Introduction

GRANDMA’S ARMY


I wanted to join the Israeli army but was turned away, which might be because of my age although I would make up for it in willingness. I will always regret the fact that when I emigrated to Israel I had my chance and didn’t take it. So I did the next best thing and  got married instead, and am now the proud (and anxious) grandmother of  four grandchildren who are in the army at the same time, and another three will be joining them in less than a year (they are triplets), making  seven altogether. I don’t know whether having seven grandchildren in the army/airforce at the same time would constitute a Guiness book record, but it is certainly unusual.

There have always been armies and it seems always will be (unfortunately), but the IDF (Israel Defense Force) is different from any other. There has never been such a humane and moral army in the history of the world. I am willing to challenge anyone who cares to contradict this. But the most crucial difference is the fact that Israel has to fight for its very existence. No other options are available. To give some idea of what Israel is up against: 

Israel is so tiny it is smaller than New Jersey and can fit into the state of California 19 times! It is 9 miles wide at its narrowest point and 290 miles long.

There are 49 Islamic countries, and only 1 Jewish country.

The Islamic countries comprise 1.6 billion people, compared to 14 million Jews worldwide.
Israel comprise  6+ million Jews and is surrounded by four hostile Arab states with approximately 1.2 billion Moslems. 

When Israel left Gaza, Hamas was elected the new governing party. The founding document of Hamas calls for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews. As long as this remains the guiding document for Hamas or the Palestinian leadership, the dream of peace remains impossible.

The Arab countries have enormous financial resources. Israel, which has been in existence only 69 years and started out with nothing, has to rely solely on its human resources. In this small time span,  Israel has made countless contributions to the world in technology, medicine, agriculture, etc . The Moslems have provided the world with oil and terrorism.


Comments

  1. Leonie Weiss27 June 2017 at 06:32

    Kol hakavod, Gloria. You did a wonderful piece of writing for your first blog - informative, funny and true. Keep it up. Spread the word. I am proud of you

    ReplyDelete

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