Six rockets fired from Gaza land in Israel; Iron Dome intercepts one

Iron Dome is batting .167. Send it down to the minors. And if it bats this low against Hamas, does anyone seriously expect it to do any better than much worse against Hezbollah? Of course, if Israel was serious about peace, Iron Dome wouldn't be necessary. Peace is the best defense.

Nah, that's not as much fun as criticizing Jews. Rave on, fellows!

Apparently all of a sudden there's the firing of rockets between Gaza and southern Israel - why not uphold the mutual ceasefire so that President Abbas convene talks with these oppositional groups such as Hamas and IJ. They agreed to uphold a referendum the Palestinians will decide on their future aspirations. For either side there's no true security but through the diplomatic channels for an agreement of two states side by side. The iron dome intercepting a missile or two and the continuation of barrage of mortar missiles will not achieve the reconciliation required for the region. It's wasting time and lives unnecessarily.

israel refused ceasfire. remember why the lebanon war was 33 days? israel refused ceasefire.

How many did Iron Dome lauch to intercept this one ??? Mr. PM and Mr. Barack: You are still basking in your self dillusion. !!!

Israel killed 1400+ in weeks back in 09 and still continues to siege Gaza from the world limping the flow of life for Palestinians. So expect more rockets Israel and just like you boom them they will bomb back

Syria is probably behind this escalation. It looks as an orchestrated effort to warm up things on this front aiming at dragging Israel into a strong response. A strong response will hopefully (on the Syrian side) result in multiple casualties in Gaza; this will divert the public attention into this direction leaving Syria to go on "unnoticed" with brutally quenching the civil unrest in its cities.

It seems that Iron Dome has a very low hurdle to jump in order to protect Israel from Gazan rockets. I am betting that an Iron Dome interceptor destroys a target in Israel before a Palestinian rocket does. Twice as much junk flying in the sky is not necessarily a good thing.

I wish the cause is found soon, and that the missile defense system passes from "experimental" to fully operational all along Israel asap.

More innocent people will pay the price. Israel is isolated from what is happening around it but not insulated. Inaction regarding the peace process is inflammatory, building more settlements is inflammatory the only option Israel has is a Palestinian homeland as soon as possible. The window of opportunity is closing tight. Time is of essence. Hopefully this will fall on receptive ears.

Cast Lead failed because It was not extensive enough. What is needed is a full invasion of Gaza and the destruction of Hamas in order to insure peace in the region and to reinstate legitimacy in Gaza.

PEACE....

I give it at most 20 days before a new gaza war begins.

Militant rocket fire on Israel raises some international sympathy for Israel. Israel's inevitable response, a massive attack on Gaza, killing hundreds of civilians and children raise a lot of sympathy for the Palestinians and raise the international level of dislike for Israel. Israel is on the losing end of this exchange. The Palestinian civilians and children are also on the losing end. The winners are the militants and the funeral business in Gaza. This means that, by landing the blow, Israel gives their enemy the victory. The problem is that Israel can't resist landing the blow. Both domestic pressure and the usual Israeli arrogance will not be satisfied with a response which includes a low body count. If you look at long term results, you will see that the Gaza militants are more powerful than ever. They have withstood uncounted blows from Israel and they are still far from finished. Israel, on the other hand, were the darlings of the world at one point. Their exploits were made into movies and the people of the world lined up to help them in one way or another. Now the movies have dried up. The goodwill has dried up. Their main supporters are not happy with their behavior. They are under political fire from every direction. All of thiese changes to both sides have come because of militant attacks and Israeli response. It is no wonder that the militants want another round. Let the good times roll!

The reason that the militants want israel to do this is because this is the most effective way for them to strike at Israel. The militants don't have the power to do much harm to Israel so they provoke Israel into harming itself. Usually, this doesn't take much effort, and it seems that the militants are determined to have their way. The inevitable Israeli killing spree is seen as justified by Israelis, but such acts have made Israel hated in much of the world and used up Israel's entire supply of international good will. That's the best the militants can do at the moment.

I'm a joke.

In March 1967 the Air Force rushed it's scandal ridden F-111 into action in the Vietnam War. By mid-April three out of six had been lost. A system had been rushed into service before it, or it's operators, were ready. The IAF was reluctant to deploy Iron Dome and now we know why. At this stage in it's development it might better be named Tinfoil Pimple. The government has hyped the program and been caught out by reality. Hopefully Iron Dome will develop into a good system capable of a credible performance.

"Hamas would respect any peace deal reached between Israel and Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, provided it is approved in a global Palestinian referendum, the top Hamas official in Gaza said Wednesday. In a rare news conference for foreign media, Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of Gaza's Hamas government, staked out seemingly pragmatic positions. He said Hamas seeks dialogue with the West and wants to be "part of the solution, not the problem." (2 Dec. 2010)// Hamas had these positions for some years now. Hamas will even agree to peace, if the Palestinians vote for it. This change in Hamas' implacable initial position resulted from world pressure which caused an evolutionary change so as to make Hamas survivable (see Darwin). It can be assumed however that as long as Hamas is shunned by the world, they will remain rejectionists; after all, what else would be left for them? The key is within the Palestinian nation itself. Abbas and Hamas must resolve their differences first and present a unified front to the world. They will be wise to agree to this, even though Israel is trying to prevent it. Unity will strengthen the Palestinian position, and Israel will gain a more reliable peace partner. As long as Israel rejects Hamas, there will be projectiles coming over as a reminder.

Defense is essential for the bigger cities, one battery to the east of Gaza (for Beer-Seva) and one to the north (Ashkelon-Ashdod), because every Grad rocket hitting a well-populated area may cause many casualties. Too bad for the smaller Gaza neighbors, such as Sderot, because Iron Dome does not respond fast enough for the short distance. The good news: Firing a $100,000 anti-missile missile against a $100 Qassam or mortar shell will assure bankruptcy. Israel should purchase the much cheaper Phalanx system for the immediate Gaza neighborhood.

The only disappointment for Hamas was that the bus wasn't full of children at the time. Now, if Hamas didn't target Israeli children as part of their brainwashed militant agenda, that would be news! As far as Hamas is concerned, all Israeli families throughout the Jewish State have been dehumanized and may as well bear the last name of Fogel.

Depending of course how many missiles Iron Dome fired in total against the incoming missiles. Even so, the 8 intercepted missiles cost $800,000 plus operating costs (lets call it $1 million) How long can Israel maintain this level of expenditure?