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Israel Chose Not to Intercept the Rocket that Landed Outside Ben-Gurion Airport

(Ha'aretz) Amir Oren - Giora Romm, director general of the Civil Aviation Authority in Israel, wrote to foreign carriers and aviation regulation bodies to explain the incident involving a Hamas rocket which landed a mile from Ben-Gurion Airport's outer perimeter fence. The IDF officer at the Iron Dome battery decided not to intercept the rocket in keeping with aerial defense policy drawn up by the Air Force. In the wake of the incident, the Air Force changed the Iron Dome interception orders to prevent future disruptions in the airport's activities. The Iron Dome system has the remarkable ability to predict an incoming rocket's trajectory and pinpoint its projected point of impact. Romm dismissed concerns of threats to incoming flights, which were raised following the downing of the Malaysian jet over Ukraine, which was shot down by a surface-to-air missile battery designed expressly for the purpose of shooting airplanes out of the sky. The kind of threat Israel faces is from unguided rockets, which are entirely different from missiles.
2014-07-27 00:00:00
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