The Strategic Burden of Israel’s “Iron Dome”
The Australian Jewish News by Michael Scott 10 April 2025

Extracts:

• Intifadas — intense violence, including numerous suicide bombings of civilian targets

This reductionist perspective — one that assumes Israel’s defensive capabilities make aggression against it acceptable — ignores the human cost of resilience

• Each intercepted rocket may prevent immediate loss of life but it does not erase the trauma it leaves behind
• A community is left shaken, living under the perpetual shadow of the next attack
• A family is disrupted, forced to seek shelter at a moment’s notice, their daily lives dictated by the whims of those who fire indiscriminately
• A society is held hostage, conditioned to accept constant threat as an unavoidable reality rather than an aberration that demands decisive action

This adds to the trauma of a population who endured the Second Intifada
The Second Intifada also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada erupted in September 2000 and persisted until February 2005

This period was marked by intense violence, including numerous suicide bombings targeting buses, restaurants and other public spaces within Israel

These attacks resulted in significant civilian casualties and widespread fear among the population
The relentless nature of these assaults profoundly traumatized Israeli society, leaving enduring psychological scars