Latest news with #IronDome
Time of India
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
From Snickers bars to radios: Here's what Britain's ‘Armageddon Day' WWIII survival kit should look like
Calls are rising for the British government to follow its European neighbours and publish a simple survival guide in case World War III ever breaks out. The push comes as France rolls out its own 20-page booklet, full of measures on how families can stay safe during war, nuclear accidents or disasters. Sweden, Finland and Norway have already done it. Five million homes in Sweden got the If Crisis or War Comes guide last year. Its opening line sets the tone: 'An insecure world requires preparedness. The military threat to Sweden has increased and we must prepare for the worst – an armed attack.' Professor: 'deterrence first, but prepare anyway' Professor Anthony Glees from the University of Buckingham believes Britain should take note. He wants the government to hand every household 'a short, decently written booklet' outlining possible threats like cyber attacks, drone strikes or missile assaults. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Cara Membantu Orang Terkasih Menghadapi Limfoma Limfoma Pelajari He told the Mirror: 'It should stress at the outset, of course, that the whole of our national defence strategy is about deterrence, that our foreign policy is defensive not offensive and that if we become as strong as we now want to be, thanks to Starmer and his European colleagues and thanks (yes!) to the goading from president Trump, then WW3 can surely be averted.' No Iron Dome, just trident Professor Glees also warned Britain lacks defences that other nations rely on. 'The government would have to admit that we are woefully lacking in 'Iron Dome' systems round our key cities,' he said. Britain has just five warships able to intercept missiles — but Glees claimed one or two are in the Gulf and others under repair. Live Events 'We have no fixed systems at all. Everything to date depends on our Vanguard subs (in a decade to be Dreadnought subs) and their Trident nukes. If they are fired it will be Armageddon day so no survivors,' he told the Mirror. WWIII Survival Kit: Food, water and Snickers If a nuclear strike is truly worst-case, Glees says the more likely danger is a standard attack that cuts off supplies. So he suggests each home should keep at least a week's worth of food, bottled water, painkillers, battery-powered gadgets and — in his words — 'loads of emergency Snickers bars.' It may sound light-hearted, but the warning is serious. Blackouts and panic buying could hit within hours. The professor remembers school drills too. 'When I was a school boy, 70 years ago, we school kids were told to take cover under our desks, having painted the windows with sour milk to keep out the radiation. I think we were far more afraid of the headmaster than the Russians — it'll be different today. More like the hippies used to say in the 1960s you needed to do when 'the bomb' dropped: 'Bend over, and then kiss your ass goodbye.'' How to be ready for anything? While professors lobby for leaflets, some people prepare on their own. Derrick James, 50, lives in rural Maine, US. He has been building food stockpiles and emergency plans since 2007. He's watched threats come and go — Covid, wars, hurricanes — but he sticks to one message: be ready before it's too late. 'Every event that we have lived through – whether it is Covid, the Iraq war or hurricanes – brings in a new wave of preppers,' Derrick said. 'Then the threat will go away and most people forget about it until another event comes along. My advice is to take a deep breath, come up with a plan that you can stick to, and don't stress yourself out. We are living in a fragile society and things could unravel very quickly.' Seven steps from a Doomsday prepper Derrick's plan is simple. He urges everyone to build a 90-day food supply. Rice, beans, wheat berries, tinned meat — anything long-lasting. He says people often focus too much on water, forgetting how fast food runs out in a real crisis. 'A lot of preppers will suggest starting with water and say you can live three months without food, but three days without water – which is true. But anytime you get a food crisis, food is harder to come by,' he explained. 'If you have food for 30 to 90 days, you can weather any storm that comes your way.' Cash is vital too. 'In a crisis, some banks may close and limit access to your accounts.' He also warns people to have updated passports ready. If borders close, you don't want to be stuck in a queue for paperwork. Radios that don't need power Derrick's final tip is about staying informed. 'The most straightforward thing to do in an emergency is to buy a hand-cranked radio – something that doesn't rely on a battery or a power grid. You can crank them up to get power, they have lights on them, and you can use them as a power source.' He believes this simple kit — food, water, cash, radios and an escape bag — could make all the difference. So should Britain copy France, Sweden and others? Some say it is alarmist. Others argue that calm, honest advice helps households plan without fear. As Derrick James puts it: 'Take a deep breath. Come up with a plan you can stick to.' And hope you'll never need it.
India.com
12 hours ago
- Business
- India.com
Steel Dome: Is Turkey's air defence system better than Israel's Iron Dome? It is capable of...
Turkey's Steel Dome: Is Turkey's air defence system better than Israel's Iron Dome? It is capable of… Ankara: Israel's Iron Dome is considered one of the most effective air defence systems in the world. The world has seen its prowess time and again, as it intercepted and destroyed hundreds of enemy rockets and drones simultaneously. But now, Turkey is also working on technology that could potentially surpass Israel's Iron Dome. In the recently held NATO meeting, all the member countries accepted the suggestion of United States President Donald Trump that NATO countries, including Turkey, should spend five percent of their GDP on security. Ankara stated that it will strengthen its air defence system. Steel Dome Air Defence System Turkey's Steel Dome will protect the land and sea area of the country. According to experts, Israel's Iron Dome provides primary-level security, while the Steel Dome is a multi-level air defence system. The sensors of the Steel Dome are very powerful, which makes it more accurate. Can Steel Dome Provide Security at Sea? Steel Dome is deployed in several crucial locations in Turkey including Ankara, Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant. However, Ankara is planning to deploy the defence system all over the country. The Steel Dome becomes active on the inputs received from Artificial Intelligence (AI) and is capable of shooting down the enemy's missiles mid-air. Apart from this, its speciality is that it provides cover on the sea as well as on land. What Is Included In The Steel Dome System? Thanks to the Iron Dome, it has become difficult for groups like Hamas or even Iran to successfully target Israel, as the air defence system intercepts missiles mid-air. Now, Turkey has announced plans to accelerate the development of its own version, Steel Dome. This defence system will include a combination of short- and long-range missiles along with interceptors. The Steel Dome is designed to neutralise enemy attacks before they reach the ground.
Sydney Morning Herald
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘The war is over and who paid the price?': The families who lost everything in Netanyahu's 12-day war
Raja Khatib can't stop thinking about the way things were before the missile fell from the sky. His seemingly charmed life with his wife and three daughters in the lavish family home he called their palazzo. Their holiday home in Italy, funded by his thriving career as a successful, respected lawyer. 'It felt like I had the best life,' he says. 'I had everything.' Slumped in a brown chair in his elderly parents' living room, he takes a deep breath as he prepares to tell his story. Soon, a tear begins streaming down his cheek. The Khatib family had just returned from a holiday in Italy when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorised a series of surprise attacks on key military and nuclear facilities in Iran a fortnight ago, triggering a war between the Middle East's dominant military powers. On the second day of the war, Iran fired a ballistic missile at Haifa, Israel's third-largest city and the home of the country's most important naval base. Israel's famed Iron Dome air defence system intercepted the missile, protecting the residents of Haifa. Instead of its target destination, the missile landed on top of the Khatibs' home in Tamra, 25 kilometres away. The three-storey structure was made of thick stone and concrete, had two safe rooms, yet proved no match for the bomb. As he discovered to his horror as he searched through the rubble in the black of night, Khatib's wife Manar died in the attack. So did two of the couple's three daughters – Shada, a university student, and 13-year-old Hala. His sister-in-law, who lived in the building with his brother, died as well. 'My palace is gone and I don't care,' he says. 'I don't want to see the house. I will never want to live there again. If God gives me strength, I will live somewhere else.' He is tormented by the thought that if his family had remained in Italy just one day longer, the outbreak of the war would have prevented them from flying home. Some days he wishes he too died in the attack, so he could avoid the pain of living without his wife and daughters. They are buried, side by side, in a cemetery next to his parents' home. Like almost all the 37,000 residents of Tamra, Khatib is a Muslim and an Arab citizen of Israel. Around 20 per cent of Israel's population – around 2 million people – are Arab, with many preferring to be known as Palestinian citizens of Israel, reflecting the fact they are descendants of those who remained after the creation of the Jewish state. Although technically enjoying the same legal and voting rights, Arab citizens of Israel often face entrenched segregation, economic inequality and discrimination. Adding to Khatib's grief is that some of his fellow citizens cheered on the attack that killed his wife and daughters. In a video that has been widely shared and condemned in Israel, people speaking Hebrew can be heard celebrating as they watch rockets landing on Tamra while singing a hateful anti-Arab song, May your village burn. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who visited Tamra after the attack and met with Khatib, condemned the video as 'appalling and disgraceful'. Netanyahu said he 'vehemently' rejected such rejoicing. 'The missile makes no distinction,' he said. 'It harms Jews as well as Arabs. They're coming to destroy all of us, and we stand in this battle together.' Loading While most Israelis would indeed recoil at the video, there is no denying the political divisions between the nation's Jewish majority and Arab minority – including on the war with Iran. A survey by the Israel Democracy Institute taken during the war found that 82 per cent of Jewish Israelis supported the strikes on Iran, while 65 per cent of Arab Israelis opposed the attacks and were suspicious of their timing. Khatib believes Netanyahu launched the strikes for self-interested political reasons, to distract from political scandals and anger over his handling of the war in Gaza. As a ceasefire agreement took hold this week after 12 days of fighting, Netanyahu hailed Israel's operation in Iran as a 'historic victory' that would be 'studied by armies all over the world'. Khatib, however, does not believe any military gains are worth the pain he is suffering. 'The war is over, and who paid the price? I did, and other families like mine.' We encounter a different message altogether at Bat Yam, a city near Tel Aviv that is a stronghold of Netanyahu's conservative Likud party. Just hours after Khatib's home in Tamra was hit, an Iranian missile cratered into a 10-storey apartment building, killing nine people. The town's mayor has described the blast as the most devastating missile attack in Israel's history. Many of the surrounding apartments were destroyed and rendered unlivable, including the home of car salesman Ronen Sha'a Shua and partner Ivanka. Since the attack two weeks ago, they have come to their apartment to see if they can enter to salvage any belongings, but it is still too dangerous to do so. Mangled air-conditioning units dangle from buildings like oversized Christmas ornaments, with electricity wires and steel beams spilling out everywhere. Rather than being disillusioned by the attack, the couple say they feel galvanised and more patriotic than ever. 'I'm not even mad about this because I support the war,' says Ronen, who is Jewish, as he gazes up at his bombed-out apartment. 'It was a justified war and we did an incredible job.' Before the war, they were considering moving to Ivanka's birth country of Bulgaria for a quieter life. 'This has made up our minds: now Israel is No.1. We saw what we are up against.' Asked his thoughts on Netanyahu, he uses the prime minister's nickname: 'I love you, Bibi.' Asked why, he says: 'It's simple: you feel security with him. There's no better alternative. With him, it feels like we have a security guard, someone you can believe in.' While he says Netanyahu is partly to blame for the failures that led to the October 7 attacks, he says the Israeli military and intelligence services also share responsibility. First elected in 1996, Netanyahu has been in office for most of the past 30 years, making him the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history. For almost all that time he has said that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose an existential threat to Israel, and has urged successive US presidents to attack Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities. All said no, until Donald Trump on Sunday agreed to unleash bunker-busting bombs on Iran's three main nuclear facilities. The impact of the strikes remains contested. While Trump insists Iran's nuclear facilities have been 'obliterated', a leaked assessment by the US Defence Intelligence Agency concluded they probably only set back the Iranian nuclear program by a few months and that much of the nation's stockpile of highly enriched uranium may have been moved before the strikes. The long-term consequences of the war also remain unclear, with some analysts arguing it will ultimately drive the Iranians to develop nuclear weapons. Such arguments currently have little traction in Israel, where Operation Rising Lion (as the campaign against Iran was officially called) has been hailed as a strategic triumph. Electronic billboards beside major highways in Israel are displaying messages of thanks to Trump for intervening in the conflict, and Netanyahu is basking in praise for weakening Israel's biggest strategic adversary. 'Israel may have removed the most multi-sided octopus of threats it has ever faced – and in one fell swoop, and put every adversary in the region on notice that it will no longer play nice,' ran a typical analysis in The Jerusalem Post. Following the ceasefire agreement this week, veteran US Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller summed up the situation by telling The New York Times: 'The most ruthless, politically savvy politician in Israel today sits astride Israeli politics and the US-Israeli politics, for now, like some sort of colossus … Netanyahu comes out of this, for now, extraordinarily powerful.' Even in Tel Aviv – a famously progressive bastion where Netanyahu is widely loathed – we find grudging respect for his decision to strike Iran and success at convincing Trump to enter the conflict. Loading Walking along the beach promenade as the sun sets over the horizon, aged care worker Ifat Shani says: 'I've been against him all the time, but he did the right thing now. It will be good for all of the Middle East if Iran cannot get a nuclear bomb; they do not want Israel to exist here.' Like most other Israelis she regards the Iranian regime as a uniquely menacing threat given its support for proxy groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, and its stated vow to wipe Israel off the map. Sitting with a group of friends nearby watching the sunset, 27-year-old French-Israeli Alexia Maarek says she is no fan of Netanyahu's domestic policies or his far-right governing coalition. But she applauded his decision to take on Iran. 'The war with Iran was not negotiable,' she insists. As she throws a ball around with her granddaughter in Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Square, Monica Levi says: 'Before I thought we needed someone else, but now I think he is clever.' Similarly, all of Netanyahu's main political foes backed his strategy on Iran. 'Benjamin Netanyahu is a bitter political rival,' said the centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid. 'I think he's the wrong person to lead the country. But on that, he was right.' Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu's chief conservative opponent, praised the government for working to remove the 'cancerous growth' of Iran's nuclear program. In a rare public statement, the head of the Mossad spy agency, David Barnea, said: 'Israel, thanks to this entire security apparatus, today feels like a different country, a safer country, a braver country that is prepared for the future … Objectives that once seemed imaginary have now been achieved.' As with last year's stunning pager attacks against Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon and the killing of militant leader Hassan Nasrallah, the operation against Iran has led to a boost in Netanyahu's popularity. A poll taken this week by the Walla newspaper found Netanyahu's Likud party gaining ground in the polls, and would pick up an extra four seats in the Israeli parliament, although not enough to form a coalition government. One-third of Israelis said their view of Netanyahu had improved, compared with 8 per cent who said they viewed him more negatively, and 54 per cent whose view was unchanged. Loading Netanyahu's critics are growing increasingly concerned by a prospect that seemed unthinkable after the failures of October 7. 'The biggest danger facing us all – Israelis and Palestinians – is that after the war in Iran, Prime Minister Netanyahu might be, once again, electable,' Gershon Baskin, a fierce critic of Netanyahu and veteran hostage release negotiator, wrote on Substack this week. The complex relationship between Netanyahu and Trump frayed on Tuesday, when Trump publicly demanded Israel not retaliate against Iran for a missile strike that killed four people in the southern city of Beersheba. 'We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f--- they're doing,' Trump fumed. Two days later, the bromance was back on as Trump hailed Netanyahu as a 'great hero' on social media and called for all criminal charges against him to be dropped. Netanyahu is facing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, including allegations he traded favours with media proprietors for positive coverage. He has pleaded not guilty, and his trial, which began in 2020, continues to proceed at a glacial pace. 'After the war, he should quit on a high note like a king,' taxi driver Mordehai Rahamim says of Netanyahu. 'He's been around too long. There is too much drama around one person.' But with the Israeli political left in disarray, he believes Netanyahu will win re-election next year. Tamar Hermann, one of Israel's top experts on public opinion, cautions not to overestimate the impact of the 12-day war on Netanyahu's popularity. 'It has changed little if anything,' the senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute says. Rejecting fevered speculation that Netanyahu could call snap elections to capitalise on his success, she notes that the euphoria of military triumph can quickly fade as life returns to normal. 'Less than half the Israeli public has full or partial trust in Netanyahu,' she says. Still, she believes Netanyahu has a real shot at re-election next year. Loading The end of the war with Iran will see the focus again return to Gaza, and the plight of the remaining 50 Israeli hostages held by Hamas, around half of whom are believed to be alive. Indeed, celebrations at the ceasefire with Iran were muted by the news on the same day that seven Israeli soldiers had been killed in Gaza. Speaking to Israelis of all political persuasions over the past week, we found an overwhelming desire to secure a hostage release deal and pervasive fatigue with the war. 'Finish it, it's enough,' Netanyahu supporter Ronen Sha'a Shua says. 'We can't move on until our hostages come back.' The pro-Netanyahu Israeli Hayom newspaper reported that Trump and Netanyahu have agreed to end the war in Gaza within two weeks, and that a coalition of four Arab countries will govern the strip. While these reports have not been confirmed, it is widely believed that Trump's decision to intervene against Iran was somehow linked to an agreement to wrap up the war in Gaza and pursue new peace agreements with Israel's neighbours. 'We think we will have some pretty big announcements on countries that are coming into the Abraham Accords,' Trump adviser Steve Witkoff said this week, referring to the agreements that saw Israel normalise relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco in Trump's first term. Raja Khatib, whose wife and two daughters died in the Iranian missile attack, urges Netanyahu, a lifelong opponent of a Palestinian state, to go even further. 'I hope the wars will end and that there will be a just peace, that there will be two states: Palestinian and Jewish living side by side,' he says. 'Otherwise, the Middle East will burn and there will be more wars.' At times, when he sits in silence, he hears the voice of his late wife telling him to keep living for the sake of their middle daughter, Rozan, 16, who made it to the family safe room and survived the missile attack. 'I have to build a new house, build a new life,' he says, 'but the pain will be forever.'
The Age
19 hours ago
- Politics
- The Age
‘The war is over and who paid the price?': The families who lost everything in Netanyahu's 12-day war
Raja Khatib can't stop thinking about the way things were before the missile fell from the sky. His seemingly charmed life with his wife and three daughters in the lavish family home he called their palazzo. Their holiday home in Italy, funded by his thriving career as a successful, respected lawyer. 'It felt like I had the best life,' he says. 'I had everything.' Slumped in a brown chair in his elderly parents' living room, he takes a deep breath as he prepares to tell his story. Soon, a tear begins streaming down his cheek. The Khatib family had just returned from a holiday in Italy when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorised a series of surprise attacks on key military and nuclear facilities in Iran a fortnight ago, triggering a war between the Middle East's dominant military powers. On the second day of the war, Iran fired a ballistic missile at Haifa, Israel's third-largest city and the home of the country's most important naval base. Israel's famed Iron Dome air defence system intercepted the missile, protecting the residents of Haifa. Instead of its target destination, the missile landed on top of the Khatibs' home in Tamra, 25 kilometres away. The three-storey structure was made of thick stone and concrete, had two safe rooms, yet proved no match for the bomb. As he discovered to his horror as he searched through the rubble in the black of night, Khatib's wife Manar died in the attack. So did two of the couple's three daughters – Shada, a university student, and 13-year-old Hala. His sister-in-law, who lived in the building with his brother, died as well. 'My palace is gone and I don't care,' he says. 'I don't want to see the house. I will never want to live there again. If God gives me strength, I will live somewhere else.' He is tormented by the thought that if his family had remained in Italy just one day longer, the outbreak of the war would have prevented them from flying home. Some days he wishes he too died in the attack, so he could avoid the pain of living without his wife and daughters. They are buried, side by side, in a cemetery next to his parents' home. Like almost all the 37,000 residents of Tamra, Khatib is a Muslim and an Arab citizen of Israel. Around 20 per cent of Israel's population – around 2 million people – are Arab, with many preferring to be known as Palestinian citizens of Israel, reflecting the fact they are descendants of those who remained after the creation of the Jewish state. Although technically enjoying the same legal and voting rights, Arab citizens of Israel often face entrenched segregation, economic inequality and discrimination. Adding to Khatib's grief is that some of his fellow citizens cheered on the attack that killed his wife and daughters. In a video that has been widely shared and condemned in Israel, people speaking Hebrew can be heard celebrating as they watch rockets landing on Tamra while singing a hateful anti-Arab song, May your village burn. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who visited Tamra after the attack and met with Khatib, condemned the video as 'appalling and disgraceful'. Netanyahu said he 'vehemently' rejected such rejoicing. 'The missile makes no distinction,' he said. 'It harms Jews as well as Arabs. They're coming to destroy all of us, and we stand in this battle together.' Loading While most Israelis would indeed recoil at the video, there is no denying the political divisions between the nation's Jewish majority and Arab minority – including on the war with Iran. A survey by the Israel Democracy Institute taken during the war found that 82 per cent of Jewish Israelis supported the strikes on Iran, while 65 per cent of Arab Israelis opposed the attacks and were suspicious of their timing. Khatib believes Netanyahu launched the strikes for self-interested political reasons, to distract from political scandals and anger over his handling of the war in Gaza. As a ceasefire agreement took hold this week after 12 days of fighting, Netanyahu hailed Israel's operation in Iran as a 'historic victory' that would be 'studied by armies all over the world'. Khatib, however, does not believe any military gains are worth the pain he is suffering. 'The war is over, and who paid the price? I did, and other families like mine.' We encounter a different message altogether at Bat Yam, a city near Tel Aviv that is a stronghold of Netanyahu's conservative Likud party. Just hours after Khatib's home in Tamra was hit, an Iranian missile cratered into a 10-storey apartment building, killing nine people. The town's mayor has described the blast as the most devastating missile attack in Israel's history. Many of the surrounding apartments were destroyed and rendered unlivable, including the home of car salesman Ronen Sha'a Shua and partner Ivanka. Since the attack two weeks ago, they have come to their apartment to see if they can enter to salvage any belongings, but it is still too dangerous to do so. Mangled air-conditioning units dangle from buildings like oversized Christmas ornaments, with electricity wires and steel beams spilling out everywhere. Rather than being disillusioned by the attack, the couple say they feel galvanised and more patriotic than ever. 'I'm not even mad about this because I support the war,' says Ronen, who is Jewish, as he gazes up at his bombed-out apartment. 'It was a justified war and we did an incredible job.' Before the war, they were considering moving to Ivanka's birth country of Bulgaria for a quieter life. 'This has made up our minds: now Israel is No.1. We saw what we are up against.' Asked his thoughts on Netanyahu, he uses the prime minister's nickname: 'I love you, Bibi.' Asked why, he says: 'It's simple: you feel security with him. There's no better alternative. With him, it feels like we have a security guard, someone you can believe in.' While he says Netanyahu is partly to blame for the failures that led to the October 7 attacks, he says the Israeli military and intelligence services also share responsibility. First elected in 1996, Netanyahu has been in office for most of the past 30 years, making him the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history. For almost all that time he has said that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose an existential threat to Israel, and has urged successive US presidents to attack Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities. All said no, until Donald Trump on Sunday agreed to unleash bunker-busting bombs on Iran's three main nuclear facilities. The impact of the strikes remains contested. While Trump insists Iran's nuclear facilities have been 'obliterated', a leaked assessment by the US Defence Intelligence Agency concluded they probably only set back the Iranian nuclear program by a few months and that much of the nation's stockpile of highly enriched uranium may have been moved before the strikes. The long-term consequences of the war also remain unclear, with some analysts arguing it will ultimately drive the Iranians to develop nuclear weapons. Such arguments currently have little traction in Israel, where Operation Rising Lion (as the campaign against Iran was officially called) has been hailed as a strategic triumph. Electronic billboards beside major highways in Israel are displaying messages of thanks to Trump for intervening in the conflict, and Netanyahu is basking in praise for weakening Israel's biggest strategic adversary. 'Israel may have removed the most multi-sided octopus of threats it has ever faced – and in one fell swoop, and put every adversary in the region on notice that it will no longer play nice,' ran a typical analysis in The Jerusalem Post. Following the ceasefire agreement this week, veteran US Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller summed up the situation by telling The New York Times: 'The most ruthless, politically savvy politician in Israel today sits astride Israeli politics and the US-Israeli politics, for now, like some sort of colossus … Netanyahu comes out of this, for now, extraordinarily powerful.' Even in Tel Aviv – a famously progressive bastion where Netanyahu is widely loathed – we find grudging respect for his decision to strike Iran and success at convincing Trump to enter the conflict. Loading Walking along the beach promenade as the sun sets over the horizon, aged care worker Ifat Shani says: 'I've been against him all the time, but he did the right thing now. It will be good for all of the Middle East if Iran cannot get a nuclear bomb; they do not want Israel to exist here.' Like most other Israelis she regards the Iranian regime as a uniquely menacing threat given its support for proxy groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, and its stated vow to wipe Israel off the map. Sitting with a group of friends nearby watching the sunset, 27-year-old French-Israeli Alexia Maarek says she is no fan of Netanyahu's domestic policies or his far-right governing coalition. But she applauded his decision to take on Iran. 'The war with Iran was not negotiable,' she insists. As she throws a ball around with her granddaughter in Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Square, Monica Levi says: 'Before I thought we needed someone else, but now I think he is clever.' Similarly, all of Netanyahu's main political foes backed his strategy on Iran. 'Benjamin Netanyahu is a bitter political rival,' said the centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid. 'I think he's the wrong person to lead the country. But on that, he was right.' Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu's chief conservative opponent, praised the government for working to remove the 'cancerous growth' of Iran's nuclear program. In a rare public statement, the head of the Mossad spy agency, David Barnea, said: 'Israel, thanks to this entire security apparatus, today feels like a different country, a safer country, a braver country that is prepared for the future … Objectives that once seemed imaginary have now been achieved.' As with last year's stunning pager attacks against Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon and the killing of militant leader Hassan Nasrallah, the operation against Iran has led to a boost in Netanyahu's popularity. A poll taken this week by the Walla newspaper found Netanyahu's Likud party gaining ground in the polls, and would pick up an extra four seats in the Israeli parliament, although not enough to form a coalition government. One-third of Israelis said their view of Netanyahu had improved, compared with 8 per cent who said they viewed him more negatively, and 54 per cent whose view was unchanged. Loading Netanyahu's critics are growing increasingly concerned by a prospect that seemed unthinkable after the failures of October 7. 'The biggest danger facing us all – Israelis and Palestinians – is that after the war in Iran, Prime Minister Netanyahu might be, once again, electable,' Gershon Baskin, a fierce critic of Netanyahu and veteran hostage release negotiator, wrote on Substack this week. The complex relationship between Netanyahu and Trump frayed on Tuesday, when Trump publicly demanded Israel not retaliate against Iran for a missile strike that killed four people in the southern city of Beersheba. 'We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f--- they're doing,' Trump fumed. Two days later, the bromance was back on as Trump hailed Netanyahu as a 'great hero' on social media and called for all criminal charges against him to be dropped. Netanyahu is facing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, including allegations he traded favours with media proprietors for positive coverage. He has pleaded not guilty, and his trial, which began in 2020, continues to proceed at a glacial pace. 'After the war, he should quit on a high note like a king,' taxi driver Mordehai Rahamim says of Netanyahu. 'He's been around too long. There is too much drama around one person.' But with the Israeli political left in disarray, he believes Netanyahu will win re-election next year. Tamar Hermann, one of Israel's top experts on public opinion, cautions not to overestimate the impact of the 12-day war on Netanyahu's popularity. 'It has changed little if anything,' the senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute says. Rejecting fevered speculation that Netanyahu could call snap elections to capitalise on his success, she notes that the euphoria of military triumph can quickly fade as life returns to normal. 'Less than half the Israeli public has full or partial trust in Netanyahu,' she says. Still, she believes Netanyahu has a real shot at re-election next year. Loading The end of the war with Iran will see the focus again return to Gaza, and the plight of the remaining 50 Israeli hostages held by Hamas, around half of whom are believed to be alive. Indeed, celebrations at the ceasefire with Iran were muted by the news on the same day that seven Israeli soldiers had been killed in Gaza. Speaking to Israelis of all political persuasions over the past week, we found an overwhelming desire to secure a hostage release deal and pervasive fatigue with the war. 'Finish it, it's enough,' Netanyahu supporter Ronen Sha'a Shua says. 'We can't move on until our hostages come back.' The pro-Netanyahu Israeli Hayom newspaper reported that Trump and Netanyahu have agreed to end the war in Gaza within two weeks, and that a coalition of four Arab countries will govern the strip. While these reports have not been confirmed, it is widely believed that Trump's decision to intervene against Iran was somehow linked to an agreement to wrap up the war in Gaza and pursue new peace agreements with Israel's neighbours. 'We think we will have some pretty big announcements on countries that are coming into the Abraham Accords,' Trump adviser Steve Witkoff said this week, referring to the agreements that saw Israel normalise relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco in Trump's first term. Raja Khatib, whose wife and two daughters died in the Iranian missile attack, urges Netanyahu, a lifelong opponent of a Palestinian state, to go even further. 'I hope the wars will end and that there will be a just peace, that there will be two states: Palestinian and Jewish living side by side,' he says. 'Otherwise, the Middle East will burn and there will be more wars.' At times, when he sits in silence, he hears the voice of his late wife telling him to keep living for the sake of their middle daughter, Rozan, 16, who made it to the family safe room and survived the missile attack. 'I have to build a new house, build a new life,' he says, 'but the pain will be forever.'
India.com
a day ago
- Business
- India.com
Turkey, fearing attacks from Israel, deploys THIS air defense system across the country, its name..., Iron Dome is..., features include...
New Delhi: Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan-led government has decided to increase the country's air defense. The Turkish government is planning to expand the Steel Dome System multi-layered air defense system in the country by the end of this year. The plan includes increasing missile systems, aircraft, warships, tanks and unmanned systems. That is, along with the land, Turkey will also secure its maritime area with its Steel Dome so that possible air attacks can be dealt with. When was it planned? This decision has been taken by Turkey just after the 12-day war between Iran and Israel. Erdogan had expressed concern over the missile and drone attacks carried out by Israel and Iran on each other. After expressing concern over the Israeli attacks, Erdogan has now shown confidence in the Steel Dome Air Defense to strengthen the country's air security. What is Steel Dome? According to sources in the Turkish Defense Ministry, on Thursday, June 26, Turkey has planned to expand the multilayer air defense system across the country by investing in its air defense system Steel Dome' Turkey has also crossed NATO's target of 2 percent defense expenditure. The Defense Ministry has said that Turkey, the second largest army in the NATO alliance, has increased investment in the defense industry. US President Donald Trump has asked NATO countries to increase defense spending. Turkey announced last year to move forward on the Steel Dome multi-layered air defense system. This system works by integrating with many platforms. It will be network-centric and will cover vast areas of Turkey's airspace through AI. Steel Dome will have four layers, which will deal with very short range, short range, medium range and long range threats. Turkey's Steel Dome system thwarts enemy country's attacks in the sky itself. What is Steel Dome capable of? Turkey has designed Steel Dome to counter all types of air threats such as rockets, missiles and drones. It has long-range radars, sensors and multi-layered defense capabilities. Steel Dome is not a single system but an integrated air defense system (IADS). Which works by combining various components for better effectiveness. Steel Dome uses state-of-the-art sensors, interceptors and directed energy weapons – such as Alka and Gokberk systems. This system is capable of identifying long-range threats, such as fighter jets, ballistic missiles and drones. One of its major features is its modern software and Artificial Intelligence powered system. These enable it to be active immediately and make data analysis and decisions. Steel Dome Vs Iron Dome Turkey's Steel Dome is said to be even better and technologically advanced than Israel's Iron Dome system, which is famous all over the world for intercepting and destroying enemy missiles in the sky. Apart from this, it also stops attacks like drones in the sky.
