PrintFebruary 24, 2011
The Grad rocket attacks are back
In retrospect, what was troubling about yesterday's Grad rocket attack on Beer Sheva was not only that it happened, but the near routine reaction of my whole family to the imminent rocket impact. My wife at first thought that the siren was a continuation of a helicopter crash scene from the TV series Lost she had been watching, but then realized that it was coming from outside and dragged our son who was in the middle of brushing his teeth to his room which serves as the safe room. We could hear the noise of the heavy metal covers shielding the windows slide into position in other apartments. A few more moments and then a boom. My son located the emergency transistor radio and my daughter tuned in to hear what was going on -- indeed there had been an explosion.
This morning the only difference in our schedule was that our son was escorted all the way to the gate of his school so that we could react appropriately in case there was another attack.
What was wrong with this scenario is that we were getting used to rocket attacks. As if this were a normal way to live. Just as we all were getting used to be stripped and x-rayed all over the world airports. Instead of solving the problem we were giving in and accepting this abnormal world.
But this will not work for long. The documentary Iranium suggests that Iran could attack the US with missiles tipped with nuclear warheads from barges positioned a hundred miles from the US shores
Taking into account what Bernard Lewis has reiterated in the movie, i.e. "With these people, with their apocalyptic mindset, mutual assured destruction is not a deterrent, it is an inducement " I find it strange that no one mentioned the possibility that the Iranian warships that just sailed through the Suez Canal might have had the very same purpose -- to launch a N. Korean atom bomb on Tel Aviv. After all, Israel's three Dolphin class submarine deterrent would have according to Bernard Lewis just served as an inducement.
Were the Iranian ships rehearsing a future scenario? I hope the Israeli government, if not the Obama administration, know what they are doing.
