NoaIzumiInvestor's Business Daily Gets Wiggy over Israel
January 6th 2009 16:48
Investor's Business Daily has always been pro-Israel, so much so that it can border on outright paranoia. I'm not complaining; that just means more material for the blog.
David and Beersheba
The folks at IBD have an alarmist tone in this one, with visions of rockets falling on Israel like rain, but they do have their facts generally straight. Still, this article does call for a little perspective.
Even with a 45 mile range and assuming rocket attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon as well, large parts of central and southern Israel are still out of range. To hit all of southern Israel from Gaza, the rockets would have to have a range of at least a hundred miles. Unless Iran starts shipping ballistic missiles to Gaza, sizable parts of Israel are still safe for the foreseeable future.
The article mentions the nuclear plant near Dimona, and it would be tempting to hit, but like all nuclear power plants, it’s considered a “hard target”, with walls made of thick concrete. And I would imagine an Israeli power plant to be even more well-protected against all forms of attack. Even a 220 mm rocket wouldn’t do much more than scratch the paint.
Lastly, if these rockets are so dangerous, why haven’t they caused more casualties?
According to a press release from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs ("Israel strikes back against Hamas terror infrastructure in Gaza."), from Dec. 27 to today, Hamas fired 500 rockets into Israel, which killed a total of four people. Assuming a killed/injured ratio of 1/10, that’s over eleven rockets for every Israeli casualty.
Wikipedia has a well-referenced article on all rocket attacks in 2008:
Really Long Link
In all of 2008, 3000 rockets and mortars were launched, for about 120 injured (including minor wounds and shock) and nine Israelis killed. That’s over 23 rounds per Israeli casualty.
“According to Israeli officials, Hamas has also acquired dozens of Iranian-made 240 mm Fajr-3 missiles …” Suppose that’s true; suppose they’ve acquired ten dozen of these missiles; and further suppose that these missiles are twice as deadly as what Hamas is throwing at Israel right now. If all of them are fired off, previous performance suggests that they’d kill two or three Israelis and wound maybe twenty others. Certainly something to be defended against and prevented if possible, but hardly a threat to Israel’s existence.
David and Beersheba
The folks at IBD have an alarmist tone in this one, with visions of rockets falling on Israel like rain, but they do have their facts generally straight. Still, this article does call for a little perspective.
Even with a 45 mile range and assuming rocket attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon as well, large parts of central and southern Israel are still out of range. To hit all of southern Israel from Gaza, the rockets would have to have a range of at least a hundred miles. Unless Iran starts shipping ballistic missiles to Gaza, sizable parts of Israel are still safe for the foreseeable future.
The article mentions the nuclear plant near Dimona, and it would be tempting to hit, but like all nuclear power plants, it’s considered a “hard target”, with walls made of thick concrete. And I would imagine an Israeli power plant to be even more well-protected against all forms of attack. Even a 220 mm rocket wouldn’t do much more than scratch the paint.
Lastly, if these rockets are so dangerous, why haven’t they caused more casualties?
According to a press release from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs ("Israel strikes back against Hamas terror infrastructure in Gaza."), from Dec. 27 to today, Hamas fired 500 rockets into Israel, which killed a total of four people. Assuming a killed/injured ratio of 1/10, that’s over eleven rockets for every Israeli casualty.
Wikipedia has a well-referenced article on all rocket attacks in 2008:
Really Long Link
In all of 2008, 3000 rockets and mortars were launched, for about 120 injured (including minor wounds and shock) and nine Israelis killed. That’s over 23 rounds per Israeli casualty.
“According to Israeli officials, Hamas has also acquired dozens of Iranian-made 240 mm Fajr-3 missiles …” Suppose that’s true; suppose they’ve acquired ten dozen of these missiles; and further suppose that these missiles are twice as deadly as what Hamas is throwing at Israel right now. If all of them are fired off, previous performance suggests that they’d kill two or three Israelis and wound maybe twenty others. Certainly something to be defended against and prevented if possible, but hardly a threat to Israel’s existence.
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