“A war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip continues to escalate as it now enters its 4th day and more than 350 people have died. Israel is poised to move into the Gaza Strip after continued daily air strikes on Gaza. More carnage, destruction and loss of lives will happen as there seems the only end to the conflict is military occupation of the Gaza Strip by Israel to rid and clear Hamas and its ability to launch rockets and missiles into Israel.

“Israel’s lack of protection of its citizens and nearby cities from a continued year round and recent escalated rocket and missile fire from Hamas in Gaza brought upon the Israeli decision to go to war that has and will continue to kill and destroy people and property in the Gaza Strip.

“During a recent visit this fall to Israel, MDAA toured and engaged with surrounding Israeli cities that were under continued rocket attack from Hamas in the Gaza Strip. From Ashkelon, Ashdod to Sderot where the Israeli government does not have a deployed rocket missile defense capability to defend those cities and citizens from a rocket or missile attack. The only defense for these cities is an early warning system of electronic alarms of 15 seconds in Sderot’s case and bomb shelters which are made into bus stops, playgrounds and rooms in schools. This type of civil defense against 1,400 rockets a year fired by Hamas has been tolerated by the Israeli public and government as an ‘acceptable level of conflict’ that kept escalation in check and somewhat stabilized the situation inside the region around the Gaza Strip.

“Hamas has continued on a consistent basis to use its rockets/missiles for leverage on Israel which are hand made from fertilizers and other materials that have been given on a humanitarian basis or smuggled through its borders or through underground tunnels from Egypt.

“The breakage of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the increased escalation of rocket firings from Hamas into Israel caused the tolerance of accepted conflict between the two sides to be no longer tolerable.

“It is in this current real world situation that the development and deployment of missile and rocket defense systems is critically essential to stabilize and prevent escalation of war and loss of life caused by the launching of missiles and rockets. Missile Defense provides another option to allow governments and their citizens to be able to tolerate other means of de-escalation rather than to go to war. A deployed and integrated Missile Defense also provides a much stronger and viable deterrent to Hamas.

“Currently, Israel is developing the ‘Iron Dome’ Rocket Defense System and the David’s Sling Missile Defense System to defend their cities and people from missile and rocket attacks. It is of urgency that these systems be funded, developed and deployed.”

Ellison closed his remarks by saying: “In this region and throughout the Middle East and Asia Minor of religious conflict and high tension there continues a movement by various countries and terrorist organizations to replace air power with a more efficient, cheaper rocket and missile force to project military power beyond borders. It is imperative that we as a world leader develop and deploy missile and rocket defense systems and share those technologies to prevent war and the loss of life.”

Riki Ellison is available for on-the-record interviews concerning the need for missile defense in Israel. He toured many of the cities under attack by Hamas a few months ago, and he has great insight on what they feel about the need for missile defense.

Source: Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance

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The study was conducted by HCD Research on December 29 to obtain Americans’ perceptions of a video news clip which contained the Israeli/Palestinian perspectives on the situation and their justifications for the attacks. To view believability curves and detailed results go to: www.mediacurves.com.

Prior to viewing the video clip, respondents, and in particular, Democrats were split on who is most responsible for the recent attacks in Israel and Palestine. Before watching the video, 12% blamed Israel and 33% blamed Palestine. After watching the video, 11% blamed Israel, over half (53%) blamed Palestine; an increase of 20% of those siding with Israel.

When asked if the U.S. should intervene in this situation, the majority (64%) reported no, compared to 13% indicated yes, and 24% who reported they weren’t sure.

Among the findings:

“Who do you think is mostly responsible for the Israeli/Palestinian attacks that started this past week?”

                            BEFORE watching the video

              Total   Democrats       Republicans     Independents
  Israel        12%         19%                7%              11%
  Palestine     33%         20%               49%              31%
  Both          51%         59%               40%              54%
  Neither        4%          3%                4%               4%

                            AFTER watching the video

               Total   Democrats    Republicans    Independents
  Israel          11%        20%             5%             10%
  Palestine       53%        46%            63%             50%
  Both            34%        33%            30%             39%
  Neither          2%         1%             2%              2%

  "Do you think that the US should intervene in this situation?"

                            BEFORE watching the video

              Total   Democrats       Republicans     Independents
  Yes           12%         19%               10%               7%
  No            63%         55%               57%              79%
  Not sure      25%         26%               34%              15%

                            AFTER watching the video

              Total   Democrats    Republicans    Independents
  Yes           13%         19%            13%              7%
  No            64%         62%            56%             74%
  Not sure      24%         20%            32%             19%

While viewing the video clip, participants indicated their levels of believability by moving their mouse from left to right on a continuum. The responses were recorded in quarter-second intervals and reported in the form of curves. The participants were also post-viewing questions.

The Media Curves web site provides the media and general public with a venue to view Americans’ perceptions of popular and controversial media events and advertisements.

HCD Research is a communications research company headquartered in Flemington, NJ. The company’s services include traditional and web-based communications research. For additional information on HCD Research, access the company’s web site at www.hcdi.net.

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