Shooting down Iron Dome funding is part of 'enduring' Durban

• Author: LIAT COLLINS
• Published date: 23 September 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

While Israel was busy celebrating Sukkot – sitting in flimsy booths that serve as a reminder of the Exodus from Egypt thousands of years ago and the birth of the Jewish people as a nation – a political drama was taking place in Washington. The leadership of the Democratic Party dropped $1 billion of funding for Israel's Iron Dome anti-rocket defense system after the regressive Progressives refused to vote for the broader budget bill necessary to keep the US government going if it included the defense funds.

The Democrats could not get the bill passed without the Progressives' backing, because Republicans, still smarting from the administration change, also would not support it, citing the debt ceiling. (The polar divide between the Democrats and Republicans – and attempts to turn Israel into a partisan issue – is also cause for concern.)

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Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), with the backing of Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Pramila Jayapal, is largely seen as being behind the move, in keeping with her demands during the May mini-war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. During that operation, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched 4,500 rockets and mortars on Israel within 11 days, every one a war crime aimed indiscriminately at Israeli civilians.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer spoke to Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Wednesday to discuss his "strong support for Iron Dome funding," reiterating his commitment to ensuring Israel receives this aid and "reaffirmed the importance of bipartisan support for Israel." But the fact that the funding initially had been dropped gave out a negative message – one picked up by Israel and other US allies including Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states as well as by countries such as Iran and its terrorist proxies including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Russia, China and North Korea.

This is not so much a matter of funding as a matter of trust. US President Joe Biden has repeatedly promised that the US will help restock the Iron Dome batteries supplies, which were seriously depleted in the May war.

There is no doubt that the Iron Dome has saved thousands of lives – which is exactly what it is intended to do. It is not an offensive system. It tracks incoming rockets and intercepts those that are on a course likely to take a serious toll on lives or infrastructure while...