Jet fighters overhead! 3 videos

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The Independence Day flyover!
Today Israel Air Force plane flew for two hours, all across the country.
I climbed the high hill in Meitar's center to get the best view and be closest to the aircraft.
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These jets demonstrated  mid-air refueling.

A bird and a child's kite got into this clip of some fighter jets.

I think these are our new F-35 Stealth fighters.
They were shown to the public for the first time today.
The Times of Israel writes this:

Israel is the first country outside the United States to receive the state-of-the-art F-35, which is manufactured by Lockheed Martin. In total, the country is planning to purchase 50 of the fifth-generation stealth aircraft, known in Israel as the “Adir,” or “mighty one,” and has thus far received five of them.

You can see clear photos of them in that article.
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And now tonight, we end our happy 69th Independence Day and start our 70th year as a State, thanks, in great part, to the planes and pilots we saw today.
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A heart for our Air Force

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Our community of Meitar was treated to a flyover at noon today in celebration of Israel's Independence Day!

Several formations came over low and fast right above my street.

A Boeing showed how they do in-flight refueling of fighter jets.

Strange how a white heart appears at the wingtip in this photo!
(You can enlarge it with a click or two.  See it?!)
A sure sign of our love for the Air Force and for all our boys and girls in uniform.
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Happy 68th Independence Day, long live our little country!
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UPDATE:  Just published--a first-hand account of the turbulence endured by the press photographer assigned to the Hercules cargo plane (in my 2nd photo).  But he got great aerial photos of Israel!
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Home for the holidays as the nations keep talking

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While walking from Beer Sheva's shuk (market) to the Central Bus Station earlier this week, I was surprised to see a long flatbed truck parked at the side of the busy street  loaded with two army vehicles.
Then I remembered:  I'm not in Jerusalem anymore. 

It looked like they had been working hard.
It made me wonder where they had been, where they were being taken, and who and where were the soldiers who patrolled  in these open  vehicles.

With the nations talking and talking and talking about Syria, at least the reserve soldiers who had been called up last week got to go back home for the Rosh Hashana holiday for a few days.
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U is for uniform(s)

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You can put our kids into army uniforms when they are 18, but you can never make them uniform.

Even from the back you can tell that each one is unique. 
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Their guide was explaining the wide expanse of Jerusalem far below as we stood atop Phasael tower inside the Tower of David museum.
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday.)
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Soldiers and sandwiches

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S is for soldiers and sandwiches (or in Hebrew, sandvitchim). 
They were sitting just outside the Old City wall.
I think they were getting a head start while  "guarding" their comrades' lunchboxes.

I took the photo from across the street so you will have to click once or twice to see the boys better. 

Once inside Jaffa Gate they started trekking like Sherpas down the narrow pedestrian-only lanes of the Old City.
The whole group of young soldiers was probably waiting for them at the open square in the Jewish Quarter, where there is room to picnic.

Walking around with a knowledgeable guide, learning about our national heritage  is part of soldiers' training in the Israel Defense Forces.

And as Napoleon reportedly said, "C'est la soupe qui fait le soldat," meaning "An army travels [or marches] on its stomach," meaning  "a group of soldiers or workers can only fight or function effectively if they have been well fed."

Bon appetit, dear soldiers!  
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(A post for ABC Wednesday meme.)
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Happy Independence Day! Join us live!

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The abrupt transition from the somber Day of Remembrance to the joyous Independence Day  will happen very soon, at sundown.
The State of Israel's 65th birthday!
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Join us for the festivities on Mount Herzl, broadcast live.
Our soldiers do fancy marching displays only once a year and this is your chance to hear the band and watch the young men and women.

The TV broadcast starts at 19.50 our time.
Israel is GMT +2 hours.   Time and Date can help you convert the time zones.
Go to http://iba.org.il/media/ and click on the flashing red words to open the TV coverage, and click for full screen.

First comes the ceremonial lighting of 12 torches, symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel.
The theme this year is the national legacy and the preservation of national cultural assets for generations to come.

Quoting The Times of Israel,  the honorees will be
 

1) Colonel (Ret.) Dani Shapira, one of the first Israel Air Force pilots, who went on to spend 57 years flying planes as a service pilot and test pilot.

2) Historian and researcher Muki Tzur, for his work on investigating the settlement of Israel and the kibbutz movement.

3) David Blumberg, chairman of the board of the National Library.

4) Tamar Ross, researcher and presenter in the field of philosophy of Israel.

5)  Meir Buzaglo, mathematician and philosopher, who has worked to renew interest in Jewish poetry.

6) Rishon Lezion Mayor Dov Tzur, who will light a torch together with Iris Halperen, principal of the Haviv school, who has spent over 24 years in education.

7) Bilah Ben Eliyahu, presenter on contemporary Jewish literature.

8) Eliyan Elkrainu, the first Bedouin to preside over an academic institute, the Ahva Institute.

9)  Daphne Shimshon, the daughter of Indian immigrants. Her father was a community leader who was active in gaining full recognition of the community as being Jewish.

10) Rino Tzror, veteran journalist and radio host.

11) Ron Hedvati, a ranger for the Council for the Preservation for Heritage Sites and the founder of a museum in Kibbutz Ein Shemer.

12)  Agatha Farchick, a Ukrainian-born youth leader in the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement that this year marks its 100th anniversary, and Eliyana Elbaz, a youth leader in the Revisionist Youth movement that is marking its 90th year. A year and a half ago Elbaz’s father, who was active in the security forces and the police, was killed on his way to a mission. They will light a torch dedicated to the country’s youth.

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Holy Thursday + an Israeli Last Supper

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Today being Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday, on which Jesus held what some say was a Passover seder, washed his disciples' feet, and told them to love one another,  I thought I'd take a chance and post this famous controversial photo.
(You can enlarge it with a click then another click.)

The untitled work is popularly known as The Last Supper and a print hangs in the Israel Museum.

The Museum has this to say about it:

Adi Nes
Israeli, born 1966
Untitled
Chromogenic print,  90 x 144 cm 
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What appears to be a routine photograph of soldiers eating is, in fact, a carefully staged scene showing Nes’s characteristic attention to detail. It was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, depicting one of the most dramatic moments in the story of Christ: the announcement of Judas’s betrayal, which led to the Crucifixion, the ultimate sacrifice.
 In Israeli society and art, the soldier is often represented as an object of reverence. Brave and confident, he is the heir to mythical figures like the pioneer.
 Nes chooses to emphasize the youthfulness of the soldiers, in transition from adolescence to adulthood, from innocence to disenchantment. They face the greatest danger of all, the risk of dying in battle.
Nes’s analogy between the iconic Christian scene and Israeli reality conveys a political message regarding commitment and sacrifice. Like Christ’s apostles, the soldiers are disciples of an ideology, a power stronger than themselves.
But they are also victims of a geopolitical constellation over which they have no control.
The bullet holes in the wall, cigarette smoke, and bitten apple are symbols of transience, reminding us that this might indeed be their last supper.

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More about the photographer  in Wikipedia and in
http://israel21c.org/people/photographer-adi-nes-connects-ancient-and-modern-israel/

More Last Supper images, including da Vinci's, are here. 
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Kasr al Yahud, post #3

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Here is my third successive post about the baptism site at the Jordan.
Please click once, then once again, to see any photo much enlarged.

 As we will see, there are many curious contrasts at Kasr al Yahud.
You get off your comfortable tour bus in the parking lot and maybe you will see an IDF army jeep there too.
It is a reminder that  you that you are 1) in the West Bank, 2)  just ten kilometers from Jericho which is in Area A where the Palestinian Authority has full control of security and civil administration, and 3) only a few meters across the river from Jordanian soldiers in watchtowers.

But no worries.  Just a few steps and you are greeted by this mannequin in the gift shop.

He is modeling the garment in which you might like to be baptized or to immerse in the Jordan.

Plenty of T shirts for sale too, like with  Holy Spirit doves, Israeli flags, and "I was baptized in the Jordan River."

Bring your white gown to the "Clothing cell."
This one is for "Woman's [sic]."

(Hey, this could be good for the Signs, Signs meme.)
I wonder how the translation fared in the other languages: Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Greek.
But the sign shows you the wide diversity of pilgrims who come to Kasr il Yahud. 

Hey, are those shower heads on top?

It was kind of surreal for me to watch people walking around in these gowns, and under the flag of the Jewish State too.
If a Christian dies and is buried in this Jordan-dipped gown, now become shroud, it guarantees eternal life.
At least that is the Christian belief that our group's  Israeli Jewish guide told about.
I have never heard this from a Christian source.  Have you?

Follow the arrow to the "Water entry point."
The new structures you see are meant to provide shade and shelter  for groups that come to have Mass or Divine Liturgy there.

Finally we get down to the river's edge.
At this point it is 380 meters below sea level.
Can you see the Jordanian flag flying just across the narrow river?
There are churches and monasteries on the other side too. 

As we were leaving Kasr al Yahud, I saw three men unloading an ice cream truck in the sweltering heat.
Talk about contrasts!   Ice cream in the desert!
Imagine how things could have turned out different if John the Baptist, Jesus, Joshua, and Elijah had come up from the Jordan and found such luxury . . . .
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Good drones and bad drones

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How strange.
Last night I wrote this little post (below) and today we hear that a drone entered Israel airspace at 10 a.m. and was  shot down by our air force.
But  the intercepted drone was one in the shape of an airplane.

Our jets followed it for half an hour  a short while after it turned inland  from the Mediterranean.
At the edge of the Negev desert, on the southern slopes of  the Hebron mountains,  the UAV unmanned aircraft was shot down. 

See the video here  and read  Ynet's latest speculations [updated] about where it came from.
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Here is my innocent post written yesterday:

The dream of every photo blogger, no?

But would you trust your camera to this little flying machine?
Or more precisely, this remotely-operated unmanned miniature helicopter.

Seen and admired at AgriTech exhibition in May.
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Palmach, Parabellum, and pacem

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For ABC Wednesday, P is for Palmach, Parabellum, and peace.
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The Palmach Cave is a heritage site (and active tourist site) in Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek in the Jezreel Valley.

This cave became the training place for the Palmach's special units, for example, the German Unit.

Established in 1941, the Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine.
By the outbreak of the War for Independence in 1948 it consisted of over 2,000 men and women in three fighting brigades and auxiliary aerial, naval and intelligence units.

The display shows some of their various weapons.
Unfortunately there were not enough, and not every Palmachnik went into battle with a gun.

An old Pistol Parabellum is on the wall.

The pistol's name comes from the old Latin adage Si vis pacem, para bellum , meaning "If you wish for peace, be always ready for war."

As Wikipedia says, "this is usually interpreted as meaning peace through strength—a strong society being less likely to be attacked by enemies."
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Lights off, candles on

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Happy Earth Day!

Here in Israel 22 municipalities are right now turning off the lights for an hour, from 20.00 to 21.00, as a way to promote Earth Day thinking.

See how some of our IDF soldiers are contributing to a better environment:

http://www.idfblog.com/2012/04/22/birds-prey-idf-soldiers-paint-homes-barn-owls-kestrels/

The post has a photo of adorable baby owls!
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Weekend Reflection friends, please double click on the photo to better catch the reflections.
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Arms

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ABC Wednesday is in its fifth year, an amazing accomplishment for A-Day.
Adding to the group effort, I hereby add ARMY MEN and their ARMS.

Thinking to eat my granola bar in the normally empty little garden adjacent to the Tower of David, I entered and was amazed to see some soldiers there!

And their arms were in piles. Automatic rifles everywhere.

Their backpacks were assembled just outside the Old City wall, next to the Jaffa Gate, with one soldier guarding them.
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In guided tours, IDF soldiers are taught about Jerusalem, Israel, and all the heritage as part of their training.
But the young men and women certainly don't want to schlepp their pekelach all over the Old City.
And the churches and museums do not allow weapons inside.
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But I have never seen such an "arsenal" as was assembled there in the garden a few weeks ago!
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An army travels on its stomach

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And while we are on the subject of soofganiot/jelly donuts, take a look at the (approximate) statistics on how many of them soldiers ate this week of Chanuka!
And that is only at their bases, not at home.

And while you are at the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's blog, you can cast your vote for their Photo of the Year.
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I just hope our soldiers will not feel too heavy to move after eating 385,000 soofganiot.
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Girl soldiers on a safety island

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Good girls, go in peace!

(For G Day at ABC Wednesday.)

Seen today clustered on a traffic island at the busy Jerusalem intersection of Agron and King David Streets--green (as in, new) recruits, going on a tour of the capital as part of their compulsory army service.
Enlarge the photo and see that the gun of their sergeant leader is about half as tall as she is.
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That 5-star hotel is the David Citadel.
The Citadel/Tower of David in the Old City is visible just a few blocks to the east.
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These 18-year-olds look so young to be defending this country, no?
God be with them!
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A Heart for Peace

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Right after posting about Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo yesterday I came across a heart-warming IDF post (see their video here).
I learned that just a few weeks ago a group of Palestinian children from the West Bank along with their parents had a field day at the Zoo.
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Their trip was organized by the army's Civil Administration unit and Hadassah Hospital.
Most of the kids had undergone heart surgery at Hadassah.
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Since 2005 there is a way for these families to get the help they need: Hadassah pays half the cost of the operation and a French NGO, the other half.
Un coeur pour la paix / A Heart for Peace has a nice little video about how it works.
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