Iron Dome. The radar of the Iron Dome Battle Management & Control (BMC) unit of the Iron Dome battery Iron Dome (Hebrew: כִּפַּת בַּרְזֶל, kipat barzel) is a mobile all-weather air defense system[6] developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.[5] The system is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from distances of 4 to 70 kilometers away and whose trajectory would take them to a populated area.[7][8] Israel hopes to increase the range of Iron Dome's interceptions, from the current maximum of 70 km (45 miles) to 250 km and make it more versatile so that it could intercept rockets coming from two directions simultaneously.[9] On 28 September 2011, Flight Global reported that according to a source at Rafael, the Israel Defense Forces learned during its deployment that Iron Dome is also effective against aircraft up to an altitude of 32,800 ft (10,000 m).[15] Background[edit] In 2004, the idea for Iron Dome gained momentum with the installation of Brig.
Israel and 1948: Did Israel plan to expel its Arabs in 1948? Or not? The following is adapted from Gershom Gorenberg’s new book The Unmaking of Israel. Tomorrow, Slate will publish an excerpt about why a new kind of old-time Judaism has taken hold in Israel. The day after, we will publish an excerpt about how Israel can resolve its tragic crisis with the Palestinians. Photograph from the The State of Israel-National Photo Gallery.
The most basic question about Israeli democracy has existed from before its birth: What would be the status of Arabs in a Jewish state? On the surface, the partition of Palestine approved by the United Nations in November 1947 offered a straightforward way to deal with two national groups claiming the same territory: Each would get part of the land. Given those numbers, and given what happened to the Palestinian Arabs in 1948, it is easy to conclude that the founders of the Jewish state adopted a policy of expulsion and proceeded to carry it out. The partition map was based not only on the 1947 population of Palestine. Nuclear weapons and Israel. Israel started investigating the nuclear field soon after its founding in 1948 and with French support secretly began building a nuclear reactor and reprocessing plant in the late 1950s.
Israel is alleged to have developed a nuclear weapon in the late 1960s, but it is not publicly confirmed.[15][16] Mordechai Vanunu, a former Israeli nuclear technician, provided explicit details and photographs to the London Sunday Times of a nuclear weapons program[17] in which he had been employed for nine years, "including equipment for extracting radioactive material for arms production and laboratory models of thermonuclear devices.
"[18] Estimates as to the size of the Israeli nuclear arsenal vary between 75 and 400 nuclear warheads, with most estimates at less than 200 warheads. Development history[edit] Pre-Dimona 1949–1956[edit] Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion was "nearly obsessed" with obtaining nuclear weapons to prevent the Holocaust from recurring. After U.S. Negotiation[edit] Vela Incident. Prince Edward Islands Crozet Islands While a "double flash" signal is characteristic of a nuclear weapons test in the atmosphere, the signal could also have been a spurious electronic signal generated by an ageing detector in an old satellite, or a meteoroid hitting the Vela satellite. No corroboration of an explosion, such as the presence of nuclear byproducts in the air, was ever identified.
Numerous passes in the area by Boeing WC-135s, planes designed by the U.S. Air Force to detect airborne radioactive dust, were negative. Detection[edit] Vela-5A/B Satellites in a clean room. The satellite reported the characteristic double flash of a small atmospheric nuclear explosion of two to three kilotons, in the Indian Ocean between the Crozet Islands (a very small, sparsely inhabited French possession) and the Prince Edward Islands (which belong to South Africa) at WikiMiniAtlas 47°S 40°E / 47°S 40°E / -47; 40Coordinates: 47°S 40°E / 47°S 40°E / -47; 40. Possible responsible parties[edit] Israel gets its 4th German-made nuke-capable submarine. The Dolphin-class INS Tanin submarine undergoes final construction work in Germany in February 2012. Israel has taken delivery of its fourth German-made Dolphin-class submarine capable of carrying nuclear warheads with an operating range of 4,500 kilometers (2796 miles).
The INS Tannin submarine was delivered to Israeli naval officials in Hamburg, Germany on Thursday and is expected to undergo final tests before arriving in Israel in 2013, the Associated Press reported. Israeli Minister for Military Affairs Ehud Barak said that the submarine will increase Tel Aviv's capabilities and strength in the face of regional challenges. An Israeli navy official said the submarine can "stay underwater for longer. " Israel had placed order with Germany for the submarine as well as its fifth Dolphin-class sub in 2006, while, in 2012, the two sides signed a contract for a sixth such submarine.
The fifth and sixth orders are due for delivery in 2014 and 2016 respectively. Netanyahu shattering the myth of Israeli democracy. As protests raged again across the Middle East, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, offered his assessment of the Arab uprisings last week. It was, he said, an “Islamic, anti-western, anti-liberal, anti-Israeli, undemocratic wave,” adding that Israel’s Arab neighbors were “moving not forwards, but backwards.” It takes some chutzpah — or, at least, epic self-delusion — for Israel’s prime minister to be lecturing the Arab world on liberalism and democracy at this moment. In recent weeks, a spate of anti-democratic measures have won support from Netanyahu’s right-wing government, justified by a new security doctrine: see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil of Israel. If the legislative proposals pass, the Israeli courts, Israel’s human rights groups and media, and the international community will be transformed into the proverbial three monkeys.
Israel’s vigilant human rights community has been the chief target of this assault. Media and human rights groups fear for the worst.