"Though it survived the assassination of its military chief and managed to bombard Israel with 1,500 rockets and mortar rounds, Hamas once again demonstrated that it lacks the means to do more than frighten or inconvenience Israelis. On the contrary: The success of the U.S.-funded Iron Dome anti-missile system suggests that missiles will be a decreasingly credible threat."
Well, yes and no. Although Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system exceeded expectations with a greater than 80 percent success rate at bringing down incoming rockets, the Hamas arsenal of some 10,000 rockets and missiles prior to Operation Pillar of Defense is dwarfed by Hezbollah's stockpile of more than 50,000 rockets and missiles.
And although Israel succeeded in destroying the vast majority of Hamas's long-range Fajr-5 missiles on the ground, Iran is already going to great lengths to replenish the Hamas and Islamic Jihad inventory with shipments via Sudan (see: http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=293324).
In short, Israel is in urgent need of additional Iron Dome batteries to provide cover along its northern border with Lebanon.
Meanwhile, however, Israel has just announced a successful test of its David's Sling interceptor, and as reported by Yaakov Lappin of The Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=293395):
"The system would defend against Iranian missiles such as the M600, the Zelzal, Fajr and Fateh 110 deployed heavily in Hezbollah hands in Lebanon as well as other missiles with a range between 70 and 300 kilometers. It is slated to become operational in 2014."
Hezbollah's Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah is currently threatening to fire missiles at all of Israel (see: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/25/274438/missile-rain-awaits-israel-war-nasrallah/); however, Israel's northern border remained quiet throughout Operation Pillar of Defense. Why? There are two reasons:
- Nasrallah knows that if he initiates hostilities, his organization will sustain billions of dollars of damage which Iran is no longer in a position to reimbuse.
- In addition, Hezbollah (Shiite) and Hamas (Sunni) are on opposite sides of the fence regarding the uprising in Syria.
Diehl concludes his opinion piece by observing:
"In exchange for more open borders and an opportunity to develop economically with backing from its new Arab allies, Hamas could agree to a more thorough and reliable truce that leaves southern Israel in peace. That’s a long way from real peace — but it’s better for both sides than going to war every couple of years."
Diehl, however, ignores the Hamas covenant, which rejects negotiation with Israel and calls for the murder of all Jews. Quiet reigns in Israel's south for the time being only because Hamas determined that its rocket fire was not achieving its desired effect, and given the some $1.3 billion in damages caused to Gaza and the Hamas terror infrastructure during Operation Pillar of Defense.
Each day, I am reminded that journalists are actually prostitutes.
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