News legend Dan Rather makes a startling but shrewd observation at the Huffington Post about Israel's "Iron Dome" missile defense system
In the recent conflict, the Israeli missile defense system may have saved more Palestinian lives than Israelis. To understand my reasoning, take a step back and look at recent history. Since 2007, the Islamist group Hamas has run the densely populated sliver of territory to the south of Israel known as the Gaza Strip. Militants from the territory, in recent years, have launched hundreds of crude rockets, provided by Iran, into southern Israeli towns. In 2008, Israel responded with Operation Cast Lead -- A brutal aerial bombardment and ground invasion that left more than 1,000 Palestinians dead and brought Israel widespread condemnation from abroad. November's conflict left about 150 Palestinians dead.
How do you explain the stark difference in the death toll? One element would be Iron Dome.