After a quick swim in the Sea of Galilee, we bussed up to the Golan Heights. For a bit of strategic perspective, Israel has maintained control of the Heights since the Six Day War in 1967, partially because they overlook our hotel. Our tour guide’s father was swimming at this same location in the 1950s and was shot at by Syrians from above. Peyton Manning could literally throw a grenade off of the top of the heights, which would reach the roof our hotel room at HaOn Kibbutz before blowing up. Kinda important to keep that sucker occupied. Farmers cant farm well when being sniped while trying to pick bananas.
Next, we bussed up to the top of Ben Tal, an extinct volcano overlooking the Syrian boarder. The contrast between the fruitful vineyards of the Israeli side and the dusty dirt-lands of the Syrian side were unbelievable stark. (check out Zechariah 8 if interested cf vs. 11-13)
Israel Fact #6: The Syrian boarder has been the most ‘quiet’ Israeli boarder over the past decade. Instead of fighting directly, the Syrians fund Hezbollah, who are a terrorist organization occupying southern Lebanon. Syria is currently hemorrhaging from economic downturn and is therefore willing to undergo negotiations with Israel for $ and some territory (which was lost in the Six Day War of 1967).
From the overlook, we were able to soak in yet another picture of the proximity of the conflict to Israeli citizens. The blossoming vineyards almost directly abut the temporary boarder with Syria, yet the farmers seem to be plugging away, cultivating the land. The Golan region is known for producing some of the finest wines in Israel.
For dinner we were served another huge meal. Every time we sit down to eat somewhere, it seems like the waiters continually bring new dishes of food for the entire 2 hours of the meal. You gotta know I love that. Anyways, dinner was particularly powerful for me since I had the privilege of sitting one seat over from Elliot Chodoff. Mr. Chodoff is a former IDF (Israeli Defense Force) officer whose claim to fame is the writing of the Tactical Field Manual for the Israeli troops. He now works as a counter-terrorism analyst and does private consulting with US and Israeli intelligence agencies. As you can imagine- one of the most legitimately Rambo-esque men I have ever met.
When lecturing at Cal Berkley a few years back, a student who he believes to be associated with Hamas (terrorist organization operating in the Gaza strip) came up to him after his lecture and directly stated: “I am going to kill you.” Chodoff jovially explained to us that his response was equally as direct: “Ok, why don’t you come visit me in Israel and I will show you the graves of the other people that have tried.” Wow. Dude is not messing around. Legitimately- I am realizing that when you live your life in a country and defending a country that faces a daily struggle to maintain its existence, there is little to no room for mincing words or living passively. After dinner he gave us an extremely eye-opening and sobering talk about the state of terrorism in the world today.
Israel Fact #7: Israel constantly faces threats from terrorist organizations on their northern and southern borders. Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which receive funding and weapons from Iran, were founded by charters pledging to “eliminate Israel,” to “obliterate it” through Jihad. Most of you probably know all about this. Mr. Chodoff described the weight of this extremism for America and Israel and I found myself extremely angered and disturbed by the reality of this evil in the world. Elliot’s stealy resolve and commitment to his country’s heart rang through though. He firmly explained that, “if western military democracies cease to fight like western military democracies, then they (the terrorists) win.” Such a statement harkens to…
Israel Fact #8: After 8 years of daily rocket fire into Southern Israeli cities and towns, the IDF had no choice but to move into Gaza in 2006 to break up the infrastructure of Hamas. Here’s the crazy thing- before they dropped bombs, they dropped warnings- papers to warn the citizens in target areas of the coming attacks so that they could leave and not become collateral damage. Result- unheard of military precision in attacking combatants without causing significant civilian suffering. According to the Geneva Convention, an acceptable ratio of non-combatants killed to enemy troops killed in urban warfare is 35:1. Israel’s ratio in Gaza: 1:2 (or 2:1 if you want to make assumptions in the Goldstone Report). Ridiculous accuracy and humanitarian care here.
**Technical problems again (Ironic in a country that has more cell phones per capita than America and invented the Intel Centrino processor that is in my computer as i type)...Pictures to be added later- time for bed
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