The Special Relationship

This week a 100kg bomb was prepared to be set off outside a Haifa shopping mall. By all accounts its power would have been sufficient to bring down a substantial part of the structure killing an injuring many shoppers and moviegoers. But the explosives misfired and drew the attention of security staff who were able to evacuate the area and save countless lives.

"There is no doubt that a good deal of planning went into this," Northern Police chief Cmdr. Shimon Koren told Israel Radio on Sunday. He acknowledged that the element of luck was decisive in averting tragedy.

So much for this week…..

Last week a Swiss newspaper revealed chilling details of last year’s Israeli bombing of a North Korean nuclear facility being built in Syria with Iranian funds. Following the daring and highly successful sortie, the US and Israel refused to make any comment.

But last week, Hans Ruehle, former chief of the planning staff of the German Defense Ministry revealed that neither the US nor Israel had known about the nuclear installation until a top-ranked Iranian defector told the CIA that Iran was financing North Korean moves to make Syria into a nuclear power.

It is truly chilling to think that Israel – with its Ofek satellite and reconnaissance drones – might not have known what was going on its very doorstep.

But both stories bear witness to the ‘special relationship’ our people have with the Almighty; “the keeper of Israel who neither slumbers nor sleeps to protect us from evil” [Tehillim/Psalms 121]