Of coffee, tanks and the negev
Today, tanks and tank battles in Israel’s south are very much on my mind. As is our habit, I was having coffee with Gabriel via Skype (this is why I rarely blog in the am any more) and he insists I must make a list of everywhere I want to visit when I come to Israel in late March. Gabriel is up for a new position, and if all goes well, he will need to relocate from Rishon Lezion to the Central Negev region weeks before I arrive.
This is all well and good, but it does mean our travel plans will have to be seriously revised. Although, I keep telling him I am perfectly capable of catching a bus on my own and traveling wherever I want. Whenever I point out this fact, he just rolls his eyes at me and gives me the mabat (‘the look’ or is it mabot?’) and mumbles so quickly under his breath in Hebrew that I do not have a chance to catch all of what he is saying.
Gabriel is under the illusion it will be a terribly hardship for me to spend a month in the south of Israel and I will get terribly bored during the day while he is working. I have my suspicions that this is just his excuse to put me to work and find me a job while I am there – even if it is only tutoring in English. I just do not see it that way. All I can think of is all the tank battles which were fought in the south, and what a perfect opportunity this is to explore a part of history which I only know from books.
All of which turns my thoughts to the Merkava MK-IVs which are equipped with the Trophy missile-defense system. This really is just too cool….did I mention just how hard these tanks are to destroy? The IDF has come a long way since the War of Independence where pieces of pipes were cut, packed with explosive charges and buried in sand to conceal their presence from advancing Egyptian tanks.
