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With their capacity to destroy capital facilities like power plants, the loss of only a few of which would severely harm Israel’s economy, they [Hezbollah’s and possibly Hamas’ precision-guided medium-range missiles ] introduce a new way for Israel to decisively lose a war. Israel will have to get the difficult balance between offense and defense right before the next war or it may not have a second chance.
The New Threat of Very Accurate Missiles
By Dr. Max Singer, August 9, 2016
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 356, August 9, 2016
http://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/new-threat-accurate-missiles/
When Dr. Singer’s disturbing article was published earlier this month I sincerely hoped that it would spur the considerable discussion it warrants.
It didn’t.
Why the complacency?
A cynic might suggest that the national leadership, whose “quiet for quiet” policy in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip facilitates the deployment of these dangerous missiles don’t want publicity regarding the consequences of their policy.
But there’s more than enough Israeli media outlets itching for the opportunity to criticize our leaders.
My sense is that Iron Dome is responsible for our complacency.
For most Israelis, our experience with rocket attacks is that after a 60 second warning there’s a loud thud as an interceptor destroys the incoming missile.
You get used to it.
Unfortunately, there is no reason to believe that a future conflict will in any way mirror that experience.
Our handful of Iron Dome systems will be too busy trying to protect our most vital targets to stop a missile from demolishing residential units.
And as Dr. Max Singer details, the sheer number of rockets and launchers held by the enemy make it possible that strategic targets are indeed hit.
I would like to think that Dr. Singer is simply out of the loop. That Israel has some fantastic top secret gizmos already deployed that makes such concerns irrelevant.
Then I could sleep better.
But the purpose of the exercise is not to sleep better tonight.
It’s to be ready for tomorrow.
