Iron Dome – Jean – Loup Samaan

The human toll was much more significant for the Palestinians: 46 were killed (including 17 children), and 360 were injured.73 After three days, the PIJ’s military structure was in such disarray that its dislocation surprised the IDF commanders, who had initially prepared for a one-week campaign.

Overall, the PIJ suffered a significant blow in only three days, taking them “back decades,” according to Israeli officials.74 For the Israelis, this short and almost forgotten operation fed the belief of a prevailing status quo with Hamas. The episode showed an apparent absence of solidarity between the PIJ and Hamas, which was again interpreted as evidence that the latter was not interested in a new war. This was the essential gamble behind the campaign: that the IDF could launch an offensive that singled out one Palestinian movement while betting that the other one would stay quiet.

Hezbollah in Lebanon also stood by. Its Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah condemned the operation and praised the operations of the PIJ, but the Lebanese group refrained from joining the fray.75 At the time, Operation Breaking Dawn garnered many upbeat comments from military analysts in Israel, even though, just like previous wars, it did not fundamentally alter the equation of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. At best, it weakened the PIJ.

This was a tactical win, nothing more. Israeli governments had stuck to the status quo with Gaza for so long that lingering issues, such as the dire humanitarian conditions for the two million Gazan population or the enduring rocket threat on southern Israel, did not call for a change. In other words, the Israeli rationale for staying the course was not the result of a thorough assessment of its security environment. It originated from a political compromise: Without a diplomatic resolution, the immediate solution was to manage the conflict rather than resolve it.

In this regard, Iron Dome served as an ideal tool for managing the conflict. Admittedly, the fact that Palestinian politics were frozen by the Fatah- Hamas standoff for over a decade further fueled the belief that the conflict was intractable. Even at the military level, the logic of “mowing the grass” was starting to reach its limits. The firepower of organizations like Hamas and the PIJ was growing after each round. The proliferation of military technologies, such as UAVs and precision-guided kits, in the hands of nonstate actors added new concerns about Israel’s ability to protect its territory.

For all its impressive performance, Iron Dome had to be constantly upgraded—and by extension, it implied that Israel would increasingly rely on the United States for the replenishment of its capabilities. It was an Israeli success story, yet one that was increasingly cowritten in Jerusalem and Washington. StandWithUs (@StandWithUs), “Introducing, a New Israeli Superhero: Iron Dome, the Protector/Defender of Israel. We Love It!

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Directorate of Defense Research & Development Ministry of Defense Memorandum of understanding Missile Technology Control Regime National Security Council PA PIJ PSI SAM SDI THAA D THEL UAE UAV UNIFI L WMD Palestinian Authority Palestinian Islamic Jihad Proliferation Security Initiative Surface-to-Air Missiles Strategic Defense Initiative Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Tactical High-Energy Laser United Arab Emirates Unmanned aerial vehicle United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Weapons of mass destruction OceanofPDF.com Acknowledgments Though this book was written after the events of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent wars in Gaza and Lebanon, it originated in a series of short papers written over a decade ago about the introduction of Iron Dome in Israel.

At that time, I served as an adviser on Middle Eastern affairs at the NATO Defense College and was visiting Israel for the first time. Missile defense was then a major, though contentious, pillar of the transatlantic organization’s strategic planning. However, whereas NATO discussions on missile defense seemed to me conceptual and futuristic (with endless disputes among French, German, and American officials over the implications for NATO’s deterrence), Israel’s experience was immediate and concrete.

In the following years, I kept a close eye on the topic, especially as Iron Dome moved from obscurity to international fame and now holds a special place as an element of pop culture in Israel and beyond. It was my wife, Emilie, an art historian by training, who convinced me that a book entirely dedicated to a missile defense system, a biography of Iron Dome, would find an audience beyond the small crowd of engineers and Middle East wonks. The book itself was made possible thanks to the trust of my publisher, Bloomsbury, and my editors, Atifa Jiwa, Nadine Staes-Polet, and Raveena Jutley.

I am deeply grateful for their support throughout the process of turning a manuscript into this book. Several institutions also played a crucial role. For the past five years, my home institution, the Middle East Institute (MEI) at the National University of Singapore, has provided me with a fantastic environment in which to conduct research projects.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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