Senior MP Calls Israel’s Iron Dome Mere Showoff

A senior Iranian legislator underlined that the recent scandal in Israel showed that Tel Aviv’s claims about its Iron Dome missile system are merely a propaganda campaign and showoff to distract the attention of the regional countries from the realities.
“Israel’s media hype about the Iron Dome is mainly aimed at intimidating its foes and not expressing the realities,” member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign policy Commission Esmayeel Kowsari told FNA on Wednesday.

He underlined that Iran won’t be deceived by Israel’s propaganda and media hype, and said, “Israel’s propaganda about the capabilities of the Iron Dome claiming that it can destroy any missile attack on the Zionist regime is just part of a psychological war.”

In relevant remarks on Tuesday, Rapporteur of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini described Israel’s Iron Dome a military bluff, and said, “The Zionist regime makes such comments in order to weaken its opponents and enemies, but Hezbollah forces have no fear of such bluster.”

He underlined that the hollowness of the claims by Tel Aviv about its military might has been established for the region.

On Tuesday, Israel’s Iron Dome missile system “accidentally” fired interceptor rockets into the Red Sea resort city of Eilat in Southern Negev.

Eilat residents were panicked early on Tuesday morning following a series of explosions that also sent Israeli forces scrambling to find the source of the booms.

The Israeli army initially presumed that a rocket attack had occurred in the area.

Initial reports said three Grad rockets were fired at the resort town. They claimed two of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome while the third one exploded in an open area.

However, the army later claimed that the attacks were really a false alarm caused by an error at the Iron Dome site near the city.

An army spokesperson said the explosions were caused by two Iron Dome anti-missile projectiles accidentally fired at around 7:30 am local time (0530 GMT).

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the incident.

Israeli media reports said an airplane preparing to land in the city was also forced to circle during the false alarm until the incident was resolved.

Eilat, which sits just a few kilometers from the border with Egypt, is sporadically targeted by militants in the Sinai region.

The Iron Dome has been established with the financial support of the United States. In May, 2012, the US House of Representatives appropriated 947 million dollars to the Iron Dome, nicknamed “David’s Sling,” and a long-range Arrow missile program in Israel.