Ori Shahak: Yom Kippur War Veteran, POW and Hero

Ori reunited with his family after 8 months in captivity

By: Amichai Farkas

In 1973, on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar – Yom Kippur – Israel found itself under attack. Both the Egyptian and Syrian armies had encroached on Israel’s borders simultaneously, and within the first few hours of the Yom Kippur War, enemies were making headway on Israel’s northern and southern borders.

On the second day of war, Israeli Air Force Pilot Ori Shahak flew a Phantom fighter jet over Syrian territory. “I had just hit my intended target and was heading back towards Israeli soil,” Ori recalls, “when an Israeli jet was hit with a SAM missile just a few hundred yards ahead of my field of vision,” Within seconds Ori saw the jet’s  pilot parachute out.

A Second Attack

Instead of continuing toward safe land, Ori’s courage and compassion for his fellow soldier sprang into action. He circled the skies in an attempt to locate the fallen pilot’s position. “I hoped to call in a rescue team as soon as I could identify where the pilot had landed.” Ori explained. “Yet, as I turned my attention toward finding the pilot’s position, the Syrians managed to get a hit on my plane, which blew out one of its engines.”

Ori quickly shut down the damaged engine and planned to get back home with only the jet’s second engine, when, all of a sudden, he heard his co-pilot scream, “Fire on board!” Those words still ring in his mind today.

Yalla – Out!” Ori yelled back as he slammed his hand as hard as he could on the eject button. He and his co-pilot parachuted through the Syrian skies for what felt like an eternity, but was in fact only a few minutes.

With a shaky voice, Ori described what transpired after his jet took the hit. “As we parachuted over enemy territory I could hear the Syrian gunfire coming toward us – time stood still, and then we hit ground,” he recalls. Read More »    Comments (0) »


Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 at 3:07 PM  | Amichai Farkas

Israel not invited to Chicago NATO summit

On May 20th and 21st  Chicago will host NATO’s 2012 international community summit. It turns out that not all of NATO’s partnering communities are welcome, however, as Israel has been excluded form the invite list.

From the Washington Free Beacon:

NATO officials stated that representatives of the Jewish state were not asked to attend because Israel does not partake in primary NATO missions.

Other reports, however, suggest Israel was not invited because of objections by NATO member Turkey, which has thoroughly chilled its once-warm relations with the Jewish state. (more…)

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Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 at 10:58 AM  | Stand for Israel

Israel celebrates Yom Yerushalayim this Sunday

The Western Wall on Jerusalem Day in 2009 (Photo: Flickr/ RonAlmog)

Photo: Flickr/ RonAlmog

This week Isreal prepares for Yom Yerushalayim, or Jerusalem Day. Jerusalem Day commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem with Israel following the Six-Day War of 1948. The day will be marked with memorial services, ceremonies, parades and prayers.

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Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 at 4:15 PM  | Stand for Israel

Another view of Nakba Day

Yemenite Jews on their way to Israel

As Palestinians lament what they call the “catastrophe” of the formation of the state of Israel, Matti Friedman, writing in the Times of Israel, calls attention to another aspect of the history of the modern Jewish state that is never mentioned by Israel’s critics:

As I have reported this nearly invisible story [of Jews who fled or were expelled from Arab lands], it has occured to me that we often hate most the things or people that remind us of something we dislike about ourselves, and that here lies one of the hidden dynamics of the Israel-Arab conflict. It is one papered over by the simple narrative of Nakba Day, which posits that a foreign implant displaced a native community in 1948 and that the Palestinian Arabs are paying the price for the European Holocaust. This narrative, chiefly designed to appeal to Western guilt, also conveniently erases the uncomfortable truth that half of Israel’s Jews are there not because of the Nazis but because of the Arabs themselves.

It’s a great, thought-provoking article. Take some time to read it in full.

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Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 at 1:30 PM  | Stand for Israel

“Nakba Day” violence in Israel, yet again

Palestinian fires sling shot in Isawiya on "Nakba Day" (Photo: Marc Israel Sellem).

While yesterday marked the 64th anniversary (on the Gregorian calendar, at least) of the signing of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, today Israel is defending itself against violent rallies, firebombs, and other attacks from Palestinians marking “Nakba Day.” On this day, Palestinians remember what they call the “catastrophe” of the founding of the state of Israel:

JPost reports on the Palestinian protests:

Palestinians threw stones at Israeli civilians and IDF forces in the West Bank [and elsewhere] and security forces responded with crowd dispersal means at events marking the Palestinian “Nakba Day” in a number of locations. Events marking Nakba Day included a series of demonstrations and rallies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as a number of neighboring Arab countries.

Sadly, violence has been a regular feature of “Nakba Day” in years past, and undoubtedly will be in the years to come.

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Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 at 10:39 AM  | Stand for Israel
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