Where’d that rocket come from? New site shows you
Israeli Arab and Jew join programming forces for tool to show where Hamas terrorists are firing missiles from
July 20, 2014, 6:07 pm
Screenshot of Israel Under Attack site (Screenshot)
A new tool to help
protect Israeli civilians from Hamas rockets is the fruit of a joint
effort by two Israelis–one a Jew and the other an Arab. While the
government’s vaunted “Red Color” system sets off sirens where rockets
are aimed, the new program can also tell you from where in Gaza the
terrorists launched it.
The tool, called Israel Under Attack, was authored by Samuel Lespes Cardillo and Farid el-Nasire. The
map is designed, Nasire said in a Facebook post, to allow people “to
visualize the rocket’s trajectory, hopefully one day saving at least one
life.”
The Israel Under Attack program shows a
counter that times the gap between attacks, resetting itself when a
rocket is fired. When an attack takes place, the map shows — in real
time — where the rocket was fired from in Gaza, its trajectory, and the
general area where it is expected to land.
Like Red Alert: Israel,
the mobile audio alert that lists the general area where a rocket is
headed, the Israel Under Attack map shows approximately what location
was targeted, without giving away the exact location in order not to
give terrorists intelligence on how accurate or inaccurate their aim
is. Because of these security considerations, say the authors, “we are
not showing the exact positions of a rocket’s landing, and we are trying
to show the most accurate position of rockets.”
Nasire said that the site was very accurate,
despite the tech limitations. “Hamas rockets don’t have GPS or any
satellite uplink, so we had to be a bit creative. We use mathematical
formulas to determine its location based on factors like the time it was
launched. We get a notification of a launch within a second and then
calculate approximately how long it will take for it to reach its
target. Our predictions might be a second or two seconds off, but it’s
very accurate.” The data is loaded onto a Google map and displayed in
real time on the site.
Nasire, born in Israel, has been studying and
working in the Netherlands for the past few years, while Cardillo, who
works in a high-tech company in Israel, is a soldier in the IDF
reserves. The reason they decided to develop the map, said Nasire, was
“we both noticed that many people seemed to think lightly about the
rockets coming from Gaza. Many people (abroad) think there are just one
or two being fired per day, which the Iron Dome intercepts, so why
should Israel wage a war against Hamas, right?”
In fact, “truth is that there are a lot more
of them than that. Each and every time you hear an alert (which is a lot
less now than three days ago, but still quite often), thousands of men,
women and children have to find shelter, often within just 15 seconds,
in order to not risk their life. This is why Israel is fighting a war it
really doesn’t want to fight,” Nasire said.
The program is available only as a website for now, but Nasire promised that iPhone and Android versions are just days away.
The site drew accolades on Facebook, along
with criticism — not of the site, but of Israel’s incursion into Gaza,
sparking the usual arguments on both sides. One thing Nasire did not
appreciate was how critics of Israel managed to hijack his Facebook post
and turn it into a political debate. “I find it so interesting how
people can’t stand the fact that Israel is defending itself. It’s like
all of you pro-Palestinian people want Israel to just sit there, take
the hits and do nothing,” Nasire wrote.
“This app works for Gazans as well,” Nasire
added. “For every rocket fired on Israel, Hamas gets two in return.
Gazans just have to listen to Israel when it warns them of attacks by
phone, leaflets, radio or the final roof-knocking warning and get away
from Hamas. So if you paid attention in elementary school math class,
you’d know that if Hamas fired 0, Israel would fire 0×2=0.” He adds, “If
Israel still fires rockets without provocation, I’ll be
pro-Palestinians as well.”
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