You are here: Home » Featured »

Turkey’s Defense Minister: It’s Not ‘Technically Possible’ for Country’s Patriot Missiles to Protect Israel From Iranian Attack

February 6, 2013 12:40 pm 1 comment

Author:

Zach Pontz

Share this Article

Tags:

Patriot missile battery. Photo: Wikipedia

A patriot missile defense system deployed in Turkey by NATO cannot protect Israel from an attack by Iran.

According to Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News, during a speech to Parliament Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz said: “Some of our colleagues lodged claims that ‘the target of the deployment of these [Patriots] is aimed at protecting Israel from missiles to be launched from Iran,’ which does not at all comply with the truth. It is not technically possible for a missile, the target of which could be 36 kilometers away, to intercept a missile launched from Iran to Israel.”

Opposition parties in Turkey as well as the Iranian government have suggested that the deployment of the missile batteries were there to protect Israel.The Turkish government claims the batteries are for defense purposes only and are meant as a warning to Syria’s besieged president, Bashar al-Assad.

“Patriots are not weapons of attack. Taking into consideration the fact that it is solely a defense system, the firing authority should be held at the level that can fulfill legitimate defense in the most effective way. In this regard, the command of the Patriots will be held by the Allied Commander Europe,” Yılmaz said.

Last month, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast said the missiles were “placed by NATO and the West to protect Israel” against possible incoming Iranian missiles.

Currently, five of six Patriot batteries belonging to Germany, the Netherlands and the U.S. are in operation with a second U.S. Patriot battery expected to become operational in the coming days as construction at its future site in the southeastern Anatolian province of Gaziantep is completed, Hurriyet reported.

1 Comment

Dr. Greg Maloney,Ph.D.

February 8, 2013
6:46 pm

It is not technically possible to prevent all serious terrorist attacks anywhere these days. Bad things can come in very small packages, and there are a lot of bad people out there. The best defense is a good offense.

Reply

Please note: comments may be published in the Algemeiner print edition.

Click here to cancel reply.

More...

Arts and Culture Jewish History
The Marx Brothers and Jewish Identity

JNS.org - The sons of Jewish immigrants from Germany and France, the Marx Brothers became zany masters of stage and screen who continue to captivate audiences. But in addition to providing comic relief, their films captured the drama of the entry of their marginalized religion into the U.S. Wayne Koestenbaum, author of the 2012 book The Anatomy of Harpo Marx, explains that the Marx Brothers’ Jewishness as a family “was evident, marked, thoroughly legible.” “Within a family already marked as Jewish within [...]
Read more →
Arts and Culture Jewish Identity
SuperJew

For my shekels, the question of whether the comic book character Superman, is Jewish or not shouldn’t even be questioned. Born and named Kal-El by his father Jor-El, “El” is one of the ancient names for God used throughout the bible and found in great prophets such as Samue-el, Dani-el and angels Micha-el and Gavri-el and of course, Isra-el. As Simcha Weinstein in his entertaining book, “Up, Up And Oy Vey” points out, “Kal” is the root of several Hebrew [...]
Read more →
Israel Sports
Formula 1 Road Show Thrills Jerusalem

JNS.org – Some 100,000 people attended Israel’s first-ever Formula 1 Road Show in Jerusalem on Thursday and Friday. For several hours, the controversies that normally characterize Jerusalem were put aside, and a diverse mosaic of Israelis watched up close as the motor-sport stars temporarily conquered the city. “It was an amazing experience, the most fast and furious thing I have seen,” spectator Masada Porat told Israel Hayom. “It was a rare, extreme event that explodes in your face.” Spectator Irena [...]
Read more →
Book Reviews Jewish Identity
Klara’s Journey Casts Jews in Fast-Paced Adventure Through Russian History

JNS.org – “If you’re sick, move away. Have some consideration for others,” a red army soldier scolds a slow-moving old man selling train tickets. “No, fires back the old man, proud, haughty, not realizing it’s a new country, a Bolshevik country where force heads the list instead of civility,” reads the following line in Ben G. Frank’s new novel, Klara’s Journey, released June 1. Reminiscent of Boris Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago—whose backdrop is also a train ride across the Russian frontier during the [...]
Read more →
Personalities Theater
Nora Ephron, Famed Jewish Screenwriter, Remembered Through Tribeca Film Festival Prize

JNS.org – For filmmaker Meera Menon, no honor could have been more fitting than winning the inaugural award named after famed Jewish screenwriter and novelist Nora Ephron, the woman whose work inspired her. At the recent 2013 Tribeca Film Festival, Menon was named the first recipient of the $25,000 Nora Ephron Prize, given to a writer or director whose work embodies that of the late Ephron, who wrote the scripts for a number of hit films, including “When Harry Met [...]
Read more →
Book Reviews Personalities
Book Review: ‘Jewish Jordan’ Memoir an Important Guide for Players and Coaches

JNS.org – Despite his friends’ and family’s doubts that a young Orthodox Jewish athlete could ever play college or professional basketball without compromising his religious values, between 1999 and 2009 the “Jewish Jordan” defied conventional wisdom and found his place on the court. In his new memoir, Jewish Jordan’s Triple Threat, Tamir Goodman describes his triumphs and disappointments in life, crediting his practice of Judaism for shaping his identity as an athlete and his understanding of basketball as a team sport. [...]
Read more →
Blogs Sports
Omri Casspi, ‘Jewish Jordan’ Partner on Basketball Camps to Inspire Youths On and Off the Court

Tamir Goodman (left) and NBA forward Omri Casspi—pictured on the court of the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls—together run basketball camps that seek to inspire youths on and off the court. Photo: Courtesy Tamir Goodman. JNS.org – Before last year, basketball camps for Jewish youths never had an instructor quite like Omri Casspi, a forward for the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Cleveland Cavaliers and the first Israeli-born player in NBA history. Casspi is a de facto ambassador for [...]
Read more →
Jewish Identity Music
Zion80 Mixes Shlomo Carlebach With Fela’s Afrobeat (VIDEO)

Zion80 is a 13-piece band inspired by Nigerian Afrobeat creator Fela Anikulapo Kuti. The same way Matisyahu looked to Jamaican legend Bob Marley for inspiration and the right bass line to underscore his raps based on the Psalms, Zion80 guitarist and composer Jon Madof looked to Nigeria for his own rhythm section. On top of Fela’s conga-heavy Afrobeat groove, which has more urgency and immediacy than the Jamaican varietal, Madof’s guitar lays down familiar Jewish melodies from Reb Shlomo’s greatest [...]
Read more →