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Over the weekend, both the Senate and the House approved $225M in funding for the Iron Dome. The bill passed by unanimous consent in the Senate and by a 395 to 8 vote. Opposition to the funding of the Iron Dome demonstarted an unfortunate bi-partisan measure – four Democrats and four Republicans voted against it. The four Democrats were Keith Ellison (MN-05), Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Jim Moran (VA-08), and Beto O’Rourke (TX-16); The four Republicans were Justin Amash (MI-03), Walter Jones (NC-03), Tom Massie (KY-04), and Mark Sanford (SC-01). Rep. Ellison explains vote on “Meet the Press”: “Because a ceasefire...

You may recall that on Friday, in what would have been a Christmas Miracle were it not several months early, Congress actually got something done. It was the passage of a bill approving $225M in funding for Israel’s Iron Dome defensive missile system. It was quite the bipartisan effort in retrospect, garnering an overwhelming 395 votes in the House with only eight in opposition. One of those eight was Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, and as The Corner reports, he went out on the weekend gab circuit to explain why he didn’t support the measure. “Because a cease-fire is what we...

In what may be one of the most ridiculous accusations yet against Israel, the UN's top human rights official condemned Israel on Thursday for failing to share the Iron Dome anti-missile system with Hamas, Breitbart reports. According to the report, human rights commissioner Navi Pillay condemned Israel’s military actions to stop Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, telling reporters that Israel was “deliberately defying International Law... in a way that may constitute war crimes.” "There is a strong possibility that international law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes,” Breitbart quoted Pillay as saying following...

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stated on Wednesday that the only solution for the region is the destruction of Israel, and that the armed confrontation must expand beyond Gaza. Meanwhile, revolutionary guards announced new missiles which could destroy Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. Fars News Agency, a media outlet run by the Iranian state, reported today that Khamenei addressed the conflict in Gaza in a meeting with Iranian college students. “These crimes which are beyond imagination and show the true nature of the wolfish and child killer regime, which the only solution is its destruction,” the ayatollah declared...

Israel’s Iron Dome has played a high profile role in the current conflict with Hamas as the country's military deploys state-of-the-art technology to tackle missile attacks.

Between the fall of the Jewish Commonwealth to the Romans in the first century A.D. and the founding of Israel in 1948, Jews were remarkably easy to kill. Not anymore. Today, thanks to an innovative missile-defense system called Iron Dome (in Hebrew Kipat Barzel), it’s harder than ever. Yet when it was first proposed, many Israeli defense experts (and one way or another most Israelis consider themselves defense experts) were reluctant to support the idea of a defensive response to rocket attacks from Gaza and Lebanon. Throughout the history of warfare there has been conflict between those who believe in...

According to the Israeli government, in this latest round of Israel-Hamas combat, Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system has (so far) intercepted 90 percent of targeted incoming Hamas rockets. Iron Dome is a very sophisticated tactical (short-range) anti-missile and anti-artillery projectile defense system. In terms of combat operations, Iron Dome's "sensor-shooter" system is a drastically scaled-down strategic anti-missile defense system, a mini-ABM system in the mold of the Reagan administration's Strategic Defense Initiative. In fact, Iron Dome is an SDI descendant and a cousin of the current U.S. Missile Defense program. I will return to the cousin connection in...

Israel's "Iron Dome" defense system has emerged as a game-changer in the current round of violence with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, shooting down dozens of incoming rockets and being credited with preventing numerous civilian casualties. By shooting down more than 90 percent of its targets, the system is ensuring Israel's decisive technological edge that has helped it operate virtually unhindered in Gaza. At the same time, it's also providing a much-needed sense of security on the home front.....

The rioting that gripped several Israeli Arab towns on Friday night renewed toward evening on Saturday, though with less intensity. Police were present outside the town of Kalanswa, where dozens of protestors, many of them with their faces masked, set fire to tires on the main road into the town. The road between Kalanswa and Taibeh was closed in both directions. Other roads in the north of the country were closed intermittently during the afternoon, as police moved to counter renewed demonstrations. In the south of the country, rockets fired from the Gaza Strip set fields alight in the Eshkol...

The Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted four rockets fired from the Gaza Strip toward southern Israel on Saturday night. Three rockets were shot down over Asheklon after the rocket defense system intercepted a projectile fired at Beersheba. Another rocket fell in an open area near Ashkelon, and a second one exploded in Sha'ar Hanegev. Earlier in the evening, the Israel Air Force struck three terror sites in southern Gaza Strip in response to a continuous barrage of rockets fired at southern Israel throughout the day. "The IDF is prepared to defend Israeli citizens from any threat and will continue...

A White House veto threat — reiterated just hours before the vote — had little impact in an election year as lawmakers embraced the popular measure that includes a 1.8 percent pay raise for the troops and adds up to hundreds of thousands of jobs back home. The vote was 325-98 for the legislation, with 216 Republicans and 109 Democrats backing the bill. The National Defense Authorization Act calls for the addition of $175 million in funding for the Iron Dome system, which currently gets $176 million annually from the Pentagon. Much of the funding would be tied to a...

After a rocket was fired at Eilat by Al Qaeda-inspired Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem) Friday night, and shot down by Iron Dome, Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz warned Saturday that at the current rate, Israel will soon have to once again enter Gaza to destroy Hamas, the Islamist terrorist group which currently controls the territory. “In the last year or two there has been an improvement in the security situation, fewer rockets have been fired at Israel and fewer Israelis have been injured,” noted Steinitz. “But if the trickle of rockets from Gaza continues, we’ll have no choice but...

Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted five rockets fired at the city of Ashkelon from the Gaza Strip on Thursday, and the military responded with a series of air strikes on the Hamas-controlled territory. No group has taken responsibility for firing the rockets, which were shot down by Iron Dome's small radar-guided missiles over Ashkelon, a coastal city of some 125,000 people about 12 km (seven miles) north of Gaza.

The Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted five rockets fired by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza at Ashkelon early Thursday morning. An additional rocket may have landed in an open, uninhabited area. There were no injuries in the Palestinian attack.

An upgraded ballistic rocket was reportedly launched Tuesday from the Gaza Strip into the Mediterranean sea, presumably to test the weapon’s capabilities and range. The test caused loud explosion sounds that were audible in Israeli towns and cities adjacent to the Gaza border, Channel 2 reported. The rocket was an improved version of the M-75 missile with a slightly longer range and a larger warhead, the report said. Other Israeli news outlets, citing the army, attributed the explosion sounds to ultrasonic booms caused by Israeli jets that were participating in a drill.

Experts who took part in the test of the David's Sling anti-missile system david sling test successfulWednesday were elated at its success, according to a report by Maariv's Yochai Ofer. Pini Yungman, who heads the Missile Defense Systems Authority in Rafael Advanced Defense Systems said the test, in which an interceptor missile brought down a missile fired in simulation of an enemy attack, had made "history." "We have developed 'next generation' technology here for a system that will provide a solution for future threats. You could say that all of the systems worked perfectly. The jewel in the crown is...

Israel deployed its Iron Dome missile defense system near Jerusalem Sunday, an AFP correspondent said.iron dome golan israel syria strike. The correspondent said the battery was set up west of the city. A military spokeswoman would not comment on the deployment, saying only that "defense systems are deployed in accordance with situation assessments." An IDF source said that the system's deployment is a routine part of the way it is tested, by being transferred from place to place. Late last month a battery of the mobile system was set up in the greater Tel Aviv area, pointing northwards towards Syria....

At least four rockets were fired from Lebanon Thursday afternoon, with at least one confirmed as having struck in the area of Nahariya. IDF Radio reported that bomb shelters in the northern city of Akko (Acre) have been opened for public use, and the IDF is urging residents of the north to remain close to shelters. There are unconfirmed reports that the IDF has responded with artillery fire into Lebanon

JERUSALEM (AP) -- The Israeli military shot down a rocket launched toward a Red Sea resort town near the border with Egypt on Tuesday, the army said. It was the first time Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system successfully intercepted a rocket attack on the resort of Eilat, the military said. The incident came after days of heightened tension along the Egypt-Israel border. The army said the rocket was intercepted early Tuesday and that there were no injuries. It didn't provide more details and declined to comment on the origins of the projectile. An al-Qaida-inspired militant group based in Egypt's...

JERUSALEM (AP) -- The Israeli military on Tuesday shot down a rocket launched from neighboring Egypt toward a popular Red Sea resort, and an al-Qaida-linked militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, fueling concerns that jihadist groups are trying to disrupt the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. It was the first time that Israel has deployed its "Iron Dome" rocket defense system in Eilat, a normally placid resort near Egypt's Sinai peninsula that is popular with Israeli and European tourists. The incident came after days of heightened tension along the Egypt-Israel border fueled by an Egyptian crackdown on militant groups. The area...