Monday November 19, 2012

I've Been Thinking:

It is important to have a sense of perspective about what is now happening in Israel and in Gaza.

What are the numbers?
How effective is Israel in their counter attack?
How damaging has Hamas been?

As of this writing Israel has targeted 1,100 locations in Gaza.

Operation Pillar of Defense began on Wednesday. 80 locations were targeted between Saturday night and early Sunday morning, another 130 were targeted on Sunday.

Hamas has shot 820 rockets at Israel. 540 landed. 280 were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome, a special weapon that specializes in knocking out short range rockets before they hit their targets.
31 of the 820 rockets landed in or near urban areas in Israel, that is about 3.7% of the total rockets fired. That means that Israel has been effective at stopping most of the rockets.

Hamas is satisfied. Just having Israel sound air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem was a huge victory. Hamas is now stripping their rockets of their heavy explosive head - this way the rockets will have greater range. For Hamas, the fear factor and the terror they are striking into the heart of Israel and every Israeli is far more valuable than the actual destruction caused by the rockets.

Hamas gains from disrupting normal life and injecting a sense of profound fear into the heartland of Israel. That is their measure of success. That is their objective.

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