Israel's Future War Outlook

Nadene Goldfoot
Israel does not think war will erupt this year, but unless the Moshiach comes before 2017, thinks it could happen by then.  With the ability of the Palestinians to procure arms, they are looking at a prospect of 15,000 rockets and missiles in a war with Iran-backed Hezbollah and Syria, and those are not all home-made short ranged rockets that Ron Paul scoffs at. 

Meanwhile, Israel is suffering under the same economics as the USA and has also had to cut its defense budget for 2012.  They had had social protests regarding the need for housing, so their defense plans for 2012-2017 needed alterations and cuts.

If this horrible possibility comes about, it will cause much devastation and many casualites.  They figure that 5,500 rockets will have a long range over 70 km or at the minimum, 43.50 miles.  Israel is only 290 miles long (470 km) and at the widest width is only 85 miles (135 km).  It has had a waistline of only about 6 miles in width, and the joke was that if you poked your head out of the train window it would be in Judea. 

The weaponry of the Arabs is increasing in every way.  Syria, Hezbollah and Iran will have close to 1,000 rockets with accuracy in their aim.  However, they have never been interested in who they kill; they just hope to do so to a civilian district.  Already Hezbollah has an arsenal of about 4,000 Russian-made anti-tank missiles with 11,500 in Syria and hundreds in Gaza.  People like Ron Paul and his group just think they lob over some hand-made weak rocket and that Israel has no reason to have the USA as a friend.

With the cut in defense spending, this may mean that Israel cannot get more Iron Dome batteries for protection from short-range missiles on the borders or David's sling to combat medium-range rockets and Arrow 2 and 3 for long-range ballistic missiles. 

Israel's defense budget makes up 14% of the state's annual budget.  In 1992 it was 24%. 

In 2010 the USA was the #1 spender of defense of $687,105,000,000 which was 4.7% of their GDP.  .  Iran's website announced that they are cutting out $450 billion this year.  Israel was listed as the 18th high spender with $13,001,000,000 which was 6.3% of their GDP, and that was much higher than other countries. 

Of course Israel lives under the threat of an atomic rocket shot from Iran as they have stepped up their nuclear goals way over the top needed for medical needs.  Everyone is aware of this, but they continue the farce of saying that they're not going to make such things. 

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has had close relations with the USA since 1967 and have had cooperation in development of defense.  They have united on the F-151 jet, THEL laser defense system and the Arrow missile defense system. 

Ehud Barak, former 10th Prime Minister and now Minister of Defense in Israel, who is facing his 70th birthday in February,  just says good things about the relationship with Obama.  Ehud, a true politician, always sees the glass being half-full.  He was formerly a member of the Labor Party and has recently created a new one called Independence.  Netanyahu, the Prime Minister today, who will be 63, is a Likud Party member.  In Israel the politicians find they have to work with opposing members of other parties and do so far more than they do in the USA of late.  Sadly, the only people they simply cannot sit down and talk with have been the Palestinians who refuse to do so. 

Israel has 14 political parties that fill the 120 seats in the Knesset.  This includes some Arab parties as well.  For a little tiny state smaller than a Texas ranch and only about 7 million people, that's a lot to wade through.  We can hardly stand a 2 party system, but then we don't form coalitions.  Israelis have to work together when it comes to life and death situations regarding defense. 

Reference: http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=252034#
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/Israel+in+Brief/ISRAEL+IN+BRIEF.htm?DisplayMode=print
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Defense_Forces
http://www.jewishjournal.com/nation/article/israels_barak_boosts_obama_amid_us_threats_on_iran_2011122
http://www.chacha.com/question/what-is-the-name-of-ehud-barak%27s-new-party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Netanyahu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Israel

The Seven Ghosts That Have Protected Safed

                      A katusha rocket fired from the Golan Heights by Syria  hit this kibbutz school and destroyed the kindergarten.  This is the first picture of the Yom Kippur War showing Nathan Fendrich of Eugene, Oregon with a child looking at the damage. 

Nadene Goldfoot
 I lived in Safed, Israel  from 1981 to the very end of 1985 and taught English at the local jr. high.  The Lebanese border is only 14 kilometers  or 8 miles away as a bird flies.  Kiriat Shimona lies the closest to Lebanon and has the department store that I loved which reminded me a little of Meier & Franks.  We drove up there occasionally and also visited the "Good Neighbor gate."

The terrorists periodically had fired Russian katusha rockets from Lebanon.  They almost always would fall short and explode in the wadi.  One time there was a direct hit on an abandoned warehouse, and another time one hit an electric pole.  As I was driving up to Safed for the first time, I learned that a katusha rocket had fallen just two weeks before behind one of the apartment buildings we had just passed by.  It was then I realized that I was in dangerous territory. 

During the Yom Kippur War from October 6th  to 25th in 1973, the katushas  landed a direct hit on the fuel pumps in the central bus station on the 2nd day of the war.  There was no fire, no gas tank explosion and the pumps remained workable.  The rocket had entered the air shaft in the only unoccupied apartment house in the block of 10 new buildings.  It damaged 2 apartments but nobody was injured. 

The legend is that the 7 sons of Hannah, who were killed by the Greeks at the beginning of the revolt of the Maccabees slow down the rockets so they fall into the wadi without causing any damage.  They are buried with their mother on the side of the hill over which the katushas pass. 

In 167-166 BCE The 7 sons of Hannah refused to commit idolatry when ordered by Antiochus Epiphanes to eat pork.  This was the time of the Macabees who rebelled at the time this happened.  Because they refused, they were terribly tortured and then executed.  Hannah had a chance to save her youngest son but didn't, and then died after he was executed. What they died for was the preservation of Judaism.  This story has become a favorite of Christians as well, who have built shrines in many parts of the world in their memory and that of their mother, who they called Salome, but Hannah in Hebrew.

Living in Safed, I was so grateful for having these wonderful 7 sons and their mother protecting us.  I knew they would stop any bombs coming our way.    The cemetery in Safed dates back 2,000 years.  A very old book with a map in it of the ancient burial ground was found in 1945.  The site had been covered over by rubble from an earthquake.  The Ari, Caro, Alkabetz and others are also buried there.  Who could not be protected with such souls in our cemetery? 

We remember the Maccabee revolt with our holiday of Chanukah. 

Resource: Legends of Safed by Dov Silverman page 73
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War
Jewish Encyclopedia p. 615
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0008_0_08365.html