Decades of Superiority Vanish in Hours — Who Is to Blame?

NYN | Reports and analyses 

The scale of the disaster that struck Israel following its recent war with Iran is becoming increasingly clear, as official estimates and Hebrew media begin to reveal numbers highlighting the deep damage inflicted on the country’s defense, research, and economic infrastructure — damage not seen in decades.

The president of the Weizmann Institute of Science, one of Israel’s most prestigious research centers, told Yedioth Ahronoth that the Iranian missiles “wiped out decades of research entirely,” adding that the institute will have to “start from scratch.”

Preliminary assessments indicate that the losses sustained by the institute alone exceed 2 billion shekels due to direct missile strikes.

Meanwhile, the financial newspaper Calcalist reported that Israel’s total defense-related losses during the days of confrontation with Iran reached nearly $5 billion. Channel 12 added that the military expenditures alone during just one week of war amounted to 12 billion shekels, including 5 billion shekels allocated to missile defense systems and 3 billion for airstrike operations.

Israel’s own missile defense systems became part of this financial hemorrhage, with the Arrow (Hetz) missile costing approximately $1 million per launch, David’s Sling priced at around $700,000, and Iron Dome interceptors costing roughly $300,000 each, according to Channel 12.

Reflecting the widespread extent of the damage, Israel’s compensation funds have received more than 38,700 claimssince the war began — covering damages to buildings, vehicles, contents, and equipment.

Tel Aviv alone accounted for over 24,000 claims, followed by Ashkelon with more than 10,000, and additional thousands from Acre (Akko), Tiberias, and other cities.

In addition, 208 educational institutions were reported damaged, most of them in the heart of Tel Aviv — a stark indication of the significant impact of the Iranian attacks.

These figures do not yet reflect the full damage caused by the latest wave of Iranian missile strikes, which reached deep inside Israeli territory on Tuesday morning. This suggests that the country is still in a phase of shock and damage assessment — even as it faces pressing and uncomfortable questions about the effectiveness of its defense systems, and the future of its economy and internal security.