5 Tishrei 5779
14 September 2018
Picture of the Day:
New soldiers from outside of Israel, here in the country alone; each one is called a “chayal boded”. The sign they are holding refers to the fact that they are studying Hebrew.
450 new “lone” soldiers from abroad began their service yesterday with a ceremony at the Mahlon Alon IDF base. Afterwards, they participated in “Arrangements Day.”
As the head of the Operations Branch at the base, Lieutenant Odelia Karsenty described: “The purpose of the day is to enable every lone soldier to exercise his full rights from all the government ministries and to the various organizations, while minimizing the time and bureaucracy involved as much as possible. The day of the arrangements helped us, in order to ensure that our staff was working intensively every day, to provide the individual soldier with the entire envelope needed for him to continue his best service in Tzahal.”
To which the Base Commander Lt. Col. Dorit Maoz, added: “We are excited every time to see new immigrants joining the IDF. We are pleased with the role that we were given to assist in their absorption in Israel and in the period of military service to be their home and family.”
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
In Judea and Samaria:
*Mount Hevron, on the Road 465 Abud Bypass, at the T Junction outside of Tekoa, northeast of Ramallah near Luban A-Sharqiya, Al-Fawwar, Hevron, Adam, Hizma, between Kiryat Arba and Hevron, Azzun, Deir Nizam: these and a myriad of other places were where Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis.
*A stabbing was thwarted at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hevron when a terrorist was spotted by Border Police concealing a knife behind his back.
On the Gaza Border:
*Palestinian terrorists started two more large fires with incendiary balloons from Gaza. The largest fire was in the Be’eri Forest which has almost been completely destroyed by fires.
Also on the Gaza Border . . .
The Egyptians abruptly closed the Rafah Crossing from Egypt into Gaza and vice versa yesterday after Hamas announced that it would not come to Cairo to pursue reconciliation talks with the PLO (Fatah).
On the other hand . . .
A group of young Fatah members broke into a meeting being held in eastern Jerusalem marking the 25th anniversary of the Oslo Accords. The meeting, attended by Israelis leftists, ambassadors of countries such as Norway and Sweden, and Palestinian officials had to be halted after the group destroyed the room by smashing glasses and tearing apart the sound system.
All the while they chanted slogans denouncing any normalization with Israel.
One of the Israeli leftists, Hillel Shenkar was ludicrously offended: “There was no choice but to disperse the event and not continue to confront them. It was not an event of singing or dancing; it was an event of talking about politics between allies, people who wanted to end the occupation; we are not the enemy.”
We are not the enemy? Isn’t it amazing how the leftists still don’t get it after all these years?
Another leftist, Menahem Klein of Bar-Ilan University was more understanding and added this nonsense: “It was very authentic, a lot of energy of anger, bitterness and frustration that can not be found other than this action. I interpret this as a generational matter, it is not a random phenomenon.”
Authentic? Good grief.
UNRWA tries to strike again . . .
If you can believe this after all the negative press UNRWA has received lately, it was revealed yesterday that the UNRWA branch in Jerusalem was planning to hold a celebration for a terrorist who was just released from prison.
Fortunately, police forces raided the building last night before the event took place, confiscated flags and signs, and closed it down.
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TODAY’S BLOG:
Honoring A Hero: Brigadier General Giora Epstein
80-year-old General Giora “Hawkeye” Epstein receives his Brigadier General bars from his wife and IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot.
Three days ago, a modest ceremony took place at IAF headquarters. Those in attendance included Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, the Commander of the IAF Major General Amikam Norkin, various commanders, old friends who are veterans, and family members.
The ceremony was the awarding of the rank of Brigadier General to Giora Epstein–one of Israel’s aerial heroes during the 1967 and 1973 wars. During those wars, he shot down 17 enemy aircraft in dogfights, the study of which have been required reading for IAF pilots ever since.
He is considered the “ace of aces” of the world’s jet pilots having shot down more enemy planes than any other in the modern jet era.
Interestingly, Epstein was originally ruled unfit for pilot training in 1956 because of a heart condition. However, after serving two years as a paratrooper, he was finally cleared to fly through his dogged tenacity. Soon afterward, he was nicknamed “Hawkeye” because of his uncanny eyesight which enabled him to see incoming aircraft 24 miles away.
At this point, let’s read a description of his actions in the two wars*:
“Epstein’s first kill came on June 6, 1967 during the Six-Day War, when he downed an Egyptian Sukhoi-7 at El Arish. During the War of Attrition in 1969–70, Epstein downed a MiG-17, another Sukhoi-7 and two MiG 21s. The rest of his kills came during 1973’s Yom Kippur War. Between October 18 and 20 1973, he downed an Mi-8 helicopter and eight jets: two Sukhoi-7s, two Sukhoi-20s and four MiG 21s. Then, on October 24, 1973, Epstein downed three more MiG-21s west of the Great Bitter Lake. Eight of these victories were with the French-built Mirage III . . .His other nine victories came in an IAI Nesher, an Israeli-built version of the Mirage 5. Five of his kills were downed using air-to-air missiles, the rest with cannon.”
For his actions, Epstein was awarded Israel’s version of the Medal of Honor, and he was later appointed commander of the 117th Squadron before retiring from the IDF in 1977 after flying for more than 9000 hours.
He later became a pilot with El Al.
At the ceremony, IAF head Norkin said this: “We have grown up on the legacy of your battles and those of your comrades. The rank of brigadier general for a warrior is richly deserved.”
As for Epstein himself, he closed the ceremony with these words:
“I am very excited at the ceremony and thank the Chief of Staff and the Commander of the IAF for the gesture and honor they gave me. I also thank the IAF and the air training I received that I had been hoping for ever since I was a teenager.
During the course of my service, I filled many different positions and loved every moment of service in the IAF, which was my second home. I am proud to be part of our great Air Force, and I am happy to have been able to fulfill my expectations and capabilities as expected from an air combatant . . . Thanks to all my friends who came and are here, who accompanied me during different periods of my life, and all my dear family members who give me joy in life.”
Your humble servant suggests that you read Epstein’s book “Champion in the Sky” which is available in English and Hebrew:
The cover of Champion of the Sky.
Three cheers for Giora Epstein, one of Israel’s true heroes.
*Taken from Wikipedia.
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A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.