‘Important Milestone’: Israel Uses New Air Defense System in Fight Against Palestinian Islamic Jihad

Andrew Bernard

A David’s Sling system test in December 2015. Photo: United States Missile Defense Agency

The Israeli Ministry of Defense on Wednesday confirmed the first operational interception of the David’s Sling missile system, a development that experts say is an “important milestone” in US-Israeli defense cooperation and for Israel’s defense capabilities.

Ari Cicurel, Assistant Director of Foreign Policy at the the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), told The Algemeiner that while Iron Dome is the most frequently used and talked about Israeli air defense system, it’s part of a wider network of systems protecting the country.

“The first successful operation of David’s Sling underscores the importance of US-Israel air and missile defense technology as a co-produced system,” Cicurel said. “With threats continuing to grow from Iran-backed groups in the region to US service members, to regional partners including Israel, US-Israel defense cooperation will will only become more important going forward.”

David’s Sling is Israel’s “middle tier” air defense system, capable of shooting down larger projectiles than Iron Dome, including cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles.

While the Israeli Ministry of Defense said that they did not have have any additional information about the circumstances of the interception, Cicurel said that its first use would reverberate beyond the current conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

“The use of David’s Sling sends a signal to not only PIJ and Hamas, but also Hezbollah to Israel’s north, other Iran-backed groups, and certainly Iran as well, that Israel has the capabilities to defend itself at the short-, medium- and long-range,” he said. “So that use, if not the reason that Israel chose to use David’s Sling, certainly is the consequence of successful use.”

David’s Sling, which fires missile interceptors to take down its targets, is jointly designed by the Israeli defense contractor Rafael and the US-based Raytheon. The project is supported by an annual $500 million in aid that was included in the ten-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the US and Israel signed during the Obama administration in 2016.

Daniel Shapiro, former US ambassador to Israel and a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council who was one of the negotiators of that MOU, told The Algemeiner that that steady stream of missile defense funding remains a “sound investment” for the US and Israel.

“The first operational interception by the David’s Sling system is an important milestone,” he said. “The IDF is constantly refining and adjusting the capabilities of its missile defense systems, improving their range and versatility to provide multilayered protection against the evolving missile capabilities of Israel’s enemies.”

According to Cicurel, that investment is also starting to pay dividends in the wider region, as Israel and its defense systems have significant appeal for Arab countries that also face potential rocket and missile threats from Iran.

“[Israel] has also provided to its growing number of friends in the region through the Abraham Accords,” he said. “Israel sold the UAE both its SPYDER counter-drone platform, as well as the Barak short-range air defense system for missiles and drones. Similarly, Bahrain has signed an MOU with Israel on defense cooperation and is reportedly in discussions to purchase Israeli counter-drone defenses.”

Since Operation Shield and Arrow began on 9 May, PIJ have launched nearly 900 rockets, 260 of which have been intercepted by Iron Dome with a 91% success rate. While that rate of fire has demonstrated PIJ’s ability to mount an intensive rocket and mortar campaign against Israel, there are concerns that Israel’s current defenses could be overwhelmed in a fight against the much more heavily armed and entrenched Hezbollah, particularly given how slowly the US government responds to Israel’s needs.

“Israel reportedly has ten Iron Dome systems, the US should certainly look to provide funding so that it could have more of those systems,” Cicurel said. “As this conflict continues to escalate, it’s important that Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, in both the House and the Senate, as well as President Biden, ensure that they rapidly replenish [Iron Dome’s] interceptors, as well as look to provide more funding, more cooperation, for air defense.” 

Israel Kills Senior Gaza Commanders as Rockets Cause First Death in Israel

Reuters and Algemeiner Staff

Rockets are fired from Gaza into Israel, in Gaza May 11, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammd Salem

Israel killed the head of Islamic Jihad’s rocket force and his deputy, pressing an operation that has cost 28 lives in Gaza including women and children, while Palestinian cross-border rocket salvoes inflicted a first fatality in Israel on Thursday.

Amid mediation efforts by Egypt, neither side seemed ready to douse the worst flare-up since August, now in its third day.

“We are at the height of a campaign, both offensive and defensive,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a videotaped statement issued during a visit to an air base.

“Whoever comes to harm us – his blood is forfeit.”

The deaths of Ali Ghali and Ahmed Abu Daqqa brought to five the number of senior figures from Iranian-sponsored Islamic Jihad killed since Israel began striking Gaza early on Tuesday.

Two gunmen from a splinter group died in a separate strike on Thursday. Four women and six children have also been killed.

But Islamic Jihad, the second-biggest armed group in Gaza after the ruling Hamas Islamists, kept up volleys of rockets.

“We will not retreat and the assassinations will only make us stronger. Our revenge continues,” it said in a communique.

The hundreds of rockets launched have set off sirens as far north as Tel Aviv. Some 1.5 million Israelis – 16% of the population – have been ordered to shelters, military spokesperson Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

While Iron Dome and David’s Sling interceptors have shot down 96% of rockets engaged, according to the military, one hit a residential building in Rehovot on Thursday. Medics said an elderly man was killed, the first person killed in Israel in the latest round of fighting, and five other people were wounded.

After more than a year of resurgent Israeli-Palestinian violence that has killed more than 140 Palestinians and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners since January, the latest escalation drew international calls for a ceasefire.

But Cairo, which hosted senior Islamic Jihad official Mohammad al-Hindi for talks, was circumspect about prospects.

FRUITLESS MEDIATION SO FAR

“Egypt’s efforts to calm things down and resume the political process have not yet borne fruit,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters.

Meeting Jordanian, French and German counterparts in Berlin, Shoukry urged “peace-sponsoring countries to intervene and stop the attacks” and said Israel must “stop the unilateral measures that aim to destroy the future of the Palestinian state”.

Islamic Jihad spurns coexistence with Israel and preaches its destruction. Among terms for a truce, it wants an end to Israeli strikes against its leaders. Israel has rejected that.

“We have resumed the ‘elimination’ policy – big time,” Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told Channel 12 TV. “If and when we enter a ceasefire, it won’t be with preconditions.”

Israel appeared to be hoping that Islamic Jihad, depleted of rockets and commanders, would halt hostilities unilaterally. Hagari declined to be drawn on the faction’s remaining arsenal.

Both in blockaded Gaza, where residents have been experiencing decades of a worsening humanitarian crisis, and in surrounding Israeli towns, schools and businesses remained shut.

“We can’t sleep at night because we worry about bombardment,” said Mohammad Abu el-Subbah, 24, outside a bakery in Gaza City. “People have no clue what will happen next, whether there will be a truce or the war will continue.”

At least 80 people were wounded in the air strikes that destroyed five buildings and damaged more than 300 apartments, said Salama Marouf, chairman of the media office for Hamas, the group that rules the densely populated coastal territory.

Israel‘s military said over 100 rockets – many of them improvised – had fallen short, killing four Palestinians, including a 10-year-old girl. Islamic Jihad denied that.

“Once again Israel tries to escape its responsibility for the killing of civilians through fabrications and lies,” faction spokesman Dawoud Shehab said.

Israel has kept crossings for the movement of people and goods closed since Tuesday. Israeli authorities estimated that between 30% and 60% of communities around Gaza have evacuated as a precaution. On Wednesday, sirens sounded as far as the commercial capital Tel Aviv, 60 km (37 miles) north of Gaza.

As the firing continued in Gaza, the military said it had arrested 25 people in the West Bank associated with Islamic Jihad. In the West Bank town of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces shot dead a 66-year-old man. The military said troops returned fire after one of them was shot and wounded by gunmen.

Israel captured Gaza and the West Bank, areas Palestinians want for an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in a 1967 war. Israeli forces and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Statehood talks have been frozen since 2014.

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