8 Miraculous Moments in IDF History

A miraculous moment is one that takes your breath away! A moment that is so remarkable that it becomes part of our collective memory and has an impact on our lives. Our history is filled with such moments and we have gathered eight examples that changed the face of the IDF.

War of Independence, 1949

Towards the end of the War of Independence, IDF forces embarked on a mission and successfully captured the city of Eilat, Israel’s most southern point. When they realized that they did not have a flag at hand, the soldiers decided to improvise. A makeshift flag was created from a white sheet with two ink strips drawn on it, and a Star of David taken from a first-aid kit. This miraculous moment became an Israeli symbol of independence and bravery.

Six Day War, 1967

On the third day of the Six Day War, the soldiers of the 55th Paratroopers Brigade arrived at the Western Wall after battling the Jordanian forces that had controlled the Old City of Jerusalem. This photograph was taken only 15 minutes after they reached the wall, documenting one of our nation’s most significant and miraculous moments – the return to the Western Wall.

Yom Kippur War, 1973

When it was first proposed, the idea of transporting tanks across the Suez Canal on a floating bridge seemed impossible, but this miraculous idea proved to be genius. On October 17, 1973, a number of IDF Armored Brigades crossed the canal, and later on encircled the Egyptian Third Army. This is considered one of the greatest military achievements of the war and eventually led us to victory in the Sinai Peninsula.

Operation Entebbe, 1976

On June 27, 1976, four terrorists hijacked an Air France plane that had taken off from Tel Aviv and was headed for Paris. The flight was diverted to Entebbe, Uganda, where Jewish and Israeli passengers were held hostage at the airport. After a week of preparations, IDF commando forces, pilots and medics embarked on one of our most ambitious rescue missions to date. They managed to surprise the terrorists and rescue 103 hostages. The return of the hostages to Israel to be embraced by their loved ones was a miraculous moment that Israelis will never forget.

Se more: 8 Miraculous Moments in IDF History

IMAGINE – The Israeli version

music: John Lennon

Postcard from Israel: Israel’s desert kibbutzim

Think it’s too hot and dry to get much done in the desert? Wait till you see the beautiful and delicious innovations of Israel’s southern kibbutzim.

Abundant agriculture, eco-design, woodworking, culinary arts, winemaking, dairy farming and metalworking are among the many vibrant pursuits happening in the desert kibbutzim of Israel.

Click on the video above to see the innovations kibbutz members are creating every day in southern kibbutzim such as Neot Semadar, Ketura and Lotan.

Obama’s Emotional Goodbye to Elie Wiesel

Courtesy of israelnn.com

“Elie was not just the world’s most prominent Holocaust survivor, he was a living memorial.”

Wiesel, said Obama in a statement, “was one of the great moral voices of our time, and in many ways, the conscience of the world. Tonight, Michelle and I join people across the United States, Israel and around the globe in mourning the loss and celebrating the life of a truly remarkable human being.”

“Like millions of admirers, I first came to know Elie through his account of the horror he endured during the Holocaust simply because he was Jewish. But I was also honored and deeply humbled to call him a dear friend. I’m especially grateful for all the moments we shared and our talks together, which ranged from the meaning of friendship to our shared commitment to the State of Israel,” said Obama.

“Elie was not just the world’s most prominent Holocaust survivor, he was a living memorial. After we walked together among the barbed wire and guard towers of Buchenwald where he was held as a teenager and where his father perished, Elie spoke words I’ve never forgotten — ‘Memory has become a sacred duty of all people of goodwill.’ Upholding that sacred duty was the purpose of Elie’s life. Along with his beloved wife Marion and the foundation that bears his name, he raised his voice, not just against anti-Semitism, but against hatred, bigotry and intolerance in all its forms. He implored each of us, as nations and as human beings, to do the same, to see ourselves in each other and to make real that pledge of “never again.”

“At the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that he helped create, you can see his words – ‘for the dead and the living, we must bear witness.’ But Elie did more than just bear witness, he acted. As a writer, a speaker, an activist, and a thinker, he was one of those people who changed the world more as a citizen of the world than those who hold office or traditional positions of power. His life, and the power of his example, urges us to be better. In the face of evil, we must summon our capacity for good. In the face of hate, we must love. In the face of cruelty, we must live with empathy and compassion. We must never be bystanders to injustice or indifferent to suffering. Just imagine the peace and justice that would be possible in our world if we all lived a little more like Elie Wiesel,” said Obama.

“At the end of our visit to Buchenwald, Elie said that after all that he and the other survivors had endured, ‘we had the right to give up on humanity.’ But he said, ‘we rejected that possibility … we said, no, we must continue believing in a future.’

“Tonight, we give thanks that Elie never gave up on humanity and on the progress that is possible when we treat one another with dignity and respect. Our thoughts are with Marion, their son Shlomo Elisha, his stepdaughter Jennifer and his grandchildren whom we thank for sharing Elie with the world. May God bless the memory of Elie Wiesel, and may his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life,” concluded the president.

Israel’s presidents – past and present – also paid tribute to Wiesel earlier on Saturday.

President Reuven Rivlin spoke of his immense sadness over Wiesel’s death, who he dubbed “a giant of humanity.”

“Tonight we bid farewell to a hero of the Jewish People, and a giant of all humanity,” Rivlin said. “Elie Wiesel, of blessed memory, embodied the determination of the human spirit to overcome the darkest of evils, and survive against all the odds.

“His life was dedicated to the fight against all hatred, and for the sake of man as created in the image of God – he was a guide for us all.

“One of the Jewish people’s greatest sons, who touched the hearts of so many, and helped us to believe in forgiveness, in life, and in the eternal bond of the Jewish people. May his memory be a blessing, everlastingly engraved in the heart of the nation.”

Former Israeli President Shimon Peres – who in 2013 awarded Wiesel the Presidential Medal – similarly mourned the passing of a “larger than life individual.”

United with Israel

Israeli Court: Facebook Can be Charged in Israel for Privacy Violations

By: United with Israel Staff

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. (AP/Eric Risberg)

An Israeli court ruled on Tuesday that Facebook can be charged in Israel for violating the privacy of its users, even though the agreement between the social media website and its users states that the forum for such cases would be in California.

Israel Radio reported that the decision was announced following a request for a class action suit filed against Facebook by Ohad Ben Hamo for a sum of $400 million.

Ben Hamo argued that even though Facebook’s offices are in the United States and in Ireland, and its servers are not located in Israel, the website violates the privacy of its four million Israeli users by intercepting private messages sent by the users, and exploiting this information for advertising purposes