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				 			 				 			 				 			 		 					 									 											 								 					the blogs 					 						bob feferman 							 																	my blog 																									about me 																							 						 					 				 			 			 			search 		 			 				 					 	               		 	               		 	               	 	               	 		         		     	     		 					 				 					home --> israel & the region jewish times israel inside podcasts the blogs tech israel newsletters 	 		the daily editionwhat matters most today 		tech israelupdates from silicon wadi 		the weekend editionthe best reads of the week 		weekly highlightschoice voices from the blogs     battling covidweekly update 	  partners 	 		atlantaatlanta jewish times new yorkthe jewish week north new jerseythe jewish standard pittsburghjewish chronicle united kingdomthe jewish news australiathe australian jewish news for publishersbecome a partner	   	community 	 		join our community 		sign in 	   				 			 			   	 		 							 									 						  									the blogs 				 															bob feferman 									 									bob feferman is outreach coordinator for united against nuclear iran (uani) 				 				 									 													facebook 																																															website 																										rss 											 							 		 	 	 		 			 									the blogs 						 							home  														featured 							latest 							popular 							 							terms of use 						 					 																		my blog 																			about me 																								 								 						apply for a blog 					 					 	  	 		  	                   advertisement      		 			 				if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#div-gpt-ad-middle_1")){ 					googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display("div-gpt-ad-middle_1"); }); 				  				}; 			                           	 				 			iran’s growing conventional threat to israel		 							 			 			 				 					oct 31, 2021, 7:43 am				 				 					 						 							edit 						 					 					 						 							facebook 						 					 					 						 						twitter 					 					 					 						 							email 						 					 --> 					email 					 					 						 							print 						 					 					 						 						 					 					 						 						 					 				 				 					please note that the posts on the blogs are contributed by third parties. the opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither the times of israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. please contact us in case of abuse. in case of abuse, 					 					report this post. 				 			 		 		 					rocket fire toward israel from gaza during operation guardian of the walls				 			as the international community focuses its attention on efforts to renew negotiations over iran’s nuclear program, we should not ignore the full extent of iran’s threats to the security of israel posed by iran’s terror proxies. these include rockets, precision-guided missiles, and we can now add drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (u.a.v’s) to the growing conventional threat to israel. the wake-up call for the development of iran’s drone and u.a.v capabilities came on september 14th, 2019 with the attack on the saudi aramco oil facility. although the houthi rebels in yemen claimed responsibility for the attack, it was clear to all that this was a sophisticated iranian attack using drones and cruise missiles. the title of a 2020 op-ed by tom freidman in the new york times says it all: dear joe, it’s not about iran’s nukes anymore. in his article, friedman made the point that it’s not just iran’s nuclear program that president biden should be concerned about. 		 		 		var crmuservar = null; 		if(typeof crmuser == 'undefined'){ 			crmuservar = decodeuricomponent( getcookie('crmuser') ); 			if( crmuservar ) { 				try { 					crmuservar = json.parse( crmuservar ); 				} catch(e) { console.log(e); } 			} 		} else { 			crmuservar = crmuser; 		} 		var localuservar = null; 		if(typeof localuser == 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'undefined' && element != null){                   document.queryselector('#gpt-passback').remove();                                  } 		} 		 		 	 in analyzing the attack on the saudi oil field friedman wrote, “the iranian drones and cruise missiles flew so low and with such stealth that neither their takeoff nor their impending attack was detected in time by saudi or u.s. radar. israeli military analysts, who were stunned by the capabilities the iranians displayed, argued that this surprise attack was the middle east’s “pearl harbor.” indeed, israeli military planners know that almost any weapon system that iran has will ultimately get into the hands of its terror proxy forces: hamas, hezbollah, palestinian islamic jihad and iranian proxy forces in syria. this is all by design, and it is the foundation of iran’s strategy for the destruction of israel. in 2015, ehud yaari, a leading israeli middle east analyst, wrote a detailed article titled, how iran plans to destroy israel. in the article, yaari identified iranian proxy forces as the key to their evil intentions. yaari wrote that the iranian proxies surrounding israel in gaza, lebanon and syria comprise the moqawama (resistance). he wrote, “such a scenario would provide them with plenty of opportunities to keep their proxies engaged with israel, paving the road to a long-term war of attrition masterminded by tehran and backed by its missile arsenal, with or without nuclear warheads.” the recent round of fighting in may between israel and hamas and palestinian islamic jihad (p.i.j.), called operation guardian of the walls, provides important insights into iran’s strategy. in an interview with brig.-gen. zvi haimovitz, former commander of idf air defense, he said that over the past decade, “…the skills of hamas grew dramatically”. in just ten days of fighting in last may, the terror organizations launched 4,300 rockets at israeli civilians.                   advertisement      		 			 				if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#div-gpt-ad-blogs_incontent_1")){ 					googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display("div-gpt-ad-blogs_incontent_1"); }); 				  				}; 			                           according to haimovitz, hamas and p.i.j. were seeking to overwhelm iron dome, israel’s vaunted rocket defense system, by firing massive salvos of rockets. haimovitz provided some striking numbers to make his point. during operation protective edge in 2014, the largest salvo of rockets was twenty-seven. by contrast, in this last round of fighting, hamas and p.i.j. fired sixty-five rockets in one simultaneous salvo at israel. in fact, he said that in just one hour, they fired two hundred rockets at the city of ashkelon. although iron dome performed admirably and was able to stand up to most of these challenges with a 90% success rate, it was not perfect. twelve israeli civilians were killed during the operation in addition to significant property damage to israeli homes. it’s important to remember that since israel’s unilateral withdrawal from gaza in 2005, hamas and p.i.j. have fired more than 16,500 rockets at israeli civilians. and in the summer of 2006, hezbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets at israel during the second lebanon war.                   advertisement      		 			 				if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#div-gpt-ad-blogs_incontent_2")){ 					googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display("div-gpt-ad-blogs_incontent_2"); }); 				  				}; 			                           operation guardian of the walls could be just a microcosm of the challenges that israel will face in the future. we know that iran has already supplied hezbollah in lebanon with more than 130,000 rockets, and iran is constantly trying to help hezbollah upgrade this massive arsenal with precision-guided missiles. now add the threat of drones and u.a.v.’s. in the hands of iran’s proxy forces into the already complex threat matrix facing israel. according to a detailed report by united against nuclear iran (uani), “in just over a decade, hezbollah – with iranian assistance – built a drone program from scratch and now has military-grade reconnaissance and attack ucavs, as well as upgraded commercial drones.” it does not take a leap of the imagination to envision a nightmare scenario where israel has to defend itself in a war with iran’s proxies on three fronts: gaza, lebanon and syria. on october 17th, major general uri gordin, head of the idf homefront command said this in an interview about a future war, “…we are looking at between 1,500 and 2,500 rockets fired daily towards israel.” israel could be faced with a situation where iran’s proxy forces would try to overwhelm israel’s air defenses by using massive rocket fire combined with drones, u.a.v’s and precision-guided missiles. they would not only target civilians with indiscriminate rocket fire but also launch precision attacks against israel’s critical infrastructure: electrical power plants, desalination plants, ben-gurion airport and idf headquarters in tel aviv. seth frantzman, author of the new book titled drone wars, concluded his book with a stark warning. he wrote, “countries that experiment with drone strikes, like iran, will also be able to present stronger enemies with a real threat. this is the threat of being able to attack anywhere against national infrastructure and sensitive sites that don’t have enough defenses.” if the international community is serious about preventing a very destructive war in the middle east, it should look at the full array of iran’s threats to the security of israel that are both conventional and nuclear. 		 					 				 					about the author 				 				 					bob feferman is outreach coordinator for united against nuclear iran (uani), a not-for-profit, non-partisan, advocacy group that seeks to prevent iran from fulfilling its ambition to obtain nuclear weapons. uani’s private sanctions campaigns and state and federal legislative initiatives focus on ending the economic and financial support of the iranian regime to compel iran to abandon its illegal nuclear weapons program, support for terrorism and gross human rights violations.				 			 							 				 					related topics 				 				 											 							iran nuclear deal 						 									 			 				 		 			related posts 		 		 							 											 							 															 						 										 						 							 								the china-israel technology tussle							 						 						 							 								sergio restelli							 						 					 				 							 											 							 															 						 										 						 							 								discerning the truth amid iran’s lies							 						 						 							 								andy blumenthal							 						 					 				 					 	 							 				 					comments 				 				 			 							 				 			 			  	 			 			 	 		 			 				 					 				 				 					 						current top stories 					 				 			 			 				 						 								 									 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