So if you’re wearing a bulletproof vest and somebody shoots at you and either misses or hits the vest, are you not allowed to shoot back? Are you supposed to just stand there and let the attacker continue until they succeed?

Keep in mind that every single Hamas rocket attack means a disruption of daily life, with people only having seconds to rush to shelter. It’s stressful and traumatic, to the point that a few months ago, a nine year old with a preexisting condition died from a heart attack that was caused by the fear and stress of being under attack:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/9-year-old-ashdod-girl-dies-after-suffering-cardiac-arrest-during-rocket-siren/

There is nothing safe about it. All the Iron Dome can do is lower the risk, but it doesn’t eliminate it. It doesn’t eliminate every one of these unguided rockets and the debris still rains down.

The ironic thing is that for many years, this system saved more Palestinian than Israeli lives, since it allowed Israel to more or less eat these rockets instead of having to strike back every time. After Hamas used a rocket barrage as cover on October 7 - which they also used to murder people hiding in shelters that they had the terrorists knew the locations of - Israel cannot ignore these attacks anymore. The risk is too great now that it’s not “just” a rocket attack, that it’s part of a larger assault, perhaps a further escalation, e.g. with rockets that aren’t just filled with explosives, but perhaps with dangerous substances as well.