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May 08, 2008
Israel at 60

Paratroopers from various countries, some holding an American flag,
pose for a photo after a practice jump in Palmahim near Tel Aviv.
This from the IDF:
150 Foreign Paratroopers Arrive in Israel for its 60th Celebrations.
On Friday and Saturday 150 foreign paratroopers, representing various armies around the world, arrived in Israel. Amongst them, are paratroopers from the US, England, France, Spain, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Singapore, South Africa, Canada, Greece, Italy and Switzerland. The paratroopers arrived in Israel in order to take part in Israel's 60th celebrations and to salute the IDF.
The paratroopers will jump together at the IDF event on Israel Independence Day, May 8th, in which 120 paratroopers will parachute along the beaches of Ashkelon. A rehearsal for this jump will take place on May 5th, at Palmahim beach at 10:00-13:00.
On May 4th, the paratroopers will stay at the IDF Parachuting School. They will formally enter Tel-Nof base at 8:00, where, the senior foreign officers will meet the commander of the parachuting school, Colonel Dror Paltin, and IDF senior officers. Together, the paratroopers will train for the Independence Day event including practices jumps at sea. At 14:30 the Oketz unit will explain their capabilities to the foreign paratroopers. Later on, a ceremony will be held at the IDF Paratroopers Memorial. The ceremony will be military in nature, and the paratroopers will wear their uniforms. The Greek paratroopers will lay a laurels at the memorial. A Dutch paratrooper, Jesper Nels, the grandchild of Righteous Gentiles, will plant an olive tree next to the memorial. Nels will also meet the family of the man that was saved by his grandfather.
On Memorial Day for the fallen, the foreign paratroopers will participate in memorial ceremonies throughout the country including ceremonies in Ashkelon, Yad-Mordechay, Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem and the Latrun site.
In addition they will visit technological farms and will experience the latest technological advances in development of the Negev in Revivim and Sede-Boqer. They will also take part in a jeep tour in the desert. The paratroopers will visit Jerusalem and will follow in the footsteps of the Jerusalem brigade which fought in the Six Day War.
One of the participants, a paratrooper named Yoni, serving in the French Foreign Legion is named after Yoni Netanyahu, the renowned commander who was killed in the famous Entebbe operation. He will fulfill his dream and get the chance to wear the IDF's Paratrooper wings.Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Toronto Pearl
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at May 8, 2008 07:59 AM
Comments
Seraphic Secret is private property, that's right, it's an extension of our home, and as such, Karen and I have instituted two Seraphic Rules and we ask commentors to act respectfully.
1. No profanity.2. No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism. That's it. Break either of these rules and you will be banned.
Who has heard that in the 1930's Bagdad every 3rd citizen was a native Jew? The Sefardi (Safrati) Jews have a 400 year old history and the Mizrahi Jews over 2,500 year old history in the Middle East - outside the location of the state of Israel (Palestine).
Here's the statistics regarding not ONLY the expelsion of Jews from various Moslim countries in the last 60 years that Israel has been an independent state, but also numbers expelled from the Europe in a longer time interval. The Jews are no settlers of colonialism:
http://www.helsinki.fi/~pjojala/Expelled-Jews-statistics.htm
Statistics, not Zionism. 60 years of survival. When the military means have lacked the power, it is now a time of a media war to spit on the Jews and curse the Jewish Scriptures. Both the Old and New Testament were written by Jews. Although Jasser Arafat in his books claimed that there never was any Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and that Jesus was not a Jew, he could not deceive the honest spectator
As a matter of fact, the population of Arabs (my beloved friends and brothers, just like the Jews, our common fathers) under the Israeli government was increased ten-fold (10X) in only 57 years. This is close to the world record for any tribe, nation, tongue or culture on the whole planet at the same time interval. The Sefardi Jews were expelled from Spain in the very date when Christoffer Colombo lifted up his anchors and sailed away from Spain. The Jews had to leave and their possessions were stolen. In the case of the Mizrahi, the Jews have lived for millennia all around the Middle East since the first exile of Israel 500 B.C., in what are now Muslim-dominated countries. While much has been made of the 700,000 Palestinians having been made homeless with the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, it's peculiar that there is no official recognition of their Jewish counterparts. A greater number of Jews - some 856,000 - were forcefully expelled from Arab countries after the creation of the State of Israel, their homes forfeited, their belongings seized. They became refugees, migrating to Israel, mainly. But they did not spoke any Hebrew but Arabic and Farsi (Persian).
The Second Intifada is called the Oslo War. Israel has been forced to damage the very infrastructure she has constructed and administrated while hunting the weapons from the milittant "freedom fighters". Between 1967-1993 roads, system of siewers (gutters, ditches), electricity supply, water supply, schools, health care system, and social welfare system to the West Bank and Gaza. Even for the Arab citizens of Israel, ideal was that everyody gets the same salar for the same job, with the same social benefits. This is stated in the law, officially. In contrast, even the official law in Jordan which has the peace treaty with Israel, it is forbidden for a Jew to live in the country. The health care services have been free for the Arab population, only a portion of the price of the drugs must have been paid by the patients. Under the administrations of Great Britain (1920-1947) or Jordan (1948-1967), no universities were established for the Arabs in the country. According to The Association of Arab Universitiesin mukaan (http://www.aaru.edu.jo/), in contrast, under the Israeli administration altogether six universities appeared during the time (of course by the force of the local Arab people, though). Also, since 1969 an independent newspaper has appeared in Jerusalem, which has NEVER been put under a censorship.
The Palestinian life expectancy increased from 48 to 72 years in 1967-1995. The death rate decreased by over 2/3 in 1970-1090 and the Israeli medical campaigns decreased the child deat rate from a level of 60 per 1000 in 1968 to 15 per 1000 in 2000. (An analogous figure was 64 in Iraq, 40 in Egypt, 23 in Jordan, and 22 in Syria in 2000). During 1967-1988 the amount of comprehensive schoold and second level polytechnic institutes for the Arabs was increased by 35%. During 1970-1986 the proportion of Palestinian women at the West Bank and Gaza not having gone to school decreased from 67 % to 32 %. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in West Bank and Gaza increased in 1968-1991 BKT from 165 US dollars to 1715 dollars (compare with 1630$ in Turkey, 1440$ in Tunis, 1050$ in Jordan, 800$ in Syria, 600$ in Egypt. and 400$ in Yemen).
One-fourth of the judgements of the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations strike Israel. Out of the incidences dealt in the Security Counsil one-third is having to do with Israel. I think this resembles the hysteria seen in the Black Plague in Europe, when the European Jews were accused of the pandemia and burnt alive. (As an example, one the biggest Jewish populations in the continent was in Basel, Switzerland, and all the 4000 souls were burnt in one Rhein island.)
PLO was founded in 1964 - three years before the 6-day failed attack and occupation. The PLO articles openly state that it was not a project of the Palestinians but a project TO the Palestinians. They were commanded to literally sacrifice for them in the name of a greater war:
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/plocov.htm
Pauli.Ojala@gmail.com
Helsinki, Finland
Posted by: Pauli Ojala at May 17, 2008 08:13 AM
