Yom Ha'atzmaut
What did we do for the celebration of the 60th anniverary of the State of Israel? On the eve of Yom Ha'atzmaut we went to a charity dinner held every year by "The Forgotten People's Fund" that is organized by a couple named Silverman from England. The money they collect goes towards helping Ethiopian immigrants to Israel, who often live in poverty. They organize barmitzvahs and academic training for Ethiopian youths, and so on. It is a very worthy cause. We enjoyed the evening which was held at a local restaurant on the cliff-top by the sea so that we got an excellent view of the fireworks that are put on by the municipality.
On the day of Yom Ha'aztmaut we walked along the cliff top going south from where we live, where they are developing a nice garden and walkways. We waited for the fly-over given by the IAF to celebrate the 60th anniversary. First came several flights of different kinds of helicopters, then some propeller jets and a large plane giving a re-fill to some smaller ones, and finally the type, but it was incredibly impressive and gave us a feeling of pride, given that our little country has one of the best air forces in the world that hopefully can protect us from those who intend to destroy us.
A series of aerial demonstrations took place off the shore of Tel Aviv, including frogmen jumping from helicopters and "mock" aerial combat. Some planes also wrote a big 60 in the sky in blue and white exhaust. On the TV we saw a video about the development of the IAF and this included a segment in English describing the aerial combat that took place during the Six-day war of 1967 and the Yom Kippur war of 1973. In that case, four Israeli jets followed two Egyptian jets into an ambush by 11 other Egyptian jets, and during the combat one Israeli pilot downed 5 of the Egyptian jets, and the rest of them escaped. However, the day of aerial dog-fights is probably over because of the speed and the predominance of the IAF.
The Sunday after the actual Independence day, the AACI had a "Felafel Party". We listened to comments sent in my members who had funny and typical experiences when mking aliyah to Israel over the years. Then we dined on felafel (sent over from the little falefel stand across the street) and then we watched an Israeli movie, "The Band" a bittersweet story of an Egyptian Band that gets lost in Israel, ending up in a small deserted village called Beit Tikvah instead of the city of Petach Tikvah. It was very nice, if a little sentimental and slow. Altogether a pleasant holiday.
On the day of Yom Ha'aztmaut we walked along the cliff top going south from where we live, where they are developing a nice garden and walkways. We waited for the fly-over given by the IAF to celebrate the 60th anniversary. First came several flights of different kinds of helicopters, then some propeller jets and a large plane giving a re-fill to some smaller ones, and finally the type, but it was incredibly impressive and gave us a feeling of pride, given that our little country has one of the best air forces in the world that hopefully can protect us from those who intend to destroy us.
A series of aerial demonstrations took place off the shore of Tel Aviv, including frogmen jumping from helicopters and "mock" aerial combat. Some planes also wrote a big 60 in the sky in blue and white exhaust. On the TV we saw a video about the development of the IAF and this included a segment in English describing the aerial combat that took place during the Six-day war of 1967 and the Yom Kippur war of 1973. In that case, four Israeli jets followed two Egyptian jets into an ambush by 11 other Egyptian jets, and during the combat one Israeli pilot downed 5 of the Egyptian jets, and the rest of them escaped. However, the day of aerial dog-fights is probably over because of the speed and the predominance of the IAF.
The Sunday after the actual Independence day, the AACI had a "Felafel Party". We listened to comments sent in my members who had funny and typical experiences when mking aliyah to Israel over the years. Then we dined on felafel (sent over from the little falefel stand across the street) and then we watched an Israeli movie, "The Band" a bittersweet story of an Egyptian Band that gets lost in Israel, ending up in a small deserted village called Beit Tikvah instead of the city of Petach Tikvah. It was very nice, if a little sentimental and slow. Altogether a pleasant holiday.
posted by Jack Cohen at 7:31 PM
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