The Iron Dome, well this particular hi-tech defensive shield certainly has been splendid in protecting Israeli parents and their kids from rocket attacks coming in from Gaza – and we’re speaking about thousands of Hamas rockets over a period of a dozen years.
So the Iron Dome keeps being blessed for all the wonderful work it’s been doing, and Amen to that – but is this the answer?
Not for me.
I love the Iron Dome for all the right reasons. But I have learned to hate the Iron Dome because it keeps Israelis conditioned to expect a lifetime of warfare.
It means there is no end to the terror.
It means that Israelis cannot expect their government to fully protect them.
It means that Israel has surrendered into accepting a life on the run.
It keeps Israelis trained into believing that they have no right to expect peace or tranquility, ever.
It means that Israeli kids can never be tucked into bed safely. The next siren can go off at any minute. This time, will the Iron Dome succeed?
This time – will it fail?
Is this any way to live – for parents, for kids?
It means that the Iron Dome has been accepted as a substitute for Jewish sovereignty.
It means that the Iron Dome is the answer to everything.
It means the Iron Dome is the answer to all our prayers.
It means that Israelis are being taught that rather than fight on; they may as well be resigned to their fate as victims.
This is absolutely no way to live.
Experts well versed in military tactics will let us know whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest moves can be termed wisdom or folly.
Is this a retreat from Gaza, or merely redeployment? Did we win? Did we lose? Even as I write this, bombs are falling on Israel. So what do you think?
Amid the fog and confusion, this point is absolutely clear: If Hamas bombs keep falling on Israel, even a single one…well then, the problem persists. All the kvelling about the Iron Dome has a disturbing undertone. Yes, thank heaven hundreds and perhaps thousands of Israelis have been saved thanks to this advanced technology. But this is no way to live.
This is absolutely no way to live.
The word is out that Bibi agreed to scale back after Obama pledged to renew support for the anti-missile shield that’s been doing all these wonders – but this automatically says that Israel better get used to more bombardment, more ducking for cover, more running to shelters….even as now we hear of yet another alleged, and I emphasize alleged, ceasefire. (Here I thought, “Thanks a bunch, but been there, done that.”)
In the Iron Dome we trust.
This can’t be right. For no self-respecting country would agree to submit its citizens to live like walking targets. If every Israeli remains a bulls-eye, if every Jewish child must continue to wonder if it’s hit or miss – so what’s been done? What’s been accomplished? Nothing has been done until every single Hamas rocket has been eliminated along with every single terrorist that fires those missiles.
Nothing!
Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Engelhard wrote the int’l bestseller Indecent Proposal that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. New from the novelist, the anti-BDS thriller Compulsive. Website: www.jackengelhard.com