Video: Israeli Missile Defense Group Emphasizes Need, Technological Feasibility Of Anti-Missile Systems
There is a certain camp in Israel - let's call them "the vast majority of military experts" - who are less than confident about Obama's ability to prevent Iran from getting the Bomb. It could be because Iranian hardliners are constantly gaining influence, especially on nuclear issues. Or it could be because going nuclear is Iran's top priority so we can't offer them anything more important. Or it could be because Obama himself is geopolitically and diplomatically retreating from his commitment to prevent Iranian nuclearization. Regardless - if Iran isn't already past the point of no return they will be soon enough.
An Israeli military attack is now off the table. The State Department will spend the next few months figuring out the precise amount of groveling it'll take before the mullahs will deign to sit down with Obama. During that time Israel will have to sit quietly on the sidelines or get blamed for knocking out the new administration's diplomatic knees. And when Iran decides it's ready to be appeased, part of the package will include security guarantees against military attacks - by the US or by the US's allies.
Closer to the Israeli border, Hezbollah and Hamas have made life unlivable for millions of Israelis. By the time the next war starts, Iran's proxies will be able to blanket all of Israel with rockets and missiles. It's only a matter of time before missiles strike the skyscrapers in Tel Aviv. Israel's enemies are remarkably vigorous when it comes to transforming smuggled materials - already flooding into post-Cast Lead Gaza - into anti-civilian projectiles. Keeping advanced weapons out of Gaza and South Lebanon is ultimately impossible: if it can fly and blow up, some genocidal fanatic is eventually going to try to use it to murder Israelis.
Ergo: the Israeli Missile Defense Association (IMDA), a non-profit group dedicated to making two fundamental points: missile defensive is militarily imperative and technologically feasible. These are serious people. The Board of Directors is a who's who of retired Israeli military officials, with generals from throughout the IDF and IAF. The Board of Advisors includes several of Israel's most prominent ambassadors, including Dore Gold. The Executive Director is Avi Schnurr, a recognized expert with more than two decades of engineering and policy experience in missile defense. This is a group with the ethos and the access to bring much-needed changes to public discourse and government policy. But - new as they are - they still lack exposure and resources:
The missile and rocket threats that Israel faces can't be addressed just offensively. The IAF is undoubtedly one of the world's most capable air forces. But taking into account the combined stockpiles of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria - Israel is targeted by literally the largest rocket and missile inventory on the planet. No air force could destroy it in any reasonable amount of time. And even if the sheer numbers weren't overwhelming, many the weapons are hidden under schools and hospitals, inaccessible to IAF bombs. The Iran-Hezbollah-Hamas axis now constitutes an existential threat to Israel - the West's front line against political Islam. As Iran perfects their ICBMs, their arsenal will eventually represent a direct threat to European and American civilians.
The IMDA will eventually expand their outreach into new media technologies, though for now they're focused on influencers and policymakers. In the meantime you can subscribe to their newsletters and check out their threat assessments. There are two broad sections filled with information. The first is exclusively about Middle East rocket and missile threats: everything from Katyushas to Fadjrs to Zelzals. The other section: the global ballistic missile threat from potentially undeterrable rogue regimes, including but not limited to Iran's next-generation Shahab's and their BM-25's.
On the off-chance that you want to avoid soul-crushing depression, there's also a section detailing a wide array of workable and effective missile defense options. Phalanxes, Patriots, the Arrow systems, various next-generation options - the upshot is that missile defense is technologically feasible. What's missing is the political will. It's missing in the US, in Israel, and throughout Europe. Right now the Obama administration seems poised to cut what support there is for missile defense - strangling technological development, devastating US-Israeli anti-missile cooperation, and diplomatically hanging Poland out to dry.
Unless there's a policy-level change, the best case over the next few decades is a permanently-cowed Western world living in the shadow of Iranian nuclear blackmail. The more likely possibility is that either the US or Europe will eventually try to call one of Iran's nuclear gambits - only to find out that apocalyptic regimes have a far more nuanced relationship to nuclear devastation than we do.
References:
* Smug Liberal Sophistication Untroubled By Undeniable Evidence That Hardliners Are Winning In Iran [MR]
* Super! Iran's New Nuclear Negotiator Dedicated To Bringing About The End Of The World. Yes, Really. [MR]
* Mathematical Proof That Negotiating With Iran Is Stupid. Not Wrong. Stupid. [MR]
* Obama: Since We All Know That Engagement With Iran Won't Work, How About A US Nuclear Umbrella For Israel? [MR]
* What Barack Hussein Obama Told the Muslim World [LGF]
* Iranian Cleric: Put A Bullet In Livni's Head (Plus: Smug Liberal Sophistication Unperturbed By Spectacularly Wrong Iran Predictions, Failed Anti-Iran Efforts) [MR]
* State Dept Rushing To Apologize To Iran [MR]
* Brzezinski: Israeli Campaign Against Iran Will Detonate US-Israel Relations [MR]
* It begins: Obama drafting letter to new pen pals in Iran [Hot Air]
* Simulation: What if Hamas rockets hit Tel Aviv? [Israel Matzav]
* Hamas Already Rebuilding Tunnels For The Weapons That Iran Is Already Sending [MR]
* Unilateral Israeli Ceasefire Going Exactly As Expected [MR]
* Stay Informed! [IMDA]
* Threats [IMDA]
* Defenses [IMDA]
* Detente In Our Time - Obama Prepares To Sell Out Poland In The Face Of Russian Aggression. Again. (Plus: By The Way, Missile Defense Works) [MR]
Previously:
* Iran Has Secret Fuel Reprocessing Program, Missiles That Will Reach Europe (Plus: Khamenei: Of Course We're Not Going To Respond To Diplomacy)
* Great News: Russia To Sell Cutting Edge Anti-Aircraft Missiles To Iran (Plus: Iranian Navy Doubles Down)
* Iran Builds Nuclear Missiles, Threatens Israel, Accidentally Misplaces Enough Uranium To Make Six Bombs (Plus: State Department Experts: Engage Iran!)
