8 | SEPTEMBER 8 • 2022 

PURELY COMMENTARY

guest column

The U.S.-Israel Alliance Saves Lives
E

arlier this month, as 
Islamic Jihad, a proxy 
of the Ayatollah regime 
in Iran, launched some 1,100 
rockets from Gaza toward 
Israeli communities from 
Sderot to Tel Aviv, Israel’s 
Defense Forces 
once again were 
challenged to 
protect their 
own citizens 
while avoiding 
civilian 
casualties in 
Gaza.
These objectives were 
achieved largely through 
deployment of the Iron 
Dome, a mobile air-defense 
system developed in Israel 
and funded since 2011 
by U.S. congressional 
appropriations. In this latest 
conflict, the Iron Dome 
successfully intercepted 
97% of the rockets aimed at 
Israel’s population centers.
The Iron Dome system 
is designed to intercept 
and destroy short-range 
rockets and shells fired into 
populated areas. 
It is frightening to think 
of Israel today had the Iron 
Dome not been available 
to defend its citizens and 
their homes — Arabs as 
well as Jews — only days 
ago. How inconceivable 
would have been the losses, 
the suffering of this tiny 
nation that already has 
withstood decades of hatred 
and violence perpetrated by 
terrorist groups throughout 
the Middle East. But thanks 
to a lifesaving partnership 
with the United States, the 

Iron Dome defense system 
succeeded in stopping 380 
rockets, while more than 500 
rockets landed in the ocean 
or open spaces and another 
200 rockets fell within Gaza, 
reportedly killing 15 of their 
own citizens.
Notably, support for the 
Iron Dome defense system — 
and for the safety of Israelis 
— has come from both sides 
of the congressional aisle, 
as well as from Presidents 
Obama, Trump and Biden. 
President Biden, in 
particular, has had a warm 
and longstanding friendship 
with the State of Israel 
throughout his many years 
of public service. Thus, it 
was both significant and 
appropriate that a highlight 
of his 10th visit to Israel — 
his first as U.S. President — 
last month was the signing 
of the Jerusalem U.S.-Israel 
Strategic Partnership Joint 
Declaration. This is a historic 
document that recognizes 
the shared values of the two 
nations and paves the way 
for future deepening of our 
alliance. 
In it, President Biden 
and Israeli Prime Minister 
Yair Lapid reaffirm their 
commitment never to allow 
Iran to acquire nuclear 
weapons and agreed that 
their countries “will continue 
to work together to combat 
all efforts to boycott or 
delegitimize Israel, to deny 
its right to self-defense or to 
unfairly single it out in any 
forum.”
It’s not widely understood, 
but the United States’ 

generous funding of Israeli 
technology, including missile 
defense, has become a wise 
investment in the safety of its 
own citizens. Just recently, a 
joint live-fire trial of an Iron 
Dome was coordinated — in 
New Mexico — by the U.S. 
Army and the Israeli Missile 
Defense Organization. 
The U.S. already has 
purchased two Iron Dome 
batteries from the system’s 
Israeli manufacturer, Rafael 
Advanced Defense Systems, 
for defense against its own 
military installations. The 
testing proved successful, 
and the U.S. Army plans 
to deploy one in the near 
future.
In short, the U.S.-Israel 
relationship, through 
initiatives like the Jerusalem 
Declaration and the 

Abraham Accords, has 
helped to establish Israel as 
a key regional player and 
a partner for peace with 
neighboring countries that 
share its goal of regional 
security and stability — 
Bahrain, Morocco, the 
United Arab Emirates and 
Sudan so far — while looking 
ahead to soon welcoming 
Saudi Arabia and other 
Middle Eastern nations into 
Israel’s circle of cooperation.
Israel, in turn, shares its 
cutting-edge technologies 
and joins with U.S. 
manufacturers to promote 
the security and economic 
well-being of the American 
people. 

Yinam Cohen is the Consul General of 

Israel to the Midwest. This essay was 

first published in the Detroit News.

NATAN FLAYER

Yinam 
Cohen

Iron Dome CRAM 
launcher near the 
town of Sderot.

With Their Centennial Gift, Merton J. and Beverly (z”l) Segal 
Continue to Enrich Jewish Lives Long into the Future

As a longtime community leader and philanthropic 
supporter, Mert Segal has had an extraordinary impact on 
Jewish Detroit. “There was hardly a time in my life when I 
wasn’t involved in Jewish education or community affairs,” he 
recalls. Born in Detroit, Mert grew up in a kosher household, 
studied Hebrew and became a Bar Mitzvah. As a student at 
the University of Michigan, he helped to reactivate a Jewish 
fraternity, Chapter Tau Delta Phi and eventually became the 
executive secretary of the national fraternity. He married 
Beverly (z”l) in 1955. Together they raised three daughters, 
Carol Ziecik, Laura Segal and Dana (Dr. Steven Weinstein). 
Mert has five grandchildren, Lacey (Elliot) Foon, Cooper and 
Jane Ziecik, and Miles and Leah Weinstein. In addition, he has 
twin great granddaughters, Eloise and Phoebe Foon. As Mert 
built his company, Meadowbrook Insurance Group, into a 
highly successful and respected business, he remained 
deeply connected to the Jewish community. He maintained a 
close affiliation with Temple Beth El, “chairing almost every 
committee of the Board of Trustees,” he notes, and eventually 
served as President in 1975. He has also been a dedicated 

supporter of a variety of Jewish and secular organizations, 
including Federation, AIPAC, the Ecumenical Institute, 
Beaumont Hospital, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Berman 
Center for the Performing Arts and the University of Michigan. 
Today, with his partner, Glynda Beeman, Mert continues to be 
active and involved in Jewish communal life. 
He also remains a major philanthropic supporter of the 
community. Now, with his commitment to the Federation 
Centennial Fund, Mert extends his legacy of impact long into 
the future. The Centennial Fund is the central endowment 
campaign for Jewish Detroit and is designed to secure the 
welfare of Jewish Detroit for the next one hundred years. 
Mert’s Centennial gift will establish a Perpetual Annual 
Campaign Endowment (PACE) Fund, a vehicle which provides 
a foundation of critical support to the Jewish community 
through the Annual Campaign. “I am happy and proud to be 
part of the Jewish community,” he says. “My hopes are for it to 
thrive and perpetuate Jewish traditions and Jewish leadership 
in Detroit and throughout the world.”

L to R: Glynda Beeman, Mert Segal, Carol Ziecik, Laura Segal

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