Day 4 Part 1: Visit to Boarder between Israel and Lebanon

Early this morning we drove north from Galilee to the Lebanese border. Ya, the one you’ve heard about on the news growing up. The one where 2 wars have gone down in recent memory. Oh ya, and the one where an Israeli soldier was murdered while doing maintenance on the boarder fence last week.

(Boarder fence below, UN base in the distance- UN troups 'mantain the peace' of the Israel/Lebanon boarder)

Israel Fact # 9: Israel’s border fences are built 150 yards inside of the actual border so that they can maintain the fences without having to cross into Lebanese territory. Secondly, Israel sends memo’s to the UN forces (they maintain the peace of the border) each time that they plan to even cross the fence, into their own territory, in order to work on its upkeep. So when you see pictures on the news of Israeli troops ‘over the fence,’ they are actually still peacefully in their own territory.

We drove to an overlook at Misgav ‘Am and met retired IDF Colonel Kobi Merom, the same officer who toured Rahm Emmanuel along the boarder last year. With a backdrop of southern Lebanese towns in front of our faces, Colonel Merom spoke with reserved conviction about the conflict with Lebanon.

We saw the fence. We saw charred earth below. We drove past mine fields. We heard the haunting calls to worship echoing through the hills as they flowed out of mosque towers below. I felt the hurt and the resolve in Kobi Merom’s heart . I saw both in his eyes. He told us of losing 73 of his soldiers, his adopted children, in a helicopter crash. Although he is strong, seasoned, and sharp, we could feel his longing for peace.

Walking through memorials to fallen soldiers, driving through towns which had been destroyed by rocket fire in the early 2000s, and listening to Merom portray the existential struggle for survival that Israel faces from all fronts again bought a sobering yet invigorating sense of understanding into my chest. He spoke with pride saying, “I am very proud to be a part of a military that cares so much about the human citizens on the other side of the border.” Harkening to…

Israel Fact #10: Hezbollah has recently won the elections in Lebanon and is now the ruling party. Over 60% of the population is now extremist, Shi’ite Muslim. Lebanese Christians, who we prayed for (along with the rest of the civilians) while overlooking the boarder, have mostly fled to the northern region of the country. Iran continues to pump weapons and propaganda into the nation, ignighting an increased sentiment of Islamic extremism among the population.

(our fearless guide, Avi, contemplating the impending threats facing his Country, his family, his people while overlooking southern Lebanon)