US President Donald Trump claimed Thursday that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop taking credit” for the Iron Dome missile defense system, asserting that it is American technology — a statement that is widely regarded as inaccurate.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump made the remarks while discussing future US defense plans and comparing them to Israel’s missile shield.
“What we did for Israel was amazing,” Trump said. “But that’s nothing compared to what we have planned for the United States, Canada and the rest of the world. We are gonna build a dome like no other. We did it for Israel, and by the way I told Bibi, ‘Bibi stop taking credit for the dome, that’s our technology.’”
However, Iron Dome was originally developed by Israeli defense firms Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries, with the system designed to intercept short-range rockets and missiles. The project was initially funded and engineered by Israel, with significant US financial support and limited collaboration with American defense companies coming only in later stages.
While the United States has invested billions of dollars into Iron Dome over the years and helped fund additional interceptor production, the core technology and original development of the system are Israeli.
Trump’s comments come as he continues to promote plans for a new large-scale missile defense initiative for the United States, which he has repeatedly referred to as a future “golden dome.”
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Trump is like that. His rhetoric is annoying. His version of World War II ignores that the British Empire, the Soviet Union and the Chinese did more fighting and sustained more losses than the Americans. His version of the 21st century ignore that large NATO force sent to Afghanistan, at the request of the US, and took a respectable percentage of the casualties – and that some and especially Denmark had a higher casualty rate than the US.