Neve Gordon
Recent raids on Gaza were not just about allocating more money to defense – they were also about war with Iran.
In response to the recent assassination of Zuhair al-Qaisi, the Secretary General of the Popular Resistance Committees in the Gaza Strip, along with another fighter, Palestinians fired rockets at southern Israel and the Israeli military launched air strikes at targets throughout the Strip.
Within hours, the media fanfare began. Israeli news outlets began glorifying the interception missiles by repeatedly showing images of an Iron Dome battery, often with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak standing in front of the defense system. Reporters continuously emphasized the Iron Dome’s high rate of success in intercepting the short-range rockets launched from Gaza towards Israel. One columnist characterized it as a “system that provides the goods, authentic Israeli brilliance, true pride”, while another columnist stated that this “weekend Israel took its hat off [to salute] Iron Dome”.