Weekly Commentary: Max Singer's warning about missiles must not be ignored
Dr. Aaron Lerner 18 August 2016

With their capacity to destroy capital facilities like power plants, the
loss of only a few of which would severely harm Israel’s economy, they
[Hezbollah's and possibly Hamas' precision-guided medium-range missiles ]
introduce a new way for Israel to decisively lose a war. Israel will have to
get the difficult balance between offense and defense right before the next
war or it may not have a second chance.
The New Threat of Very Accurate Missiles
By Dr. Max Singer, August 9, 2016
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 356, August 9, 2016
http://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/new-threat-accurate-missiles/

When Dr. Singer's disturbing article was published earlier this month I
sincerely hoped that it would spur the considerable discussion it warrants.

It didn't.

Why the complacency?

A cynic might suggest that the national leadership, whose "quiet for quiet"
policy in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip facilitates the deployment of these
dangerous missiles don't want publicity regarding the consequences of their
policy.

But there's more than enough Israeli media outlets itching for the
opportunity to criticize our leaders.

My sense is that Iron Dome is responsible for our complacency.

For most Israelis, our experience with rocket attacks is that after a 60
second warning there's a loud thud as an interceptor destroys the incoming
missile.

You get used to it.

Unfortunately, there is no reason to believe that a future conflict will in
any way mirror that experience.

Our handful of Iron Dome systems will be too busy trying to protect our most
vital targets to stop a missile from demolishing residential units.

And as Dr. Max Singer details, the sheer number of rockets and launchers
held by the enemy make it possible that strategic targets are indeed hit.

I would like to think that Dr. Singer is simply out of the loop. That
Israel has some fantastic top secret gizmos already deployed that makes
such concerns irrelevant.

Then I could sleep better.

But the purpose of the exercise is not to sleep better tonight.

It's to be ready for tomorrow.
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