a "few years and billions of shekels" to build a defensive shield that covered the whole country, but the groundwork was in place. "No army has such a system, nor does any state or civilian population... From this point we look on with optimism," he said. "Eventually (it will) protect the entire state of Israel against most threats, short and medium-range missiles." Israel's answer to the bigger, ballistic missiles of Iran is Arrow II, an interceptor that works in a similar way to Iron Dome, but at far higher altitudes. Tehran has vowed to retaliate if it comes under attack and is estimated to have a few hundred long-range rockets which could hit the Jewish State. Developers of the Arrow II, which has so far proved itself only in trials, boast a shoot-down rate of some 90 percent. IRANIAN ISOLATION Israeli ministers were not just singing the praises of their missile technologies in the wake of the Gaza offensive, but also their intelligence gathering. The Israeli Defence Forces said it attacked 1,500 sites in Gaza and "severely impaired" Hamas's launching capabilities, suggesting it would take a long time to recover -- possibly helping to sideline it in the event of an Iran conflagration. "In Iran, I have no doubt, there are fevered discussions going on as they try to understand how was it that the Jews managed to crack so many targets," Civil Defence Minister Avi Dichter told Israel Radio. Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, has