Free Republic

I’m on the El-Al flight to Boston, just taking off from Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv. Here’s my last situation report, and a reminder that you can do this too! Previous Postings: Week 1 was building 328 new bunk beds in new barracks on an IDF combat training base. Week 2 was building 44,000 lunch meals for troops in Gaza, one of whom I bought drinks in a bar, and had eaten lunches we packed. Week 3 was making 3 meals a day for the Navy in the Eilat heat. Now for a wrap up of the last weekend, afterthoughts...

I'm at Seatac Airport (SEA) at the gate for my 10:00 A.M. flight LY9468 through Newark to Tel Aviv. I'm volunteering for the IDF through their organization "Sar-El". Usually, volunteers do warehousing work on base, live in the barracks, and eat with the soldiers. I believe in transmogrification. For three weeks, I'm freeing up an 18-year-old Israeli kid with an M16 to go into Gaza and kill ham ass. I'm 62 and fit, and I can do the warehousing work that a soldier would otherwise have to do, and they can go to the front. Through the magic of transmogrification,...

Finance Ministry sees 11% unemployment by year-end Unemployment will fall only in 2005. The ministry sharply criticized the Bank of Israel's interest rate policy. Zeev Klein 29 Oct 03 16:08Unemployment will reach 11% of the civilian labor force by the end of 2003, amounting to 286,000 people, states a macroeconomic forecast published by Ministry of Finance chief economist Dr. Michael Sarel today. The unemployment rate is currently 10.6%, or 265,000 people. Sarel emphasized that no decline in unemployment was expected in 2004, and unemployment would begin to fall only in 2005. He said a fall in unemployment depended on scrupulously...

Yom Kippur War Volunteers - 30 Years On As I write the diary below, the first time retracing steps taken thirty years ago in Israel in October 1973, memories begin to pour back along with the anxiety and tears that we all experienced at the time. For many of us, the scars of war will never heal. Nor should they. - Joel Leyden Due in part to faulty intelligence and arrogance, Israel was unprepared for a Syrian / Egyptian surprise attack. The Yom Kippur War took the lives of 2,688 Israeli troops. Jerusalem---October 2003...Sitting in the relative safety of a...