Life in Israel, last week, was full of pressure and tension. According to news reports, “over 400 rockets were fired into Israel” and, if not for the Iron Dome, many of those rockets would have landed on Israeli homes, causing tremendous damage and possibly even loss of life. Everybody is singing the praises of the Iron Dome and how it saved us – yet I am 100 percent against this device and, if I could, I would dismantle every unit and send it back to where it came from. It sounds crazy, so let me explain.
I will get right to the point. The Iron Dome has to be replaced with the Iron Fist. Instead of sitting and catching 86 percent of the rockets shot at Israeli cities (according to official sources), the IDF needs to issue a simple, yet very powerful statement: Israel’s new system – the Iron Fist – automatically fires back 100 rockets for every one rocket that is fired at us. This is Day Number One. Starting with Day Number Two, the Iron Fist fires back 200 rockets, and by Day Number Three, it’s 300-for-1, and so on. Furthermore, the rockets fired by the Iron Fist will not be towards empty fields and abandoned buildings, but exactly to the same kinds of areas where the enemy shot at us. If populated cities were targeted, then populated cities will be the return address. The Iron Fist will work with the same “rules and regulations” in sending back deadly rockets as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah followed when they fired the rockets in the first place.
One second! I know what you’re about to ask: “What will the world say?” To answer that question, I can be either politically correct or not. Let’s go with the Non-PC answer first: The world screams anyway, no matter what we do, so who cares? The job of the IDF is to protect Jews in Israel and not to answer anti-Semites who scream around the world. Therefore, we will do whatever it takes to make sure Jews in Israel are safe, and if the world doesn’t like it, they can condemn us in the UN. Oh, yeah – they do that anyway.
And now for the nice PC answer: We are not interested in war. We want to live in peace with our neighbors and have therefore worded this declaration very carefully. We will not start a war, nor will we shoot even one rocket at any location at all. The entire decision as to what happens is in the hands of our neighbors. If they shoot rockets, then and only then will we return fire to the same kind of location from which they began the hostilities. Yes, we will fire 100-to-1 – but that is only because they started the violence. The moment they stop, we will stop, as well.
In summary, while the Iron Dome is a great defensive system, this back-and-forth will never end, because it is exactly that: a defensive system. They will continue to shoot rockets and our families will continue running to bomb shelters hoping the Iron Dome will “make the catch.” Life cannot continue like that, with hundreds of thousands of Jews experiencing serious trauma. If you ever ran to a bomb shelter, you know what I’m talking about. It is absolute horror, as parents scream at kids to come in from the outside, babies are woken up, and people run around the house making sure that everyone is in the protected room – and that’s if the entire family is at home. What happens if your seven-year-old is at karate class, or if you are driving with three kids in the car? Its absolute chaos with parents and children screaming and crying – and that’s with the Iron Dome protecting us.
The Iron Fist takes the game to their field, not ours. It puts the pressure and stress on them, as we hit back 100 times for every punch they threw at us. It’s a system built much more on offense than defense, and that’s the only language the players in the Middle East understand. It’s time to change the rules.
Am Yisrael Chai!
Shmuel Sackett is a 100% product of Queens. He was born in Middle Village and moved to KGH shortly before his bar-mitzvah. He graduated from YCQ (1975) and YHSQ (1979). He was Havurat Yisrael’s first Youth Director (4 years) and started the first 2 NCSY chapters in Queens. Shmuel made aliyah in 1990 and co-founded Manhigut Yehudit, together with Moshe Feiglin. His website is www.JewishIsrael.org Sackett is married with 6 children and 4 grandchildren. He lives in Herziliya Pituach.
