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/nsj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/nsj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/nsj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/nsj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}