Speaking of Saddam Hussein and his Scuds, there are a few moments from that time that are burned into the Israeli psyche.
One was every school and channel teaching how to strap on a gas mask and the futile practice of taping shut the safe room in case the missiles carried chemical weapons.
Another was the streaks of flame over the Tel Aviv skyline as U.S.-supplied Patriot batteries tried and often failed to intercept incoming fire. The moment I remember most vividly is hearing the shouts of “Beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv” from my home in Samaria rising from nearby Palestinian villages.
Like moths to a rocket flame, when Iran sent missiles in October 2024, June last year, and again this week, we hear a similar refrain.