By Gilad Atzmon – London
In English they call it the ‘Iron Dome’ in Hebrew they call it the ‘Iron Kipa’ which could also be translated as ‘Iron Skullcap’ or even ‘Iron Yarmulka’*. Seemingly the Israelis love to mix iron with God.
The Iron Dome, Kipa or Yarmulka is the new Israeli guided missile system. It is there to stop rain of rockets from falling over Sderot, Ashkelon or Tel Aviv. According to Haaretz, “the defense establishment this week successfully intercepted a barrage of rockets for the first time using the newly developed Iron Dome system”.
The new Israeli invention uses small guided missiles to blow up Katyusha-style rockets. Israel plans to station the first working unit outside the Gaza Strip next year.
I can only praise the Israelis and their scientists for their creative imagination and their survival instincts.
The tactic is very simple indeed: while mortar shells cost just a few dollars, guided missiles cost many thousands more. While Palestinian mortar barrages can be launched from every corner in occupied Palestine, Israel will have to deploy its newly invented Iron Kipa over its borders and around its towns. Every home-made Palestinian mortar shell or Qassam Rocket could easily exhaust the Israeli economy and the military’s human resources. Moreover, from now on, thanks to the Iron Kipa, the war with the Palestinian resistance can take place in the sky rather than in Palestinian cities and villages.
But there is one more hidden implication entangled with the new kosher defense system. If the Israelis do possess the means to protect themselves from Palestinian mortars and any ballistic capacity, then Israel cannot justify its occupation of the West Bank any more. Haaretz has described it in very clear words. “Iron Dome’s success” says the Israeli paper, “could improve the prospects of Israel eventually ceding the West Bank land to the Palestinians, as Israeli officials have said that any withdrawals should be conditional on the deployment of a reliable defense against rocket attacks.”
It seems as if the Israelis are really excelling in shooting themselves in the foot. Don’t ever under estimate the Zionist brilliance and Israeli innovation in particular. Once again the Israeli engineers proved that they know how to transform the Kipa into Iron and vice versa.
*Yarmulka – a skullcap worn by religious Jews (especially at prayer)
– Gilad Atzmon is a writer and jazz musician living in London. His latest CD is In Loving Memory of America. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Visit: www.gilad.co.uk.
