There but for the grace of Iron Dome go we

I suppose it is the most natural thing in the world to look at a crisis somewhere else and translate it in to local terms, that is how we process information, through the prism of our own known and lived experience.

Every time I see the pictures of Ukrainian buildings and homes devastated by Russian rocket strikes my heart breaks for the Ukrainian people and my stomach clenches in the knowledge that there but for Iron Dome that would be us every time those same Grad type rockets are launched from Gaza in to Israel. There but for the grace of Iron Dome and Hashem go we.

Grads are not precision guided missiles, they are a fairly primitive but potentially very destructive weapon, most effective when unleashed in volleys to cover the general vicinity of a target, especially dense population centres, and so make up for their lack of precision.

If enough Grads are fired close together then likely at least one or two will score a direct hit on the actual target. So if say the Russian army wants to hit a local Ukrainian government or communications building, they will launch a salvo of rockets in its general direction, in the process hitting surrounding buildings, infrastructure, anything in that general area, be they civilian homes, schools, shops, hospitals, offices, anything at all. 

This is what makes Grads a terror weapon, their randomness and the way in which they are often deployed in this manner. There is no way to use Grad type rockets for "surgical strikes" or pinpoint targetting. Now translate that to a large city like Kharkiv or Kyiv.

Back in May 2021 when 4000 rockets were fired at Israeli population centres like Ashkelon and Ashdod, that's the damage and casualties we would have suffered without an Iron Dome defence system. We here are still under threat of rockets (and possible Russian capriciousness in Syria), we don't have Iron Dome batteries to spare, but isn't a solid missile defence system something NATO could provide? For anyone with qualms about providing offensive weapons, shouldn't providing a defense against rockets targetting population centres be a priority?