July 13, 2006

Missile Strikes on Haifa : A Big Deal?

We've been hearing about missiles falling on Israeli soil for some time now. Today we're hearing about enemy missiles hitting a place called "Haifa." Is this any different than the countless rockets that have hit Israel before, courtesy of Hamas and Hezbollah? Apparently, it is very different. The following map is courtesy of the Jerusalem Post:

ministrygaza_featuredimage_1.jpg
As you can see, most of the missiles from Lebanon have fallen on the very north end of Israel, along the border. Haifa, by contrast, is well south of the border. In other words, an enemy who is capable of striking, and inclined to strike, Haifa is capable of striking (and likely inclined to strike) much of Israeli territory. More importantly, Haifa is the third largest city in Israel, with a population of just under 300,000. So, yes, hitting Haifa is a very big deal. Allison Kaplan Sommer elaborates:
Imagine for a minute that there were terrorist groups sitting in Mexico. Every once in a while, they acted up, and there were incursions into small towns in southern Texas -- a missile was lobbed, the citizens had to go into bomb shelters. It would be horrible, everyone would wring their hands, every attempt possible would be done to stop it. That would be one thing.

Now compare that to a situation in which those terrorists got hold of longer-range missiles. They started firing into downtown Houston and downtown Dallas. And no one can tell if they might just start aiming for San Diego or Los Angeles.

A completely different story, no? A different world.

At this point, there will be no such thing as "overreaction" when it comes to the average Israeli. The rubicon has been crossed.

And when the rubicon ain't happy, ain't nobody happy...


By Ragnar Danneskjold, R.I.N.O. Hunter at July 13, 2006 05:14 PM | | l very different. &topic=politics">digg this