A Visit in Israel, Part I
The 20th JINSA Flag and General Officers Trip to Israel took place 21-29 April. Nine retired American Admirals and Generals traveled the country (and to Jordan) and met with the Israeli security establishment from the highest levels to soldiers in the field. They met with the Prime Minister and the King of Jordan. Their observations will be compiled into a report, but before that is available, we will be providing observations from the field. This first one is by David Steinmann, Chairman of JINSA’s Board of Advisors, on the day we traveled to Israel’s Central Command.
The 20th JINSA Flag and General Officers Trip to Israel took place 21-29 April. Nine retired American Admirals and Generals traveled the country (and to Jordan) and met with the Israeli security establishment from the highest levels to soldiers in the field. They met with the Prime Minister and the King of Jordan. Their observations will be compiled into a report, but before that is available, we will be providing observations from the field. This first one is by David Steinmann, Chairman of JINSA’s Board of Advisors, on the day we traveled to Israel’s Central Command.
We took off from an IDF airbase and circled Qalqilya, Tulkarm and Jenin, then flew along the Green Line between Israel proper and the Palestinians in the disputed territories to see how close to each other they are and to be reminded that a large majority of the West Bank is totally empty, with neither Palestinians nor Israelis living there. This needs to be made clear since the media often shows a small land crowded with people. In fact, when you do see towns and villages established by Israelis there, as often as not they are surrounded by empty land, neither competing with nor encroaching on Palestinian towns. We landed in a strategic area near the line where Kfar Saba (Israeli) and Tulkarm (Palestinian) are closely adjoined. We were briefed by and had lunch with troops of the Fire Arrows Brigade in their field encampment.
Like troops with whom we spent time everywhere from the Golan Heights to Gaza, these soldiers made it clear that they were grateful for our visit, that Israelis feel alone now because of the hypocrisy and anti-Semitism radiating from so much of the world, and that they appreciate America’s staunch friendship and support. We told them in turn that we are grateful to them for fighting our common fight and assured them that Americans know who their friends are.
Our view of Jenin showed what the media only now begun to show – a large town where the vast majority of the structures were undamaged, but with an area of great damage where the pitched battle took place, much of the damage from booby-trapped buildings blown up by Palestinian explosives set to detonate and kill Israelis who were going house to house searching for terrorists rather then simply bombing from the air, which would have caused much greater damage and loss of life. No massacre. Palestinian sources now report 56 dead including six civilians, but Israel gets little credit for its unprecedented caution and restraint under fire.
We had been told an operation had begun the evening before as a result of intelligence received about three terrorists preparing to launch attacks inside Israel. The IDF had captured two and was in hot pursuit of the third. All were caught. The IDF also knew a very large explosive attack was being readied in one of these Palestinian towns. Just as we lifted off to have another look at Qalqilya, half a dozen Apache attack helicopters were overhead, supporting an incursion in search of the explosive device.
We made our way back to the coast and then south to the air base from which we had launched that morning. Later we learned that a Palestinian car bomb planned to demolish the Azrieli Center in Tel Aviv – Israel’s equivalent of the World Trade Center – had been found and dismantled.