8 Myths About Israel’s Iron Dome Defense System
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.
