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Who Tried to Block U.S. Funding for Iron Dome?

(Jerusalem Post) Lenny Ben-David - The May 2021 Gaza war put a strain on Israel's Iron Dome system. More than 1,500 rockets flew toward heavily populated areas in Israel, and Iron Dome's Tamir missiles knocked down more than 90% of them. Within days, experts from Israel and the U.S. were discussing restocking the Tamir interceptors. Yet in June 2021, opposition to replenishing this essential defensive materiel emerged in Washington among a squad of members of Congress and anti-Israel groups. Who led the charge against the Iron Dome? J Street. AIPAC lobbied for the measure and in September 2021, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly, 420-9, to provide $1 billion to restock Israel's Iron Dome missiles. In the last 15 months, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired thousands of deadly rockets and mortars at Israeli civilians. Consider the consequences if the Iron Dome ran out of interceptors: hundreds of Israeli casualties and billions of dollars of damage. Moreover, the IDF would have been forced to aggressively search out Gaza rocket launchers and the militias operating them. The bombing campaign would have been savage and ground forces and tanks would have rolled into Gazan cities. Simply put, the Iron Dome saved Palestinian lives. The writer worked for AIPAC in Washington and Jerusalem, and later served as a senior Israeli diplomat in Washington. He is the author of American Interests in the Holy Land Revealed in Early Photographs and the forthcoming Secrets of World War I in the Holy Land.
2022-08-18 00:00:00
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