Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system knocked out 85 % of targets

Washington Times:

Israel’s cutting-edge missile defense called Iron Dome scored an 85 percent success rate in knocking out rockets launched against Israel’s southern cities in recent clashes with Gaza.

“Iron Dome in April became the first anti-ballistic missile system to be used in combat,” said Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States.

Israeli officials said the country’s two batteries of Iron Dome missile interceptors shot down Russian-made Grad and Qassam rockets fired from Gaza positions by smaller terrorist groups such as the Popular Resistance Committees and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The battlefield success of Iron Dome could change the political calculus in Israel by providing protection against attacks that prevented Israel from withdrawing after it dismantled settlements in Gaza in 2005.

Mr. Oren said 1,000 Qassam rockets were fired into southern Israel from August 2005 to May 2006. At the time, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon formed a political party, Kadima, to complete what he called disengagement, or the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the dismantlement of settlements in Palestinian areas of the West Bank that the Jewish state did not intend to keep within its final borders. The continuous barrage of rockets from Gaza is widely seen as stopping disengagement in its tracks.

“This restores Israel’s deterrence against a weapons system that Israel’s enemies believed Israel was incapable of defending against,” said Patrick Clawson, the director of research for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “Second, by doing that, it makes it politically possible to talk about trading territory for peace, even if you are not confident that the new authorities can stop missile attacks by terrorists from that territory.”

...
It is good to see the system worked, but it is ridiculous to agree to a peace deal with someone still trying to kill you, regardless of how successful your defense is. The fact is the Palestinians have nothing of value to offer Israel in any "peace" deal, because they have no real interest in stopping these attacks. Otherwise they would not be celebrating when Israelis are murdered by these guys. Get Real.

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