Israel’s Arrow Missiles Make History

Wednesday’s newsletter included an item about the ballistic missiles Houthi rebels in Jordan launched at Israel. As significant as the fact that these missiles were launched is the fact that the IDF shot one of them down with its Arrow missile-defense system. The Arrow represents the top tier in Israel’s layered defensive apparatus—designed for long-range, high-altitude projectiles—while the Iron Dome intercepts low-altitude rockets and David’s Sling defends against everything in between. Yonah Jeremy Bob explains:

[T]his was not the first time the Arrow shot something down. In 2017, it shot down a Syrian surface-to-air missile that missed Israeli aircraft and sailed into Israeli airspace. But . . . the ballistic missile from Yemen was a much more difficult target and was the quality of target for which the Arrow was produced.

In 2022, then-U.S. CENTCOM chief General Kenneth McKenzie said that Iran had over 3,000 ballistic missiles, not counting its increasing number of cruise missiles. Only a portion of these can reach Israel, but the point is that, since the 1990s, the Islamic Republic has had weapons that could reach Israel, and while Jerusalem hoped that its Arrow missile shield would hold up, it had never been fully tested.

Certainly, it was a shot of confidence in the arm when Germany purchased the Arrow system, with a historic signing last month. But there is nothing like actually shooting down a high-quality ballistic missile with all of the real stress of an operational situation.

Read more at Jerusalem Post

More about: Iron Dome, Israeli Security, Israeli technology

Expand Gaza into Sinai

Feb. 11 2025

Calling the proposal to depopulate Gaza completely (if temporarily) “unworkable,” Peter Berkowitz makes the case for a similar, but more feasible, plan:

The United States along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE should persuade Egypt by means of generous financial inducements to open the sparsely populated ten-to-fifteen miles of Sinai adjacent to Gaza to Palestinians seeking a fresh start and better life. Egypt would not absorb Gazans and make them citizens but rather move Gaza’s border . . . westward into Sinai. Fences would be erected along the new border. The Israel Defense Force would maintain border security on the Gaza-extension side, Egyptian forces on the other. Egypt might lease the land to the Palestinians for 75 years.

The Sinai option does not involve forced transfer of civilian populations, which the international laws of war bar. As the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other partners build temporary dwellings and then apartment buildings and towns, they would provide bus service to the Gaza-extension. Palestinian families that choose to make the short trip would receive a key to a new residence and, say, $10,000.

The Sinai option is flawed. . . . Then again, all conventional options for rehabilitating and governing Gaza are terrible.

Read more at RealClear Politics

More about: Donald Trump, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula