Back from Israel (lots of pics)

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Ukraine Train

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Awesome trip. We went all over, including Tel Aviv, the Dead Sea, Mt. Masada, Jerusalem, Haifa, the Golan Heights and the Judean Desert. We spent a night with some Bedewyn nomads and rode their camels (not comfortable at all!) and spent New Year's partying in a winery. Anywho, a little bit about security and guns...

Our group was escorted by an armed medic. He was carrying an M1 carbine. Another guard spent a couple days with us, he was carrying what looked like a BHP and said it's made by Cross. We saw soldiers everywhere we went. Most had M4s and M16s but some also had Galils. When pulling up to a mall, your car was searched and then when you went into the actual building you got wanded by guards. Some of the mall guards and a guard with a group of children were carrying full size UZIs. The night before we were in Tel Aviv there was a suicide bombing but honestly I think it's safer there than it is in the US, even with the bombings lol.

hitch hiking soldier, saw a couple of them
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC240167.jpg

humvee
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC240165.jpg

This is a fort on top of a mountain in the Golan that was taken from the Syrians during the war of 1967. You can see the "fence" along the Syrian border from the top.
PC250223.jpg


I'll link to some pics so everyone on dialup doesn't get bogged down.
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC250226.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC250227.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC250230.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC250231.jpg
Me with the M1
PC250239.jpg


On a kibbutz 500yd from the Lebanon border, the building in the distance is an active military outpost. The turret and tower in the foreground are no longer in use.
PC250244.jpg

http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC250246.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC250249.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC250250.jpg

Memorial for the '67 war
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC250267.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC250266.jpg

Soldiers carrying Galil Tavor CTAR-21's in a mall
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC260293.jpg

Soldier with an M4 in Jerusalem
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC280319.jpg

Metal detectors at the enterance to the west wall (wheeping wall) of the second temple. Teeming with security.
PC280321.jpg


Air Force museum
PC290351.jpg

http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC290356.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC290335.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC290336.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC290338.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC290339.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC290344.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC290349.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC290350.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC290359.jpg

Yad Vashem (Holocaust museum)
Weapons of the Jewish resistance
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC310410.jpg
http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/israel/PC310411.jpg

The national cemetery
PC310423.jpg


this is the result of the fighting during the war for independence in Tsfat, IIRC
PC240187.jpg


You can check out all my pics at http://www.kettering.edu/~bors1515/
 
Very cool pictures. That sawed up Mosin Nagant in the museum is interesting. If you don't mind me asking, what made you decide to visit Israel?
 
It looks like you were there with a tour group of some type and everyone looks pretty young (college?). Was it a school group, an Xtian tour, Birthright...?

Anyway, I'm jealous. I know a lot about the place, I have friends from there, I have friends from here who moved there, yet I've never managed to go there. I hope to fix that myself sometime this year.
 
I went with Birthright. It was a free trip except I had to get a passport and plane tickets to New York.
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That's what I figured. There were enough hints in the pictures that it was probably a Jewish group and the people looked to be the right ages, but I didn't want to assume. Hard to beat free, the tours really are a great deal. Unfortunately, I'm too old to take advantage of it.
 
Excellent pics.

Did you make it to Masada? I guess that seems pretty requisite but I still want to make it there once in my life.

I think I would go crazy on a trip like that just because of the women :D Just some run of the mill Israeli girls makes our US models look like pigs :D :uhoh:


Anyways, great pics and glad you got to go.
 
Yeah, we went to Masada. It was definitely impressive.

As for the women, there are a lot of hotties. Nothing like a cutie walking around with an M16:)
 
Looks like a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing with us. Israel is certainly a place that I would like to visit someday.
 
That sawed up Mosin Nagant in the museum is interesting
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've heard of these before. IIRC the Russian gangsters have a name for them. Anyone remember it? I think it's the Russian equivalent to the "whipit gun" One heck of a muzzle blast on that thing I expect! But I suppose the point is to have your foe's gut absorb it.
 
My dad told me about the sawed off Mosins being used by people during the Russian revolution, too.

As far as being religious, you don't really have to be. Birthright is the parent organization but there are several organizations beneath it that all have different itineraries. I went with Oranim (www.israel4free.com) and it wasn't very religious, we didn't even light the hanukia every night. It was geared more towards experiencing the culture and creating a positive relationship with Israelis. Another group did a lot of outdoors stuff like biking all over and I think it was Mayanot that did the religious stuff. All the different trips are listed at www.birthrightisrael.com

If any of you decide to do a trip, do me a favor and put me as your referrer. If I get 10 people to go I get to go back again for free. My name is Alex Borshov.
 
hi i think i went with your group

Hi this is lidia, were you with group br 197? :)
(I was the crazy girl with the black jacket and cargo pants)
By the way I got lots of pics for the folks to enjoy
http://israel.captlid.com:81

This really is a small world....

actually i think you went with 196, cause you guys went to the air force museum, we went to the tank museum :)

But I still think its cool that another jew likes guns! :)
There arent many like us out there.
 
But I still think its cool that another jew likes guns!
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Ukraine Train isn't the only one here. There are a bunch of us. Stick around a bit and see.

Oh, and welcome to THR.


How religous are the birthright tours? I'd like to go on one, but I've been to synagogue only a handful of times.
Click to expand...
In addition to what Ukraine Train said, I'd say not to worry too much about which sponsors are religious and which aren't. While I've never been on one of their trips (I found out about Birthright at 29, 3 years too old to take advantage of it) I am quite familiar. Most of the people that go on Birthright are not religious, and that includes the religious groups that sponsor them (such as Mayonot and Aish). While the religious sponsors will teach you a little about Judaism they don't want to turn people off and they aren't likely to be too pushy.
 
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