David
Since moving to Israel seven years ago, I have met many older Israelis who have generously shared their amazing stories of what it was like to live here in the early years of the Jewish state. All were witnesses to a chapter in history that must not be forgotten.
One of these people is a man named David, who I met a number of years ago in downtown Jerusalem. David was born to two Iraqi immigrants and grew up in a neighborhood adjacent to Jerusalem’s Old City, which was then under Jordanian rule.
The Jerusalem David grew up in was much different than modern Jerusalem. Back then, Jews could not enter the Old City to pray at the Western Wall, the streets were not bustling with tourists, and Jerusalem’s Jewish residents lived in constant fear of being the targets of Arab aggression.
David remembers what it was like when Jordan controlled the eastern parts of the city. “The sounds of war were all around us,” he told me. “When we heard gunfire we hid under our beds, and when we hear rounds of mortars we ran to the bomb shelter.”
David proudly recalled that his father served in an IDF combat unit which took part in numerous campaigns to protect the fledgling Jewish state. During the 1967 Six Day War, David’s father was sent to defend Israel’s northern border where his unit battled against the Syrian army. David, his mom, and two younger siblings took refuge in a bomb shelter located less than 100 yards from the Old City walls. They heard “load booms and automatic machine-gun-fire” as Israeli troops stormed the Old City and fought victoriously against the Jordanians.
David described the immense joy they felt when they heard that Jewish forces had regained control over the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, Judaism’s most sacred site. “Our ears were glued to the radio as the broadcaster wept into the microphone, ‘Our soldiers have made it to the Temple Mount.’”
In the six years that followed, David grew from a 13-year-old boy who had listened on the radio as his country fought for its life to a young soldier in an IDF artillery unit battling Syrian forces in the Yom Kippur War.
The Yom Kippur War, which took place in 1973, began with a surprise attack on Israel by multiple Arab armies. Israel was not fully prepared for what would ensue in the weeks that followed.
“It was Yom Kippur. I was praying by the Western Wall with thousands of other fellow worshipers,” David recalled. But, sometime during the midday prayers, the shrieking sounds of sirens silenced the multitude of voices praying in unison.
David described seeing “fighter jets flashing by above the Western Wall. We quickly ran back to our homes and huddled by our radios to wait for instructions.” Army units were called into action on the radio. As soon as David heard his unit’s code word he quickly headed out and went to Haifa, where he was joined by his fellow soldiers. David’s unit immediately went into action, and within hours of praying by the Western Wall David was on his way to a battle that would alter his life forever. “We took up position right behind an Israeli tank battalion, but within minutes, Syrian fighter jets decimated our entire fleet of tanks.”
David could hear nothing but the sounds of shells, gunfire, rockets, and the screams of wounded soldiers. “After so many years I can still smell the burning and hear screams. When the Israeli phantom planes dropped bombs on the Syrian frontline, I passed out.” In this heated battle, David suffered broken bones, and other wounds from which he has never fully recovered. To this day he suffers from migraines and post-traumatic syndrome.
I’ve gotten to know David over the years, and I have seen how his war injuries have taken a huge toll on his life. Despite this, he is full of gratitude and praise for God, and has a burning love for his country. When I first met David I had no idea that he would teach me, more than anyone else, what it means to love and to defend your land and your people.
Thank you, David.
What do you think?
10:03 pm
I THINK WE SHOULD ALL STAND UP FOR ISRAEL OR WE WILL HAVE TO ANSWER TO GOD… GOD IS WITH ISRAEL… I AM SAVED AND ADOPTED INTO GOD’S FAMILY… GOD’S WILL WILL BE DONE FOR AND TO ISRAEL….
7:07 pm
Thank you very much David for sharing. I love Israel and her people and very much their Living God! Israel’s God is alive and well, neither slumbers nor sleeps, His eyes are on His Own! Fear not Israel, you are special and a blessed people no matter what the world thinks!
6:06 pm
God Bless Israel! You are all within my Prayers.
So is David, who was mentioned in the article.. He is a True Hero!
3:30 pm
STAY STRONG WITH GOD IF YOU SEEK JESUS HE WILL BE FOUND PEOPLE -YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN TO ENTER HEAVEN AND HAVE ETERNAL LIFE-BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD . AND OBEY GOD AND JESUS AND KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS .
1:07 pm
This is the type of story that never, ever makes it into the mainstream news media. It illustrates perfectly the path that Israel and its people have traveled just to live in a Jewish state-and, like the Holocaust, should never be forgotten. May my own country, the USA, never turn its back on Israel!
12:29 pm
I have been praying for Israel daily and encourage all who read this to do so also. I have also asked God to put an invisible bubble above Israel that would bounce back the missiles, rocket launchers
1:01 am
god bless the people of israel, shalom
10:01 pm
STAND WITH ISRAEL,GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL!!
7:43 pm
The Sovereign God whose son, Jesus Christ watches over Israel and her people, a remnant that will remain throughout all time!
7:04 pm
I pray for the peace of Israel everyday. I am Christian and I love Israel.
6:01 pm
No one can put himself in another’s shoes long enough to understand his journey. But knowing how I feel about my country makes it understandable in my limited capacity as a female that has not gone to war but has male members that have done so in every generation of our family from the Revolutionary War and perhaps even before. As a family of God, we can support each other and care – just the simple act of caring, sometimes makes all the difference. Dear brother, David, I will ask God to heal you and comfort you. God’s blessings be with you as with Israel, wherever she is.
5:31 pm
That was very interesting. My thanks to you for putting it up, and to David for sharing it. And mostly my thanks to God that once again David slew Goliath! May God grant him favor, and grant Israel the faith to stand before the giants now gathering to destroy her. Shalom.
5:17 pm
My thoughts and prayers are with these people who have faught so hard for their country. It is theirs and God has promised it to them. He will continue to bless his people there if they keep their hearts and minds focused on him. God bless.