Gaza rockets aimed at Israel: What would you do with just 15 seconds?

Imagine that wherever you live in the United States you have only 15 seconds to reach a secure place to avoid a rocket or missile. Seriously, count down from 15 to 1, and think about what you would do. For more than 3.5 million Israelis, Jews and Arabs, their mental stopwatch is ticking as Hamas extends the reach of its barrage from Israeli communities near the Gaza border to Hadera, 26 miles north of Tel Aviv.

Some of the hundred-per-day rockets have been stopped by Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system. Most have landed in open fields or in buildings that, by chance, were empty. But given past experience with Hamas, the deadly projectiles are likely to soon maim or kill.

A few years ago, I visited Sderot, the Israeli town that has borne the brunt of Hamas rockets for years. I stood next to a crater in a kindergarten playground where a Qassam rocket had landed the previous Saturday. Since that was the Jewish Sabbath, the 50-plus children were not on site. Then, as now, it has largely been good fortune that Hamas has failed to inflict mass casualties, but they have vowed to not give up.

The current Hamas offensive began shortly after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas refused to extend peace talks with Israel, and instead formed a unity government with the unrepentant terrorist organization on June 2. The frequency and reach of rockets fired into Israel increased after three Israeli teens, abducted and murdered by Hamas, were found on June 30. Hamas leaders, who earlier had encouraged the kidnapping of Israelis, now both celebrated and denied responsibility for the abduction.

Here’s the story I mentioned. Had to do a little searching since this story dates back to 2008.

http://tammybruce.com/2008/03/israeli_civilian_builds_retali.html

Israeli Civilian Builds Retaliatory Rocket
by Tammy on March 6, 2008

Ever since Israel withdrew from Gaza and Hamas took over, southern Israel has been bombarded by rockets. The Israeli government is squeezed between citizens demanding the rocket fire be stopped, and other nations objecting to anything Israel might do to stop it.

Here is one man’s solution:

Ashkelon resident Moshe Nissimpor decided that the best way to halt rocket fire from Gaza — in light of what he terms the government’s failure to do so — is some vigilante justice.

Nissimpor developed a homemade 200-millimeter ballistic missile which he planned to launch from Ashkelon into the Gaza Strip.

“I’m afraid this is the only language the Palestinians understand, and this is the language in which we’ll speak to them. I have many Gazan Palestinian friends who live as Hamas hostages. Once we bring an end to the rocket fire, Gaza’s residents will also live in peace,” he said.

Mr. Nissimpor took his rocket to town, but it was seized by police as he prepared for launch. I’m guessing that Nissimpor felt he made his point.

The city of Ashkelon had previously been pretty much out of range of Gazan rockets, but it started to take hits in recent days. Hamas has apparently made good on its pledge to expand its range of targets:

Hamas is improving its rocket technology, and will soon be able to hit “any target in Israel,” Reuters quoted a senior member of the organization, Fathi Hamad, saying Friday at a rally in the Gaza Strip.

These new rockets (from Iran, of course) have raised the internal pressure on Israel to take stronger action. This has prompted recent Israeli raids against rocket launchers.

Original news article:

http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Ashkelon-man-builds-homemade-missile
Ashkelon man builds homemade missile

Ashkelon resident Moshe Nissimpor decided that the best way to halt rocket fire from Gaza - in light of what he terms the government’s failure to do so - is some vigilante justice. Nissimpor developed a homemade 200-millimeter ballistic missile which he planned to launch from Ashkelon into the Gaza Strip.

“From this day onwards, we will push back to the stone age every place which dares shoot missiles into Israel’s sovereign territory,” he said Wednesday. “It is time the world understood Israelis’ lives are not expendable.” “I’m afraid this is the only language the Palestinians understand, and this is the language in which we’ll speak to them. I have many Gazan Palestinian friends who live as Hamas hostages. Once we bring an end to the rocket fire, Gaza’s residents will also live in peace,” he said.

Nissimpor arrived at the Ashkelon Municipality building with the missile painted black and lettered “to Hamas, from the residents of Ashkelon” in red, and was planning to launch it. Ashkelon residents gathered round to cheer him on and protest the government’s conduct, but at the eleventh hour, police stopped him from firing the missile and seized it. “I wish there were more ‘crazies’ like me in Israel,” Nissimpor said as the crowd was dispersed by the police.

Earlier Wdnesday, as the security cabinet met and emerged with a message that the government will stop the rocket attacks against Israeli communities from the Gaza Strip, three rockets struck the western Negev. A total of 14 Kassams were fired into Israel from northern and central Gaza, on the first day in almost a week in which nobody was wounded by the attacks. Almost all the projectiles hit open areas. The air-raid-style sirens installed in Ashkelon this week were tested for the first time - causing some to duck for cover, but proving that their whine could penetrate walls better than the calmly-pitched “Color Red” warning.

Meanwhile, the week’s second humanitarian supply convoy into the Gaza Strip met with a glitch, as border crossing authorities detained one of the dozens of trucks crossing entering the Strip. A truck labeled “cooking oil” was stopped after authorities suspected that its liquid contents might instead be materials used for producing Kassam rockets. A truck containing “building materials” was also combed, on suspicion that some of its contents could be used to build rockets.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry announced that the first shipment of Turkish humanitarian aid, including four trucks full of medicine, food and clothing, arrived in Gaza as part of Wednesday’s convoy. A second Turkish shipment is expected to be sent through the Gaza crossings soon, which before this week had been closed to almost all shipments for more than a month. Around two dozen Gazans were permitted to enter Israel to receive medical treatment.

In the morning, three rockets were fired at agricultural areas in the western Negev, and another two hit near a kibbutz south of Ashkelon. In the evening, an estimated nine rockets were fired from northern Gaza, striking open areas near Sderot and Ashkelon. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the evening barrage. During the relative lull in the Kassam rocket fire, the Defense Ministry positioned 120 portable bomb shelters in Sderot, the final shipment of the box-like structures to the town under current plans.

The ministry also budgeted an additional NIS 300 million to improve the state of bomb shelters in Ashkelon. Late Tuesday night, IAF aircraft hit a number of Kassam launchers that were pointed at Israel.

What do you do with 15 seconds warning of low speed qassam rocket attacks?

Well, first of all, look up.

Just a little tip: if you see something “moving slowly” toward you from the sky...and after a little while it appears to “not be moving” then it is in reality actually moving precisely toward you.

Appearing stationary is an optical trick by moving objects when you have no frame of reference (e.g. ships at sea).

So if the rocket appears for a brief moment to be still in the air...in reality it is on a collision path at you.

Suggestion: change your path!

Outside of obvious safe room, body armor, helmet, and “lay flat” advice...look up.

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