Tag Archives: IDF

Good luck to the IDF

Posted on November 16, 2012 | Comments Off on Good luck to the IDF

I wish it wasn’t necessary to put the brave young men and women of the Israel Defense Forces in harm’s way in Gaza, but after the terrorists of Hamas and its ragtag hangers-on fired rockets acquired from Iran at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, it seems to be necessary.

According to Austin’s private, open-source intelligence company Stratfor,

“….during Cast Lead [in 2008], they operated at night and creat[ed] their own crossing points [into Gaza] as opposed to using previously established points.

“They also relied heavily upon combat engineers, armored construction equipment including unmanned D9 bulldozers, and dog teams to establish their own avenues of approach instead of using common routes through Gaza.

“Ground units also worked in heavy conjunction with air assets for reconnaissance and close air support, and had access to comprehensive artillery support. This allowed them to avoid improvised explosive devices, heavily mined primary access routes, ambushes and counterattacks militants had planned near the assumed IDF approaches.”

But they’re bound to face surprises this time which could see more of them killed and crippled, each one a major tragedy for their immediate family and everyone in such a small country.

“Already in this round of fighting, unconfirmed reports have emerged saying that militants are using [shoulder-fired ground-to-air anti-aircraft missiles]. If these rumors are true, it could force a more limited role for rotary-wing air support as well as anti-tank guided missiles and thus seriously hamper the firepower, cover and protection provided by armor.”

Read more: Considering an Israeli Ground Assault in Gaza | Stratfor.

UPDATE:  Meanwhile, the IDF asks bloggers and news media not to say exactly where one of these unguided Hamas rockets lands, which might help them improve their targeting. Done.

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Posted in Israel, The War, Troops

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Esther Petrak: Rule 5

Posted on April 12, 2012 | Comments Off on Esther Petrak: Rule 5

Recognize her? Perhaps not. This is the photo you might remember better.

Not long after placing seventh in an American modeling contest, the young Modern Orthodox Esther Petrak, a native of Jerusalem, joined the IDF to serve and defend Israel as an instructor in the Merkeva (Chariot) tanks.

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IDF girls with guns: Rule 5

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Posted on May 27, 2011 in Israel, Rule 5, Scribbles, The War, Troops

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IDF’s 7th Armored Brigade

Posted on April 26, 2011 | Comments Off on IDF’s 7th Armored Brigade

Used to be, in the American army, it was “smoke ’em if ya got ’em,” and almost everyone did. And almost everyone had a Zippo lighter, too.

Nowadays, when the American army is so PC that it can’t stop murderous Muslims from joining its ranks and shooting up its bases, smoking is discouraged and the Zippo has gone the way of running in boots. Well, that part never made a whole lot of  sense. Except, in combat, you might not have time to stop and put on your running shoes.

So what’s the point? And why the picture? That’s a Zippo, right there. And it’s emblazoned with the insignia of the 7th Armored Brigade, which commands the tank formations in the Israel Defense Forces. And they do smoke in the IDF, like just about everyone else in Israel. Well, a lot of them do. Besides, I like to annoy the anti-smokers on the intertubes.

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Graffiti in the jungle

Posted on April 25, 2011 | Comments Off on Graffiti in the jungle

I can’t say I like Israeli writer Etgar Keret’s short-short stories much. At least not the ones in The Girl On The Fridge collection. Most of them end too abruptly, just about the time I’m getting interested in the tale. Suppose to be the latest thing, these quickies, but most of them read like the writer ran out of imagination.

One of the few I do like is one that echoes something my Israeli pal Snoopy-the-Goon told me about young people coming off of their obligatory IDF active duty. Many of them leave Israel and light out for the Himalayas or somewhere else tough and adventurous, preferably somewhere no one else has been.

So, in The Journey, the hero does just that, winding up in the jungles of South America, satisfied that he’s finally found a place no other human has trod. Until he sees some secondary growth at the base of a large tree. It barely conceals something carved there. Something old. This: “Nir Dekel, August 5, Paratroopers Kick Ass.”

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Posted in Israel, South of the Border, The War, Troops

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Totin’ an auto rifle in the grocery

Posted on April 10, 2011 | Comments Off on Totin’ an auto rifle in the grocery

One of the curious features of Israeli life is the way her young conscript soldiers carry their loaded M-4s, M-16s, and other automatic weapons everywhere they go. In uniform and out. It’s required.

You see them in the grocery, the mall, the bus stop, the street, heck, even in the elevator. Snoop and I were riding an elevator in a mall near his home in Rehovot when it stopped to let on two young black men, apparently Ethiopian Jews. Both were in uniform, and both were fully armed.

If you didn’t know better (or you were a Hamas groupie) you might call it an example of Israel’s menace. In fact it’s to help these warriors become intimately familiar with their weapons and to be ready in case the Arabs attack without warning. As they have before, and Hamas still does.

Instead of having to find an armory, they can go directly to their unit’s assembly point announced on Army radio. Like in 1973 when, on the last day of Yom Kippur, the Syrians threw more than a thousand Russian battle tanks into the Golan Heights. The IDF outposts held them, at great cost to themselves, as the reserves and conscripts raced to help.

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The Gaza War

Posted on April 9, 2011 | Comments Off on The Gaza War

Hamas wanted it. Now they’ve got it. And, now, of course, they’re whining for a ceasefire, and their buddies in the European Union and the United Nations are condemning Israel for a “disproportionate response.” As if “you-kill-two-of-mine and I’ll-kill-two-of-yours” is the way real wars are fought.

Like Treppenwitz I find it increasingly hard to sympathize with the average Gaza Palestinian who allows Hamas to fire its mortars, rockets and, now, an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus without so much as a street protest. Have they learned nothing from the people of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria? Or are they just on Hamas’s side? Their willing partners in war crimes.

I am concerned for the young man with a critical head injury caused by the Hamas anti-tank missile, and the young conscript warriors of the IDF who must risk their lives fighting the barbaric arabs to defend Israelis. In the words of the song and the prayer: O Hashem, protect our men in arms. As they defend our land, shield them from harm. Hu yivarech et chayalei tzava hagana li Yisroel, Hu Yivarech.

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