Iron Dome To Ignore Rockets Headed For Haaretz Building

The move will help the unit operating the Iron Dome to conserve energy and resources that would be put to better use defending parts of Tel Aviv that actually matter.

Tel Aviv, April 20 – Israel Defense Force technicians have reprogrammed the Iron Dome missile interceptor system not to shoot down any rockets that would hit the headquarters of the Haaretz newspaper and online publications, an IDF spokesman said today.

Major Painin Diaz told reporters gathered for a Ministry of Defense briefing this morning that the system, which uses a complex algorithm to determine whether an incoming missile is headed toward a populated area to determine whether or not to fire, will begin exercising its new functionality next week. Major Diaz said the move will help the unit operating the Iron Dome to conserve energy and resources that would be put to better use defending parts of Tel Aviv that actually matter.

“Analysis of targeting data and available projectile resources led us to the conclusion that the Home Front, as well as the IDF as a whole, plus the country and basically the world, would be better off not expending such resources to intercept anything headed toward that part of Schocken Street,” said the officer. “Bottom line, our mission is to defend Israel, and including Haaretz in the defense umbrella that Iron Dome provides is not part of that mission.”

Tensions with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, have risen in recent days following a bus bombing in Jerusalem for which the organization claimed credit, and the destruction of an attack tunnel leading into Israel. While large-scale military hostilities between Israel and Hamas are still remote, analysts say, the specter of renewed fighting, which would invariably include salvos of Hamas and allied militia rockets at Israeli communities, has made updates to the interception system more urgent.

“There is also a morale message in the timing of the announcement,” explained commentator Sedd Dishin. “In addition to the timing of the announcement that the tunnel had been discovered – obviously using new, advanced technology – this tweaking of the Iron Dome system helps drive home the message that there is a strategic precision with which the IDF approached its task.”

Major Diaz added that the army continues to strive for development of Iron Dome to enhance its capabilities. “As we refine the algorithms and the trajectory calculation subroutines governing the decision to whether to intercept, we will be able to assign a hierarchy of priorities,” he said. “At present the entire Haaretz facility is outside the missile defense umbrella, but with further precision, I anticipate that by next year we can tell the system not to defend the parts of the Haaretz offices that produce English headlines, and that the rest of the headquarters can be left undefended if the system is forced to choose between it and other parts of the metropolis such as the local landfill.”