Thrice As Nice- A Rosh Hoshanah Tale From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Because I'm not the most ambitious person in the world to start off with- plus I'll be even further out in the boonies than usual over the next couple of days- I started out thinking I'd do something similar to my blog entry last year for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hoshanah. Basically some generic wishes peppered with some olive drab clad Rule 5-bait of the Israeli persuasion.

But while doing a search for some IDF eye candy (and lets face it, they are to women in uniform what Brazilians are to female soccer fans), I came across the tale of the very lovely and unique Orbaum Triplets, pictured above.

"The concept of 'one for all and all for one' can get pretty absurd," the late Jerusalem Post staffer and columnist Sam Orbaum wrote about his identical triplet daughters 14 years ago.

Orbaum, who passed away in 2002 at the age of 46, went on in the column, entitled "The threeness of it all," to describe life as a father of identical triplets.

Not only did he sometimes mix them up, Orbaum wrote in his well-known wry, comic style, but he was also constantly impressed by their tight bond - when for example they stood up for one another in fights in the school sandbox.

The three blond 19-year-old sisters are still sticking up for one another, although this time not on the playground but in the IAF, in which they all enlisted a few months ago, making history.

While all three are in khaki-colored air force uniforms, they don't serve together. Odelia, the oldest (born a minute before her two sisters), serves as a control officer in the IAF's underground command-and-control center in the Kirya in Tel Aviv; Nomi is an air traffic control officer at the IAF's Palmahim Base; and Donna is currently in training for a different IAF position near Herzliya.

"Even though we are, in a sense, still together since we are all in the IAF, it was still difficult to split up to different positions and offices," said Odelia.

The sisters say that they think of themselves as one person, which might not make sense - until one sees how they complete one another's sentences or give the same answers during the interview.

Since elementary school the three have been together, going on to the same high school in Jerusalem's Ramot neighborhood and then to the same premilitary academy in the Jordan Valley.

It was there that the triplets decided to enlist in the IDF and not do national service like most of their female classmates.

"As religious girls we were confused about what to do," said Nomi. "But [we] decided to enlist into the IDF since national service, like working in an old age home, is something we can always do after our military service, but military service is right now. [It's] the only time we can do it and is what characterizes the state."

Once they made their decision, all they had left was to find fulfilling jobs in the IDF. Donna said she thought about trying out for the pilot's course; Nomi thought at one point about joining the Ground Forces Command and becoming an infantry instructor.

In the end, they all made their way to the air force, albeit on different bases.

"We didn't all decide to joint the IAF," explained Odelia. "That is just how it worked out."

Nomi, the self-declared "controlling" sister, said that becoming an air traffic controller fit in very well with her personality.

"I usually make the decisions so becoming an air traffic controller was natural," she said.

While the three are not currently together, they all plan on becoming officers and hope to be in the same course at the Bahad 1 Officer Training School near Mitzpe Ramon in a few months.

If that doesn't work out, there's always the post-IDF trip overseas, which they have no doubt they will make together.

The girls also don't doubt that their father would have supported their decision to join the army. When Sam came to Israel he tried to enlist, they said, but he was exempted on medical grounds.

"He supported us in everything we did until he passed away when we were 12," Donna said. "This is the seventh year since he passed away and I think about him all the time and see his smile and know that he would have been proud of us."

The story is from late 2009, so Odelia, Kirya and Nomi are probably 21 and could very well be junior officers by now if they followed through on attending the Officer Training School together.

President Obama calls for Palestinian State Along pre-1967 Borders

In a display that clearly indicated there was no American ally he wouldn't be willing to stab in the back, President Obama has endorsed long-standing Palestinian demands that a Palestinian state be set up along pre 1967 borders in a wide ranging speech regarding Middle East policy earlier today.

He also warned Palestinians that “efforts to delegitimize Israel will end in failure” and that they would “never realize their independence by denying the right of Israel to exist.”

He also chastised both sides for taking steps that don’t help the peace process.

“Israeli settlement activity continues. Palestinians have walked away from talks,” he said. “The world looks at a conflict that has grinded on and on and on, and sees nothing but stalemate.”

[Umm....earth to Barry, the Palestinians have done MUCH worse than walking away from peace talks (or even building new apartments) in the past few weeks- NANESB!]

Should Israel go back to their pre-1967 borders, that would leave the Jewish state only 8 miles wide in some places, bordered by a belligerent Palestinian government seeking to unify with terrorist group Hamas (the same Hamas which condemned the killing of the islamic 'Holy Warrior' Osama Bin Laden) and replete with terrorists acquiring longer-range weapons with the Israelis holding less territory.

The only reason I'm not saying President Obama is throwing Israel under the bus is because the Palestinians have this tendency to blow up buses.

Not surprisingly, Israeli leaders are lukewarm on the President's suggestion. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Obama's proposal, saying that the boundaries would make Israel 'militarily indefensable'.

Israel has attempted 'Land for Peace' before, unilaterally withdrawing from the Gaza strip in 2005, only to be rewarded with a near-constant bombardment of southern Israeli border towns by Katusha rockets fired from the Gaza strip since then.

Exit question- What on God's green earth would make anybody who has been paying attention for the last 6 decades think that Israel should expect any semblance of peace from the Palestinians after giving up even MORE land?

Happy 63rd Birthday, Israel!

This week marks the 63rd anniversary of Israel's independence. What can I say about Israel that far more swift, competent and knowledgeable bloggers haven't already said about the Holy Land?

Israel being surrounded by hostile nations and the sea has meant that she has had to be on guard for constantly changing and evolving threats throughout her existence.

But even with the proverbial sword of Damocles hanging over it's head, Israel has managed to develop a robust economy centering for the most part around the defense technology, pharmaceutical, telecommunications and tourism sectors.

The discovery of considerable natural gas deposits in the offshore Leviathan and Tamar basins earlier this year also is poised to put Israel at an advantage as far as energy is concerned, possibly making her a net exporter of energy for the first time in its history.

But there is so much more to Israel than thousands of years of history and a robust military industrial complex, there's also attractive young women in peak physical condition in snug olive-drab uniforms.

The Israeli military, known as the IDF, is the 11th largest in the world according to some sources. While some of the women depicted above would be ideal for IDF recruiting posters, it would actually be a wasted effort as the IDF has near-universal conscription for both men and women.

Yet the camera seems to love them nonetheless, and from the looks of it this is a relationship that so many of us can enjoy the fringe benefits from.

New Israeli Missile Defense System Combat Tested; Anti-Tank Weapon Fired at School Bus; Western Activist Kidnapped, Killed

Israel's new 'Iron Dome' short-range missile defense system enjoyed some early success last week after a battery in Ashkelon intercepted a Grad rocket that fired from the Gaza strip.

The system has three main components - a tracking radar to detect the incoming projectile, a battle management and control system, and the missile launchers themselves. The manufacturers (Israel-based Rafael Advanced Defense Systems) claim to be able to hit anything from a missile to a 155mm artillery shell in any weather condition. The system underwent comprehensive testing in late 2010 and was deemed operational by Defense Minister Ehud Barak last month.

Southern Israel has been bombarded by rockets and short range missiles from the Hamas controlled Gaza strip for the better part of the last decade, with the accuracy and payloads gradually increasing.
ELSEWHERE IN SOUTHERN ISRAEL: Shortly after the Iron Dome system's early success an anti-tank rocket was fired at an Israeli school bus in the Negev region along the Gaza border, wounding the driver and a 16 year old student on board. Hamas has claimed responsibility for the attack and the Israeli Defence Forces responded with artillery and helicopter gunships firing on targets inside the Gaza strip. The missile is thought to be a Russian-made Koronet- manufacture of the Koronet reportedly is only permitted inside Russia. The missile was reportedly sold to Syria and likely smuggled to the Gaza strip from there.

GAZA: The body of an Italian pro-Palestinian activist was found hanging in a Gaza apartment a few hours after he was abducted on Thursday. An al-Qaeda inspired Islamic group calling itself Monotheism and Holy War abducted 38 year old Vittori Arrigoni. He then appeared blindfolded and with cuts on his face in a video circulated online in which the group demanded Hamas released one of their jailed leaders hours before the International Solidarity Movement's activist body was found in the otherwise vacant apartment. Hamas claims it arrested two of the suspected kidnappers not far from where the body was found and were reportedly seeking a 3rd suspect.

One Killed, 35 Injured in Downtown Jerusalem Bus Stop Bombing

A 60 year old Israeli woman was killed and at least 35 commuters were wounded when a bomb ripped through a downtown Jerusalem bus stop on Wednesday.

Israeli investigators say that the bomb likely was left inside an unattended bag at a phone booth near the bus stop and consider the bombing an act of terrorism.

The Jerusalem bombing comes a few days after mortar attacks on an Israeli border town from the Hamas-held Gaza Strip. The IDF had retaliated with tank fire and air strikes.