http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3925489,00.htmlConflicting reports on the fate of those onboard the Israeli helicopter that crashed in Romania, with Ha’aretz reporting they are still missing, and Ynet and JPost reporting they were killed.

According to initial findings, the crash appeared to be the result of a malfunction in the tail of the helicopter.

The names of the six Israelis involved in the crash are:

  • Lt. Col (Res.) Avner Goldman, 48, from Modi’in
  • Lt. Col. Daniel Shipenbauer, 43, from Moshav Kidron
  • Maj. Yahel Keshet, 33, from Hatzerim
  • Maj. Lior Shai, 28, from Tel-Nof
  • Lt. Nir Lakrif, 25, from Tel- Nof
  • Staff Sergeant Oren Cohen, 24, from Rehovot

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

7:15PM: Apparently, Oliver Stone lives in Romania.

7:05PM: Caption(s) of the day:

Members of Hamas' security forces demonstrate exercise manoeuvres during a graduation ceremony in Gaza City July 26, 2010. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem
Hamas training
Members of Hamas' security forces march in formation during a graduation ceremony in Gaza City July 26, 2010. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

But look at the guys pictured. Would you say they are 16 or 17?

6:50PM: Search teams have located 7 bodies near the crash site of the helicopter.

Meanwhile, here is more on the victims.

Lieutenant Colonel (res.) Avner Goldman celebrated his 48th birthday last week at his home. At the entrance to his house in Modiin, a sign still hangs – “Congratulations on your 48th birthday. With love, from all of us.”

Just a few hours before the disaster, he managed to send a text message to his wife Orit. “Kisses and regards to everyone,” he wrote. His wife said, “He was a smart man, a good person, the best husband I could have asked for. I told the kids, ‘At least he didn’t suffer. Until the very last moment, he had a smile on his face.’ We were privileged to have a wonderful husband and father, an amazing person.” Avner leaves behind him a wife and four children, aged 22, 18, 16, and 13.

Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Shipenbauer just moved to his new house in Moshav Kidron, near the Tel-Nof base, on Thursday after years of migrating between Air Force bases. “He is a very veteran pilot, a real professional, and, on the other hand, a very simple and modest man,” said his brother-in-law. “This is not the first time he has flown to such distances. He wanted to go there.”

Daniel is survived by his wife, Yael, and three children – Amit, 16, Roee, 12, and Yonatan, 8.

Major Lior Shai never dreamed of being a pilot. His mother said that he went to try-outs and succeeded. “After the course, he arrived at the Yasurim squadron and was very happy about it,” she said.

According to the mother, he returned to the squadron this year after he began studying electrical engineering at Tel Aviv University. He planned on returning to his studies next year. “He was excited about the flight because he had waited for it so long,” she said. Lior leave behind him his wife, Tamar, and their four-month-old baby.

Major Yahel Keshet wanted to serve in the commandos, where his father served. Going to cadets’ course was his second priority. But he successfully passed the course and continued to progress through the Air Force. In another two weeks, he was slated to be appointed the deputy commander of the squadron in which he served.

His parents spoke of their last meeting with him before he left for Romania. “We told him good luck and that he should enjoy himself because he really loved the field. I asked him if he’ll be able to call from there, and he said no. So we were left to wait until the day he was scheduled to return – Thursday.”

Yahel is survived by his wife, Hofit, and two children – Harel, 2, and Ofri, two-months old.

Staff Sergeant Oren Cohen, an airplane mechanic from Rehovot, served in the squadron in which his father served as a professional soldier. From a young age, he was around the Yasur choppers. Since Tuesday morning, his friends have written emotional farewells on his Facebook page, and have even posted excerpts from Psalms. Oren’s younger brother is also serving in the squadron and was on duty when the accident occurred.

Lieutenant Nir Lakrif married Maggie, who is now four-months pregnant, only one year ago. His uncle said, “Nir was an example of excellence for many. He completed his studies at Air Force technical school with honors, enlisted, and completed his training as a mechanic, a position he chose together with a select group of people who are the pride of the Air Force and the State of Israel. This was also the position he filled during this exercise.”

The seventh soldier killed in the crash was 31-year-old Captain Stefan-Claudiu Dragnea, of the Romanian Air Force. He was survived by a wife who is five months pregnant.

5:18PM: After canceling their Israel show, British band Gorillaz have performed in Syria.

3:38PM: Photos of 5 of the 6 Israeli personnel on the helicopter.

2:45PM: It is early days, but new British Prime Minister David Cameron seems to be an utter disappointment.

“The Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla was completely unacceptable,” Cameron said. In a reference to the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory, he said: “Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.”

2:30PM:  It looks like all on board the helicopter perished, although no bodies have been retrieved.

The wreckage of an Israeli military helicopter that slammed into a mountain  in central Romania has been found and none of the seven soldiers aboard – one Romanian and six Israelis – appear to have survived, officials said Tuesday.

Mircea Opris, Romania’s chief mountain rescue official, said the remains of the helicopter, a Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion, were found after it crashed Monday. He said the chopper had burst into flames after it hit a mountain in a remote area

“It is totally dismembered,” Opris told Realitatea TV.

Ciprian Aldea, a spokesman for the local police, said human remains and helicopter parts were scattered across the area.

“Corpses, as such, have not been found. It is a very difficult area, very rocky,” he said. “You can’t reach the area without the appropriate search equipment.”

An Israeli military official in Jerusalem also confirmed that the wreckage had been located and said the six missing Israelis were believed to be dead.

“It has been spotted from above, and has broken into two parts,” said Brig. Gen. Relik Shafir, a reserve officer with the Israel Air Force.

“We have reason to believe that all seven crew are dead,” he said. “No bodies have been recovered.”

“It’s been a black day for all of us,” he said.

‘Very hard to survive such an incident’

He said the helicopter had been carrying six Israelis – two experienced three-man flight crews – and one Romanian liaison officer when it crashed Monday afternoon during joint aviation exercises in which troops are trained to fly at low altitudes.

Shafir said two Israeli CH-53 helicopters were training in a mountainous area in heavy fog when one of the helicopters lost touch with the other and apparently hit the mountain.

IDF Spokesperson Avi Benayahu told Ynet on Tuesday afternoon, “It’s hard to survive such an incident.”

Brigadier-General Benayahu said that at the first stage the families were informed that their loved ones were missing, but that he had also discussed the possibility that they did not survive the crash.

“According to the findings we have,” he said, “the plane crashed on the mountainside and fell hundreds of meters down. This is quite a difficult incident and it’s very hard to survive such a thing.”

Another tragedy for a nation too used to it.

11:28AM: The IAF chief has stated that the helicopter that crashed in Romania was in excellent condition before the flight.

9:40AM: Meet the IDF’s first female Arab combat soldier: Proud to serve..and pretty cute!

elinor joseph
Photo: IDF Spokesperson

Look at the beret,” says Elinor, smiling from ear to ear, showing off the bright green beret that she earned after completing the trek which is part of her combat training in the Karakal Battalion.  Her excitement is accompanied by a new historical precedent, since Elinor is the first Arab female combat soldier in IDF history.

Cpl. Elinor Joseph was born and raised in an integrated neighborhood of Jews and Arabs in Haifa, but attended a school in which all her classmates were Arab. She later moved to Wadi Nisnas, an Arab neighborhood where she currently lives. Despite the fact that she would always wear her father’s IDF dog-tag around her neck from when he served in the Paratrooper’s Unit, she never thought she would enlist. “I wanted to go abroad to study medicine and never come back,” she said. To her father it was clear that she would enlist in the IDF, as most citizens in Israel do. This was something that worried her very much. “I was scared to lose my friends because they objected to it. They told me they wouldn’t speak to me. I was left alone.”

Despite their opposition, she decided to move forward and enlist. She explained her motive: “I decided to go head-to-head, to check who my true friends are, to do something in life that I have never done before. I understood that it was most important to defend my friends, family, and country. I was born here.” At the end of the day, she says she realized it was the right thing to do, “With time, when you do things from the heart, you begin to understand their importance.”

“I might as well go the whole way”

Unlike most teenagers in Israel, Elinor did not undergo any kind of special preparations for her recruitment. Other than listening to some of her father’s combat stories and speaking to an IDF officer who helps minorities with enlistment, she didn’t know what she was getting herself into. She came to the Reception and Placement Base, known in IDF slang as the Bakum, and requested to be a combat medic because she decided, “If I enlist, I might as well go the whole way. I thought my father would absolve me from it, but it didn’t happen.” Despite her will to be in combat service, the response to Elinor was otherwise. “The placement officer laughed in my face and said I was too delicate. I started to cry,” she remembers.

After fighting to receive a high enough medical categorization in order to be placed in a combat position, and following many attempts to persuade the placement officer, Elinor was informed she would be a combat soldier. She remembers that upon arrival to the Reception and Placement Base, “It was the first time I saw my father cry. But then they told me I wouldn’t be a combat soldier, so I cried again.” She says she came to Basic Training not understanding what was going on around her, “I had no preparation so I really didn’t understand what it meant to stand at attention, or to salute my commander or even stand in formation.” Despite initial shock and disappointment that she wouldn’t be in a combat unit, she decided to take a positive perspective and be the best soldier that she could be. “I didn’t want to disappoint those that supported me. I decided that if I am volunteering, I would need to prove myself and be an exemplary soldier, and I succeeded. In the end, I ended up enjoying it.”

The fact that Elinor is a Christian Arab did not escape the attention of the girls around her. Her accent was the first thing that gave her away. “In the beginning everyone thought I was Argentinean. When they found out the truth, they were surprised,” she says.

“I treated all the people in the same manner, because we are all human”

After her basic training, Elinor went to a training base for a medic’s training course, where she was selected as the outstanding soldier of the course and received her commander’s personal pin. After the course, she was assigned to be a medic within the military police at the Qalqilya crossing. “I enjoyed it there. I liked the people and thanks to my blue beret (that of military police) nobody wanted to sit next to me in the bus so I always had a large place to sleep”, she laughs. The difficult dilemma she felt in serving at a border crossing was not easy for her but she said during moments of difficulty and misgiving she would remember, “there was a Katyusha [rocket] that fell near my house and also hurt Arabs. If someone would tell me that serving in the IDF means killing Arabs, I remind them that Arabs also kill Arabs.”

“I treated all the people at the checkpoints in the same manner, because we are all human. For this reason, no one reacted to me in a negative manner, and to tell the truth, that surprised me.” Elinor’s presence also helped change people’s perceptions, “People knew I was there and that I wouldn’t hold my tongue if need be, so they had a constant reminder to treat the Palestinians well. But really, their treatment was always full of respect.”

Despite enjoying her service, the amount of responsibility given to her did not satisfy her, and she wanted to contribute more. After many discussions with a colonel in the Northern Command and with a senior officer in the Human Resources Branch who warned her that a military promotion would not be transferable to a combat role, Elinor was not convinced and tried out to be selected to serve in the Karakal Battalion. “When I said to my commander that I was accepted, he just turned around and walked away because he had wanted me to stay.”

Identity issues

Elinor returned to the Intake and Sorting Base, but this time she received the red combat boots that she had been dreaming of. The beginning wasn’t easy for her. “In the beginning I missed being in the military police.  The relations with people there were very different because I knew them not only in a personal but also in a medical way, and this creates a very intimate connection with people, this is a different relationship. But then I realized I was now in a new place. I got to know people little by little and now I really love them all”.

Within the frameworks of her military service in general and of her combat training in particular, emphasis was always laid on the Jewish identity of the country in many ethical activities and in the general message that was passed on to the soldiers. This did not deter her. “I know I am part of the Jewish state’s army and therefore when we speak about that I listen and learn. I got used to it and I respect it, although I do not delve too much into the country’s identity – I have my own identity and I will respect that of the country”.

Right now, after finishing her training, she says wholeheartedly that she does not regret any of her choices. “I sometimes wondered what would have happened if I had studied abroad as planned, but I understand that I was not as experienced and responsible then as I am now. It is a satisfaction to complete challenging things. I feel that in the army I matured a lot and became more responsible than I used to be”. She also feels satisfied from the respect she gained from the others. “Although everybody is surprised in the beginning I have always been respected, not just me but also my customs and my religion.  Nobody ever disturbed me. I feel a lot of serenity and support and somebody even opened a group about me on Facebook. My parents also are very proud of me, maybe a little bit too much.”

“I believe in what I am doing”

Elinor did not only create a change within the army but also among her friends. “I was surprised to find out that even the ones who refused to talk to me accepted my choice in the end. I know that some parents of young men are not so enthusiastic if they go out with me because of my military service, probably because of the fact that I am a combat soldier. There were also people who read things about me and reacted in a very hurtful manner, but I have learnt not to pay attention to it. I believe in what I am doing.  In my eyes, I am here for a mission”.

Elinor belives that being a combat soldier means that she is granting all Israeli citizens, including Israeli Arabs like her parents, a better and quieter life. “At the end of the day, this will always be my home too”, she says before expressing her thought that despite the conflict and difficulties, the hope for peace still exists. “I still believe that peace will come and faith creates reality”.

8:38AM: Tonight’s the night on Deadliest Warrior: Israeli commando vs Navy SEAL!

24 thoughts on “The Day In Israel: Tuesday July 27th, 2010”

    1. Michael Zvi Krumbein

      Not that I know of, or the Talmud, for that matter. The winner of the Chidon HaTanach (National Bible quiz) is called the Chatan (groom) HaTanach, I think.

      I suppose they would say "Gaon", which in modern Hebrew is "genius", and in traditional Hebrew is a great Rabbinic scholar. Originally it was the term for the head of one of the two (Forger which) great Babylonian acedemies, and in general we refer to the period of about 600 – 1000 as the Geonic era and its scholars as Gaonim.

      Usually in Yeshiva the term for someone who knows a topic well is a Baki; I haven't got to the point where I know whether it's the same in modern Hebrew.

      1. Yeah Saadia Gaon. I learned about him in that class last year. Unfortunately I cant say which academy, but I think I read recently that he was a Karaite.

          1. Quite right. I knew that sounded wrong.

            "Most notable among the opposition to Karaitic thought and practice at this time are the writings of Rabbi Saadia Gaon, which eventually led to a permanent split between some Karaitic and Rabbinic communities."

            He was on that article though. 😛

    1. Thats cool. He gave a nice presentation at Rutgers. Unfortunately he probably would not remember me…although my appearance is distinctive (not a mohawk or anything :p). I think I also met Elder of Ziyon that night.

  1. "After canceling their Israel show, British band Gorillaz have performed in Syria."

    Does this mean that the Gorillaz support Syria's treatment of the Kurds?

  2. Dave, it would be a good idea not to use the .ly link shorteners as .ly is the top level domain for Libya, who gets a yearly check for the use of those domains.

    is.gd (Grenada) would be better.

    1. The shortened URL in this post was taken from someone else's Twitter stream (may have even been the IDF!)

      For the record, I use Hootsuite for Twitter and it automatically shortens using .ly.

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