# Iron Dome records its first operational intercept of a Gaza rocket

Date: 2011

## The fact

On 7 April 2011 Israel’s Iron Dome battery recorded its first operational intercept of a Grad rocket from Gaza, with [Netanyahu](/people/benjamin-netanyahu) as prime minister of a system his governments funded with the United States.

## Context

The defence ministry and Rafael built it. US funding sat. Neighbouring Protective Edge 2014 used it at scale. He did not sit as a radar operator.

Protective Edge 2014 is a later war that used the system. 7 October 2023 showed limits against a ground assault.

The Prime Minister of Israel chairs the cabinet, is the political principal of the IDF, and can table Knesset bills. He does not write a Hamas military order, an ICC judgment, a US presidential proclamation, or a UN Security Council resolution.

## Evidence and sources

Israel Defense Forces carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is [humanitarian access](/drivers/humanitarian-access) for Israeli civilians: a completed intercept system reduces expected rocket casualties, with lag and remaining gaps.

## What is established and what is not

Established: 7 April 2011 first operational Iron Dome intercept, independently reported, under his premiership.

Not established: that rocket fire ended, or that 7 October 2023 was thereby prevented.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Rafael and the IDF operated it.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Iron Dome records its first operational intercept of a Gaza rocket, not a later speech about Iron Dome records its first operational intercept of a Gaza rocket.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Iron Dome records its first operational intercept of a Gaza rocket on 2011-04-07 is not a licence to treat every later Israel Defense Forces communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Iron Dome records its first operational intercept of a Gaza rocket into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to His government fielded and funded the system with the US. Rafael and the IDF operated it. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Benjamin Netanyahu: https://factrail.ai/people/benjamin-netanyahu

## Drivers

- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access
- Forced-Displacement Scale: https://factrail.ai/drivers/forced-displacement-scale

## Sources

- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13013322
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-iron-dome-idUSTRE7363S720110407

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/il-iron-dome-2011