Friday, January 2

With Jewish people justifiably upset about Mamdani in NYC, Chow in Toronto, and antisemitism firing at us from every corner, I have something exciting to share. This is just the kind of news to lift our spirits as we begin the New Year. With thanks to Mitch Schneider for the numbers and background info. (You should subscribe to his substack.)

We all know about the Iron Dome, Israel’s mobile all-weather air-defense system. Necessity being the Mother of Invention, Israel invented this in 2011 to simply zap the missiles that were being shot into the Jewish State. Forget sliced bread.  To me, the Iron Dome is the most incredible invention ever, and I never cease to marvel when I see a video of the Iron Dome in action.

The Iron Dome has been put to good use. Since the October 7th Massacre alone, Israel has faced 26,000 rockets, missiles, and drones, compliments of the Houthis in Yemen (180), Hezbollah in Lebanon (12,400), Hamas in Gaza (13,200), Iran (400), and Syria (60).

But here’s the thing. The Iron Dome is expensive, and that’s something our enemies figured out and are counting on. They shoot a $500 rocket at us, we intercept it with a $50,000 Iron Dome. That’s a 100:1 cost ratio. So in the first four hours of October 7th alone, when Hamas fired at least 3,000 rockets, it cost us $150 million to zap. Just in the morning.

Fast forward to this week. Israel has one-upped the Iron Dome, and this is a game changer. Introducing the Iron Beam. It’s the world’s first operational high-power laser air defense system. The idea of laser is being tested by militaries around the world, but Israel is out there using it in battle, using it to save its citizens. The US won’t have it until 2027.

And here’s the best part.  The cost per interception is the cost of the electricity.  Drumroll please. . . . About $2. That’s it. They send a $500 rocket. It costs us two bucks to zap it. Even someone as bad as I am in math has got to love the economics of this scenario. 

Moreover, economics aside, we won’t run out of ammunition because all Iron Beam needs is electricity.  So even if Hezbollah has an arsenal of 150,000 rockets waiting to shoot our way, as long as the power stays on, Iron Beam keeps shooting. At the speed of light. And it can switch targets in milliseconds.

For those of you keeping track, Israel now has five layers of air defense: Iron Dome for short range rockets, David’s Sling for medium-to-long-range missiles, Arrow 2 and 3 for ballistic missiles, and Iron Beam for drones, rockets, and mortars.  

So welcome to sci-fi. Oh, wait. It’s real. Only in Israel. Happy 2026.  

Am Yisrael Chai!