Scud Downing Fails to Blunt Israelis’ Anger

A day after a stinging failure, Patriot anti-missile rockets shot down a Scud in flight Wednesday night as it bore down on Israel’s north coast, but the successful interception did little to ease official talk that Israel must at some point strike back at Iraq.

While expressing satisfaction with the Patriot’s performance, which was signaled by a flash and boom in the misty skies near Haifa, Israeli officials insisted that Israel will not sit back and passively accept being a target for Iraqi missiles.

“We will have to do something eventually,” said government spokesman Yossi Olmert. “This doesn’t change anything. The attacks persist.”

“Every person in the state of Israel would say to you that we must hit them back so hard that their screams of pain will be heard to the edges of the Earth for a long time,” advised Health Minister Ehud Olmert.

There were no reports of casualties from the debris that fell from the sky and scattered over unspecified locations in northern Israel, military officials said. A fragment of the missile landed atop a grocery store, Israel radio reported, and soldiers were looking for the rest, including a possibly intact warhead.

Wednesday’s missile was armed with explosives, not chemical gas, army spokesman said. The Patriot missile battery was manned jointly by U.S. and Israeli troops. The Israelis are undergoing a crash course in operating the missiles, an unspecified number of which were delivered urgently over the weekend after Iraq launched two earlier missile barrages at Tel Aviv and Haifa.

On Wednesday, windows were broken in the area where the Scud was brought down, Israel television said, but no injuries were reported. Air raid sirens blared across the country at 10:05 P.M. local time and the all-clear was sounded about a half hour later.

“One rocket was fired from western Iraq at Israel. This rocket was intercepted by Patriot rockets which were launched from the north of the country,” Brig. Gen. Nachman Shai, an army spokesman reported. “They hit it. The missiles blew up. The matter is over.”

The Patriot hit apparently eased tensions among many Israelis almost immediately. Amos Carmeli, a TV reporter on the scene, observed “that, to the residents’ credit, they are fixing their houses already, sighing a sigh of relief.”

A resident of Haifa told Israel Radio that he saw a yellow flash in the sky and heard “a terrific explosion over our heads” as the Patriot destroyed the Scud.

By contrast, Tuesday’s Scud skirted the shield of Patriots, landed in the town of Ramat Gan, which is adjacent to Tel Aviv, blew up three small apartment buildings, ripped away parts of others and broke windows and shutters a city block away. (Until Wednesday, Israeli authorities suppressed publication of the location of the blast.)

Three elderly Ramat Gan residents died of heart attacks, government officials said, and almost 100 people were wounded. The previous strikes on Tel Aviv and Haifa had caused some property damage and light injuries, but no deaths.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir met with his Cabinet and senior military officers Wednesday to consider whether Israel should itself try to destroy Iraq’s arsenal of Scuds and launchers and not rely on the U.S.-led coalition to do it.

The formula that emerged from the meeting was essentially unchanged from previous instances when Israel was hit by missiles: The Jewish state will retaliate, but only when a military strike can be best effective and conducive to the allied goals in the war.

“The principle of retaliation does not need to be discussed.” said Defense Minister Moshe Arens after the Cabinet session. “We have said all along that we would respond to these acts of terror directed against us. We have to take into consideration (Washington’s) concerns and we are doing that.”

“The public is angry, I’m angry, everybody’s angry and concerned. But we’re going to use our heads,” added Deputy Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger met with Shamir, although there was no specific word on the substance of their talks. Eagleburger is here to press on Israel the need to act cautiously and to insure Israeli leaders that the United States is doing everything it can to end the long-range missile threat.

Foreign Ministry officials say that Eagleburger’s presence has had a soothing effect on public opinion, making it easier for the government to resist calls for instant retaliation.

“It was a smart thing for President Bush to do. Sending someone makes a statement of support that many appreciate,” said a foreign ministry official.

In Washington, White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said Eagleburger’s mission in Israel is open-ended.

“Secretary Eagleburger remains in Israel to be available for consultations with the Israeli government at any time,” Fitzwater said.

The spokesman said Eagleburger relayed to Bush the Israeli request for $13 billion in aid to offset the cost of defense preparations, “and we will give it full consideration.”

The White House also announced that Bush called Shamir at midnight Tuesday (7 a.m. in Israel), after Tuesday’s missile attack.

“The President expressed his outrage at this unprovoked aggression and extended his sympathy to the prime minister over the numerous casualties the attack caused,” Fitzwater said in a written statement.

Bush, he said, “expressed his appreciation for Israel’s restraint, particularly in view of the continued Iraqi attacks. The President said that the world recognizes these attacks as nothing short of brutal terrorism against innocent civilians.”

The successful interception of Wednesday’s Scud will also play into the Israeli debate by easing public concern about the rain of missiles, some officials predicted.

“It might make it easier for the politicians to hold off,” said a military official.

Earlier in the day, Israeli officials appeared eager to suggest that the Patriots were bound for success and that the failure Tuesday was a fluke.