WITH rockets flying overhead, I spent one day traveling the South of Israel meeting organic farmers, kibbutzniks living at the border of Israel and Gaza, residents of Sderot, the MDA (Israels Red Cross) of Ashdod and an IDF representative. Never before have I felt more inspired and proud to be Jewish. Never before have the amcha of Israel the people who make up the fabric of this society touched me so deeply.
This week, I will share a glimpse into only just one of those meetings. It lasted all of 10 or 15 minutes.
This summers war, Operation Protective Edge, got off to a controversial and tense start. I am not referring to a political atmosphere, rather to a journalistic one. At the beginning of the war Gideon Levy of Haaretz, in very poor judgment, penned a distasteful column, encouraging (in a time of war, no less, when soldiers were putting themselves in harms way in service of their country) the Israel Air Force (IAF) to disobey military orders and not bomb Gaza.
Levy was slain in the media. Haaretz, even from its leftist readership, lost thousands of subscriptions and puts its economic viability in doubt. (In fact, by invitation only, in an effort to regain those subscribers, next week Haaretz is hosting a day of discussion to explain itself).
It is with this brouhaha in the back of my mind that I went into a meeting with General Israel Relik Shafir, the IAF spokesperson in times of emergency. When I write meeting, it was nothing formal. Quite the contrary. We met in the middle of the desert off a highway somewhere, intentionally in an undisclosed location, high noon, with the Middle East Sun beating down on us all.
Joining a small group organized by Chanan Elias of Face of Israel and Noam Bedein of Sderot Media Center, I attended with Council of Jewish Organizations (COJO) of the Upper West Side of Manhattans leaders, President Rabbi Abraham Marmorstein and Chairman Moshe Mikey Landau.
I STEP off the van into the boiling hot sun. We are at an Iron Dome, hence the secret location. Relik is tall, a commanding presence, belying a humble, low-key personality. All I know is that we are meeting someone who will explain a bit about the Iron Dome.
He begins speaking. Fluent English. Not just fluent, but sophisticated. The two rabbis representing Manhattan are immediately identified by their accent as British. Jokes ensue with Relik about the two New Yorkers being British. A stones throw away, Reliks grandson keeps busy in an open windowed car. Its all accents and jokes for a minute Relik is is a mix of Scottish-Canadian before he begins speaking, first telling us a bit about himself, then about Iron Dome and Israeli pilots:
Today, I am a farmer. I farm dates and olives in the valley. I am serving in the IAF in the capacity of reserves. I have been flying since I joined the IDF and will fly until they dont want me anymore (he says drily). I am still flying now. My parents were European immigrants. I was born in 1953. My father came from Vilna in 1935. My mother, from Romania.
WHEN talking about the Iron Dome, we need to put ourselves in the position of firing rockets from Gaza. In 34 seconds the radar picks up the trajectory and angle, the elevation and acceleration of the rocket. And the type of rocket. There are different types of missiles.
For example, there is a ballistic missile, its energy stops after seven seconds (those are often shot at communities in closer proximity to Gaza. The rocket has to hit a certain height, a certain angle, before it can be intercepted. Therefore, as the communities bordering Gaza are so close there is no Iron Dome.
So depending on the missile, Iron Dome computes hitting the missile in a way that debris will fall in an unpopulated area. It is all done by remote control. It is all automatic.
There is a command system in an urban location, where all the data of all Iron Dome locations, is seen on the screen. You dont need to be at the Iron Dome to operate it. You just need someone there to replenish the canisters. Each canister holds about 16 missiles. The radar system can electronically treat hundreds and hundreds of missiles simultaneously. It is all automated. There is no actual human intervention.
In 1991 Israel got a warning. Thirty nine missiles were shot at Israel by Saddam Hussein. We saw how many missiles Syria bought. We understand we have adversaries. We started developing layers of defense via Arrow missiles against scuds from outside the border of Israel. We began testing air-to-air missiles. Its one million dollars a shot.
Relik is going on about sapphire and metals and laboratories. A lot of sophisticated science is involved; he explains a lot of Israels defense in technical detail.
SOMEONE asks a question that prompts this from Relik:
The pilots flying over Gaza attack with precision, laser proximity. First comes the decision identifying of a target. Due to technology on board the pilot sees the target so clearly. The target is followed with the pilots eyes; TV cameras are superimposed on the screen, and the target zoom to 128 times the size. The pilot above Gaza sees it all as if he were right there.
Relik enunciates two directives.
The first directive is: Ha-ba lehorgechah hashkem lehorgo, whoever comes to kill you, you kill him first.
The second directive is: Kol hametzil nefesh achat, whoever saves one life . . .
We stress, we dont take innocent lives. We go to great lengths to honor this directive. As much as possible, not to put anyone in harms way. Trying to minimize doing damage. Make sure about it.
And it is all videotaped. Because once the target is on the spot, the pilot looks at the designated laser and the bomb goes in there, where the pilots eyes focused. Any time that there are uninvolved people in the area who are identified, the pilot can simply shift his gaze from the targeted location on the screen, changing or cancelling the attack.
We want to guard our culture and values of sanctifying life as much as we can, even when we go to war.
We came to this land, as I shared about my family from Russia and Romania, starting in the 1800s. We came to uphold out culture and value system, to cherish it and develop it.
Putting these attributes of our way of life in harms way is the most dangerous part of war. Actions of war need to be carried out with peace within oneself; that we are protecting the people of Ashdod, as well as the people of Gaza from Hamas.
Manson type. Fighting is the ability to save your kids (he quickly looks off to the car where his grandson is playing). This Iron Dome has saved more Palestinians than Israelis. If it were not for the Iron Dome, we would have had no choice but to raze Gaza.
Theyve made their decision. Civilian casualties. Ammunition depots. The heart still goes out, though, because these are people. This comes back to the Talmudic idea of what is justice? How do you treat the poor? How do you treat those less fortunate? Empathy is the teaching of the Talmud.
MY dear reader, there you have it. A few minutes with an IAF spokesperson who distills his approach into these few short paragraphs. Listen up, Gideon Levy.
Im not one to idolize people. But standing there in his flappy sun hat, all confident in the humblest of ways, I sensed I was in the presence of greatness. Of a true, towering leader of the Jewish people. All those IAF pilots? Here is the man speaking for them. I asked for a photo. And so now I have a photo of Relik and me standing at an Iron Dome station in the middle of nowhere.
Back in the van I asked the tour guide a couple of questions about him. It was clear to me I was in the presence of someone special. But the following answer still took me by surprise.
Oh yeah, Relik was selected as one of the eight pilots for the secret mission of destroying the nuclear reactor, Osirak, in Iraq in 1981. His wingman was Ilan Ramon. Relik later became the head of the IAF academy. He was the last pilot to drop the bomb on and actually saw the reactor blow up.
Relik is a historic figure who saved Israel on a historic flight mission.
Im glad I took that photo.
After all, I was in the presence of a legend.
Copyright © 2014 by the Intermountain Jewish News
