That Decisive Qualitative Edge

So I am reading this book called “Israel’s Edge.”


It’s basically about their elite genius program, “Talpiot,” in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).  


Each year the program accepts only the top 50 out of 100,000 graduating high school students for a 9-year commitment. 


There are the mathematicians, physicists, and computer scientists that help give the IDF the cutting edge in military R&D and other innovations. 


These are the brain trust behind Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system and Trophy tank active protection system and many more both military and industrial advances. 


This program was born after the almost disastrous 1973 Yom Kippur War where Israel misjudged the intelligence and the advances in their enemies capability and almost lost the war. 


I like the philosophy of General Yitzhak Ben-Israel who understands the importance of challenging the status quo and looking differently at critical situations and avoiding confirmation bias:

My method is not to look for supporting evidence. I look for refuting evidence…you see one white swan, then a second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth. You still can’t conclude that all swans are white…nature builds us to be inductive, to make generalizations from past experience…this standard way of scientific thinking can be limiting and destructive.”

Instead we must be continuously curious, think outside the box, be creative, and innovate. 


Especially, where we don’t have a quantitative advantage like with Israel surrounded by many enemies, then we must rely on a very sharp qualitative edge. 😉


(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal) 

In Sderot: Bombs and Birthday Cake

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “In Sderot: Bombs and Birthday Cake.”

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and gave it to the Palestinians in a unilateral effort towards peace, but soon after terrorist group, Hamas, took control and has since been raining down missiles on the Israeli civilian population centers around it…Last night, as the missiles came towards Sderot and the Israeli sirens wailed for the people to seek shelter–they have only 15 seconds–the beautiful youth in Noaa’s birthday party ran towards the safe room. What was incredible with these youth, was that rather than stop the celebration and hide in fear and suffering from the missile attacks, instead they courageously continued the party and sang with great strength in Hebrew, Happy Birthday to Noaa!


Let us all learn from these amazing young people of Sderot to have birthday cake in the face of bombs and to celebrate life in the face of death, and let Mashiach soon come and bring us peace in the Promised Land.

(Credit Photo: Miriam Sasy)

Israel’s Near Pearl Harbor

Terror Tunnels
I wanted to share this analysis of the recent threat to Israel from Matti Follman. 


While perhaps not a true existential threat to the country, the death and destruction that Hamas could’ve inflicted via the terror tunnels and missiles at their own time and choosing could have been a Pearl Harbor or 9/11 event (or worse) for the State of Israel. 


Rather, than the United Nations Human Rights Council members and others decrying Israel’s self-defense while protecting civilians (in spite of Hamas blatantly using them as human shields), they should be applauding Israel’s true morality! 


But anti-semites and hate mongers, don’t savor Israel’s safety, security, or continuity as a Jewish and democratic state, they just seek an excuse, like Hitler, to attack whether by tunnels, missiles, boycotts, or resolutions to discriminate and obliterate those that they perceive as historically inconvenient and whom they simply want dead.

________________________________

Provided by Matti Follman

Analysis of the Situation: The State of Israel was facing an existential threat for the first time since the War of Independence. By their deaths, the three youths saved the State of Israel.

The dozens of tunnels that had been dug from Gaza to the southern cities of Israel were not tunnels for the purpose of terrorism – they were the infrastructure for the occupation of the Land of Israel. If we had not surprised ourselves with the severe response to the kidnap and murder of these boys (of blessed memory), Hamas, at a time that would suit them, would have sent thousands of soldiers through the tunnels to occupy cities and military posts; thousands of soldiers wearing the uniform of IDF soldiers, to kill, to conquer and to kidnap, and the IDF would have had no time to organize, and protect the nation. At the same time, Hamas would have fired off barrages of hundreds and thousands of missiles at the center of the country, paralyzing Israel’s organizational ability to defend itself against invasion. What were they waiting for? Maybe a rainy day? Or, most likely, the recovery of Hezbollah, in order to coordinate an integrated attack of missiles from the north. . . and possibly tunnels dug towards the northern cities too. . .

In Israel, in such a situation, there could be tens of thousands of deaths, the complete breakdown of national systems, and the need to build protection at the neighborhood and street levels. This, on the presumption  that the Arabs of Judea & Samaria, and some Israeli Arabs, would not join in the fray. Of course, IAF counter-attacks would be futile when the enemy was well entrenched underground and laughing all the way to Jerusalem! The best case scenario – international forces would come in to disarm the country, take our nuclear capabilities, and the dream of the Jewish State would crumble for another thousand years.

We were saved thanks to two things they did not believe would happen, because we also did not believe it: we did not believe that the abduction of the three boys would unite the nation in such a way that it would lead to massive air assault, the return of political prisoners to jail, and preparation for a ground offensive into the wasps’ nest they had built. And we had not believed that the Iron Dome would work. In other words – all of us, those to the right and those to the left, had disdained the Islamic-psychopathic rhetoric calling for the conquest of Jerusalem, had ignored the determination of the psychopaths in Iraq and Syria, and did not want to comprehend that they had built a smart, strong and – in fact – quite an excellent military system with almost no flaws, which was capable of crushing the State of Israel. We had all seen how ten fighting men had exited a tunnel in just a few minutes. What would have prevented two hundred soldiers from exiting a tunnel on any given day, and many thousands altogether from all of the tunnels – including hundreds of commandos landing on the beaches at the same time, and missiles landing in the heart of the country? The truth is that if, now, there were not tens of thousands of Israeli troops in the south, nothing could have prevented the next step in realizing the Islamic dream – the destruction of the Zionist nation, and marching into Jerusalem.

Eyal, Naftali and Gilad – by dying, they saved our country, our freedom and our lives.


Danny Gold – who developed the Iron Dome – may you live a long and healthy life.

And to all of the soldiers – we love you and embrace you. Muster courage and be brave! All the Jewish people, the whole world – and most of all, many of the Arab countries and the sane Muslims – are praying for the craziness to be overcome. Yes, even Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). Thanks to those poor boys, we caught them with their pants down, when the timing and the conditions don’t suit them. Our State has survived and now is the time to settle accounts with the murderers, to the very last man.

And a word to citizens on the home front – when you hear the sirens, go into the shelter or your safe room and smile! When you hear the “boom” – laugh!  These noises are the screams of frustration of the psychopaths in Gaza, whose ingenious plan to crush Israel was prematurely exposed. All of the damage that we are suffering now is nothing compared to what they had been planning.


(Source Photo: here with attribution to the IDF)

G-d Changes Path Of Rockets

G-d Changes Path of Rockets
From the Jewish Telegraph.



I have to say this one terrorist was pretty smart. 



Despite his blind hatred of Jews and desire to obliterate Israel, at least he knows why the Hamas and Islamic Jihad rockets are not hitting their targets.



“Their G-d changes the path of our rockets in mid-air.”



Yes, technology may help intercept missiles heading for the populated cities.



But the chief engineer is none other than G-d almighty, the ultimate protector of the Children of Israel. 



Next up after Iron Dome is Iron Beam (by the same G-d inventor).



(Thank you Betty Monoker for sharing this with me.)

Rally For Israel For Self-Defense


This video is from the Rally For Israel for their Self-Defense in Washington, D.C. today at lunchtime. 



Israel is still trying for a cease-fire, but continues to be under a barrage of missiles from Gaza. 



Thanks to G-d, as well as the support of the United States, the Iron Dome Missile Interceptor is protecting the people of Israel from more than 1,300 indiscriminate missile attacks by terrorists–this is truly miraculous!



Even today, the United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza found 20 missiles hidden by Hamas in one of the U.N.’s schools in Gaza–sort of leaves you scratching your head as to what type of schooling these children are unfortunately getting?



The multiple ceasefires by Israel, warning residents before taking military action, and even fixing the electricity to Gaza that Hamas knocked out with a missile they were aiming at Israel–is a wonderful testament to the humanity of the IDF. 



Interestingly enough, at the rally, there were a handful of antagonizers with megaphones behind the stage and podium trying to interrupt the lineup of ambassadors, congressmen/women, and other speakers for Israel’s right to self-defense–sort of telling that they wouldn’t even respect other people’s right to assemble and speak. 



The trillion dollar questions is how you get to peace and security under these circumstances?



(Source Video: Andy Blumenthal)