Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe earlier this week to discuss U.S.-Israeli relations in general, and the success of the Iron Dome anti-missile system in particular. The U.S. and Israel conduct a broad array of joint military projects, and the cooperation allows the U.S. to leverage “unique Israeli capabilities in key ‘niche’ areas of military technology.” Israeli technology was fundamental to the development of the U.S. drone program, which U.S. Defense Department officials insist has been the single most significant transformation in how American troops fight wars. Military analysts anticipate that versions of Iron Dome will be deployed in support of U.S. ground units in places like Afghanistan, and the platform will likely be also used to defend U.S. allies like South Korea and Singapore.

Oren launches the interview by unpacking how Iron Dome saved lives during during last November’s Operation Pillar of Defense. It saved them directly, by intercepting the missiles that Hamas was launching at Israeli civilians, and indirectly, by preventing the conflict from spiraling. Hamas’s near-total inability to penetrate Israel’s missile shield  gave Jerusalem options short of a ground war. U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta made the same point last November:

Iron Dome impressed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in August during a tour of a battery while he was in Israel. “Iron Dome has had a better than 80% success rate at hitting rockets fired from Gaza into Israeli population centers, and it has successfully intercepted more than 100 rockets,” he said shortly after he returned. “We can be proud of this system’s record of saving lives and preventing wider conflict in that region.”

Oren’s Morning Joe appearance comes in the aftermath of a segment on CBS’s 60 Minutes which criticized Iron Dome in the context of the Israeli-Arab peace process. Some officials have dismissed the idea that a technology designed to save lives should be evaluated on the basis of its role in diplomatic developments, and in fact 60 Minutes aired Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak telling Bob Simon exactly that. Going further, Oren told MSNBC that if a link exists it actually runs in the other direction, and that technologies like Iron Dome boost U.S. interests by giving Israel the confidence take risks for a peace deal. The point echoes one made in 2010 by then-U.S. Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro:

Iron Dome… is the type of strategic step that is good for Israel’s security and for the United States’ interests in the region… our support for Iron Dome and similar efforts do provide Israel with the capabilities and the confidence that it needs to take the tough decisions ahead for a comprehensive peace… We are fully committed to Israel’s security because it enhances our own national security and because it helps Israel to take the steps necessary for peace.

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