Iranian Bunker-Busting Missile Strike Shakes Israelis’ False Sense of Safety
Genocidal war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu may have gone too far and wants to drag the US into another of these Republican-incited wars that never end well. Americans have lost every war they fought since 1945 (WWII) except the nice walk-in-the-park that the first Gulf War was. All other wars ended up in disaster, millions of deaths, destruction of the environment in those countries they invaded before returning home with their tails between their legs: Vietnam, Korea, Somalia, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan....
Even the defeat of Japan was not an act of American heroism: It was only possible because of the atomic bomb, not bravery or planning. In fact, it was an act of gigantic cowardice: After terrible losses and arduous battles in fighting the Japanese over tiny islands in the Pacific, the Americans understood that no amount of bravery could allow them to overcome the Japanese if Japan was to be invaded. They thus turned to a monumental act of cowardly mass murder and genocide to end the war. It seems that Israel is following that example: They cannot win peace with an act of human decency; they resort to criminal mass murder and genocide.
My advice to the USraelis: On the medium- and long-term, you'll be better off back in Europe or in Brooklyn, NY where it is safer. The West has effected a mutation since WWII: From a largely fascist antisemitic bastion of heavy-handed militarism that led to the Holocaust, the West is now a safe haven of liberalism, prosperity and Pro-Semitism. Even your former mass-killers the Germans are now madly in love with you: They'd love to have you back building the country with your smart technologies and know-how.
Israel has no future in the alien land it has decided to colonize and settle by uprooting millions of indigenous people. Israel has not done anything to make friends in a region where it hopes beyond hope to stay forever. Israel has constantly played the victim card to draw sympathy, but it suddenly is dawning on the world that the Zionist propaganda since the 1940s has been nothing but a pile of lies and misinformation. The world is now discovering, thanks to the liberation from fear and the dissemination of long-occulted facts and information, that Israel IS the hangman, while the indigenous colonized occupied raped brutalized Palestinians are the victim of this whole colonial entreprise. In the entire history of the world, Israel is the only foreign colonizer that claims protection from its own indigenous victims.
Back to the exchange of missiles between the ultra-religious Jewish Zionist fundamentalist Torah-crazies of Israel and the ultra-religious Muslim Shiite fundamentalist Koran-crazies of Iran. Christopher Hitchens was absolutely right when he said that Religion Ruins Everything.
Rather than the 700-kg loaded Iranian ballistic missile exploding on the external walls of the building in Petah Tikva (which ironically is Hebrew for "Door of Hope" in a hopeless land), it travelled right into the heart of the structure and exploded when it struck the reinforced bunker nestling in the core of the building.
Four people were killed, two of them inside the shelter. In other words, all the training and emergency planning may not protect the foreign settlers of Palestine. Liel Ferig, 22, was in the bunker a few floors below when the rocket hit. She now misses Germany, her native land.
“The explosion was absolutely massive,” she said. “The walls literally rocked – pictures and anything on them flew across the room. “Later, water started pouring in through the ceiling as the fire brigade tried to put out the fire. We were very scared.”
Israel’s government places a huge emphasis on the importance of taking refuge in certified bunkers during air raids. But these bunkers are proving to be of poor quality and cannot withstand the penetrating impact of Iranian missiles.
Israelis have placed great faith in the sophisticated array of anti-missile systems to keep them safe, but they have always known the defensive shield is not foolproof.
Residents were evacuated from the apartment complex following the strike - Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
The shelters were their ultimate peace of mind.
Israel’s government places a huge emphasis on the importance of taking refuge in certified bunkers during air raids. “Follow the instructions – they save lives,” is the constant refrain. In modern high-rises, where there might not be time to reach a subterranean bunker, each floor is now equipped with a safe room.
Following the tragedy in Petah Tikva, the state admitted that the reinforced concrete shelters were not designed to withstand “direct hits”, after conceding that the Iranian missile “breached” the structure, causing it to collapse. The four who died here on Sunday were among eight at locations across Israel, bringing the total to 24.
Iran is thought still to have many similar thousands of ballistic missiles at its disposal. On Monday, visibly shaken residents removed their belongings, picking a path between the broken glass and debris on the ground. More than 300 families have now been evacuated from this and the neighboring apartment blocks.
This neighborhood is typical of colonial Israel, where many foreign people move from overseas to settle and where property is expensive. A large percentage of the population lives in high-rises like these.
As well as the two people who died in the breached shelter, a third was killed on a different floor who was not in a safe room. The fourth, also outside a designated bomb shelter, was killed by the shockwave in the adjacent building.
In addition, an 86-year-old man died in the central city of Bnei Brak and there were three fatalities in the northern port city of Haifa.
Although the identities of the four people known to have died in the strike in Petah Tikvah have not yet been known, it has been revealed that two were in a designated shelter.
Those not forced to evacuate the many similar high-rises in Petah Tikva now face an uncertain future, as Israel and Iran continue to trade airstrikes.
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