Israel planning cell phone rocket alerts

[GabonX]

Israel is working on a warning system that will calculate the precise location of where a rocket will hit and alert residents in the area using cell phones, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

"The rocket sensor will create a virtual ellipse (of the predicted impact zone) and all phones in that area will receive a warning," the Jerusalem Post quoted Chilik Soffer, a senior official at the Israeli Home Front Command, as saying.

"We will use communications technology to send the signals and we are now working with the communications ministry to make the alert available," he said.

The alert will come in as a vibration, audio alert, light flash or text message, he added.

The aim is to make more specific the air raid systems that Israel currently has in communities near the border with Lebanon and Gaza, which have in the past come under regular rocket fire from Hezbollah and Palestinian militant groups.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1

The sad thing is that I know a number of people here will have a gut wrenching reaction that it isn't fair that Israel can defend it's citizens in this way while the Palestinians cannot, despite the fact that Israel already warns Palestinian civilians prior to an attack via text messages and leaflets...

[got tonkaed]

I am surprised they can create a system that is that useful, considering the general inaccuracy of the missiles being fired that most reports (granted they are usually biased against israel) seem to suggest.

Clearly getting people better informed is a good thing, especially if it can save lives.

[GabonX]

You make an interesting point about the inaccuracy of the missiles. I think it may be the targeting system which is flawed. Once the trajectory is set, it may be possible for a computer to calculate the course of the rocket, regardless of the general inaccuracy of targeting.

The interesting thing about this is that it may end up saving the lives of Palestinians and Muslims living in Israel as well. I've read of a couple occurrences, specifically during the 2006 Lebanon war, where Muslims were killed by Hezbollah rocket fire..

[got tonkaed]

You make an interesting point about the inaccuracy of the missiles. I think it may be the targeting system which is flawed. Once the trajectory is set, it may be possible for a computer to calculate the course of the rocket, regardless of the general inaccuracy of targeting.

The interesting thing about this is that it may end up saving the lives of Palestinians and Muslims living in Israel as well. I've read of a couple occurrences, specifically during the 2006 Lebanon war, where Muslims were killed by Hezbollah rocket fire..

I would imagine that it would save those lives as well yes. Everything Ive ever really come across about the projectiles is that they are for the most part ineffective because of their incredibly poor accuracy. The technology may be there to pin down errant ones, which would be an incredible step forward in terms of defense. Certainly id trust the IDF to have the tech if anyone was going to.

For me the missile fire is one of the most confounding issues of the whole arrangement. It is difficult to fault Israel for most actions in retaliation for what must be an incredibly horrific day to day climate of missiles. The ratio at which they are fired I believe puts Israel heavily on the defensive. But because the IDF is so incredibly destructive by comparsion you end up with a body count that makes Israel look as if they are grotesqly slaughtering the opposition.

There really appears to be no positive direction, just a bunch of bad directions and everyone trying to make heads and tails out of what is the least bad.

[GabonX]

And I think that's the crux of the issue. Israel looks bad because they are so much more capable, but they really aren't the primary aggressor. What's more is that if Israel were truly as ruthless as some in the international community claim them to be, there would be no Palestinians.

For the record, I see Hamas and Fatah as two completely different entities, to the extent that it is almost pointless to compare the two. They both want unity for the Palestinian people, but while Fatah seems to be willing to at least theoretically negotiate reasonably, Hamas truly wants there to be a war which culminates with the destruction of Israel. The bottom line is that they do not want peace with Israel as they do not want Israel to exist. In addition, Hamas has shown that they have little (if any) regard for basic human rights with the wanton slaughter of their own people.

Because of the geographic separation of the two groups, it's almost worth looking at them as separate countries.They are certainly separate governments...

[sexyflanders]

There really appears to be no positive direction, just a bunch of bad directions and everyone trying to make heads and tails out of what is the least bad.

If you don't count the period between when the Romans took over until before the UN mucked everything up, they have been warring damn near since the beginning of recorded history.

[GabonX]

That's about a 2000 year time frame and there was a LOT of war which occurred throughout it..

[muy_thaiguy]

That's about a 2000 year time frame and there was a LOT of war which occurred throughout it..

An understatement, at best.