{"id":25422,"date":"2017-08-18T03:47:36","date_gmt":"2017-08-18T10:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=25422"},"modified":"2017-08-16T21:54:55","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T04:54:55","slug":"idf-colonel-visits-vancouver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2017\/08\/18\/idf-colonel-visits-vancouver\/","title":{"rendered":"IDF colonel visits Vancouver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Left to right: Ilan Pilo, Jewish National Fund, Pacific Region; Col. Adam Susman, Israel Defence Forces defence attach\u00e9 to Canada; and Rabbi Shmulik Yeshayahu of the Ohel Yaakov Community Kollel. (photo from Community Kollel)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

While acknowledging that the situation in the Middle East is constantly changing, Col. Adam Susman told those gathered at the Ohel Yaakov Community Kollel on July 18 that the biggest threat to Israel is Iran, \u201cas it has been for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susman, who is the Ottawa-based Israel Defence Forces (IDF) defence attach\u00e9 to Canada, was in Vancouver at the invitation of the Jewish National Fund of Canada, Pacific Region.<\/p>\n

Born in the United Kingdom, Susman moved to Moshav Sde Nitzan in southern Israel at the age of 3, according to JNF\u2019s website. He joined the IDF\u2019s Givati Brigade in 1987 and became a battalion commander after serving as head of the anti-ballistic and training branches. In 2005, he was appointed commander of Hanegev infantry brigade and chief of staff of the Sinai division, protecting Israel\u2019s southern border. In 2009, he became commander of the Dan district in Home Front Command, working to ensure the safety of civilians in the metro Tel Aviv area. Prior to his appointment as the defence attach\u00e9 to Canada in 2014, Susman was head of the International Military Cooperation Department of the IDF General Staff.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Shmulik Yeshayahu of the Community Kollel was the emcee of the Vancouver event. \u201cIt is fitting to have this meeting during the weekly Torah portion of Matot-Masei,\u201d he said in his opening comments. \u201cIn this parashah, a portion of the Jewish people stays behind on the way to the Holy Land, preferring to farm on the other side of the Jordan River rather than go in and fight for the land. They stayed there while the rest of the tribes fought and, later, they joined them. In Judaism, we have great respect for those who risk their lives to protect other people, and especially our homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before introducing Susman to those gathered, Ilan Pilo, executive director and Jerusalem emissary of JNF Canada, Pacific Region, presented a brief video about JNF\u2019s activities throughout Israeli history. He then invited the president of Royal Canadian Legion\u2019s Shalom Branch, Ralph Jackson, to speak. Jackson, who introduced himself as \u201cthe only Jew in the Scots Guards during World War Two,\u201d presented a donation of $5,000 to Susman for Beit Halochem, a nonprofit that cares for disabled Israeli veterans.<\/p>\n

Leonard Shapiro, Shalom Branch vice-president, noted how the branch was formed during a time of great prejudice, when Jews needed their own veterans organization. \u201cIt has been a long time now since we\u2019ve gone to war, however, thank God. We don\u2019t get many new members. If anyone here would like to join and support our organization and activities, you don\u2019t have to have been in the army, you just need to be over 18 and not have committed any horrible crimes. Little ones, OK,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

Susman shared a bit about himself and his experience in the Givati Brigade, which was the most highly decorated brigade in the 2014 conflict, a fact no doubt known to the many IDF veterans in the audience.<\/p>\n

Susman is one of 16 Israeli attach\u00e9s around the world \u2013 a small number that, he said, was due to Israel never having been part of a military coalition with another country. He outlined the ties between the Israeli and Canadian militaries, the chief threats to Israel today and the IDF\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is cooperation between the IDF and the Canadian military strategically and practically,\u201d he said. \u201cThe relations between the IDF and the Canadian military are good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if the change of Canada\u2019s federal government to the Liberals from the Conservatives had had any effect on that relationship, Susman said it had not.<\/p>\n

Turning to the situation in Israel\u2019s own region, he emphasized the lack of stability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Middle East is an interesting neighbourhood, always changing \u2013 what I tell you today may not be true tomorrow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest threat is Iran, as it has been for years,\u201d he continued. \u201c[Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad took every opportunity to say that Israel should disappear from the map of the world. The main threat they\u2019ve posed has been building Hezbollah \u2013 without Iran, it would be a small organization. In recent years, Hezbollah has been fighting in Syria and they\u2019ve lost a lot of people, but they\u2019ve also gained a lot of operational experience. They have also steadily increased in rocket capabilities and can now reach Eilat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susman said that Syria had previously been a big threat to Israel, but that\u2019s no longer the case, due to its civil war and ISIS, as well as the reduction of the country\u2019s chemical weapons by Western countries.<\/p>\n

Hamas in Gaza is the next biggest threat, he said, noting that it is also supported by Iran. \u201cThey only exist to fight,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are not building up Gazans as they claim. A good example is the tunnel found during 2014 Protective Edge, kilometres of resources that could [have been used] for clinics and schools. Gaza is a piece of cheese, there is 80 metres between the top and the water table, dotted with tunnels. That\u2019s a major challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sinai is also a security problem,\u201d he added. \u201cNobody controls it, and so everybody is in there. There was no Egyptian military following the peace agreement, so that\u2019s the result. The MFO (Multinational Force and Observers) was created to survey the Sinai and, by the way, there are many Canadians in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people say the IDF is a military that has a country,\u201d quipped Susman. \u201cWe are strong, and we are good at finding solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susman cited Iron Dome as an example. The IDF initially divided Israel into 157 zones with two missile interceptors for each missile. That was successful, he said, but each missile cost $70,000 so that intercepting one fired missile cost $140,000. Therefore, the IDF sought improvements. Israel was divided into 254 zones, he said, and each one had only one missile interceptor per fired missile. This system has a 90% success rate stopping missiles, which is still not good enough in Susman\u2019s view. \u201cWe will improve yet further,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During the question-and-answer period, an audience member commented, \u201cYou said Iran is the biggest threat against Israel but you didn\u2019t say what Israel is doing against Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d replied Susman without further explanation, eliciting laughter from the crowd.<\/p>\n

The evening ended with the singing of \u201cAm Yisrael Chai,\u201d led by Yeshayahu.<\/p>\n

Matthew Gindin<\/strong> is a freelance journalist, writer and lecturer. He writes regularly for the <\/em>Forward and <\/em>All That Is Interesting, and has been published in <\/em>Religion Dispatches, <\/em>Situate Magazine,<\/em> Tikkun and elsewhere. He can be found on Medium and Twitter.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Left to right: Ilan Pilo, Jewish National Fund, Pacific Region; Col. Adam Susman, Israel Defence Forces defence attach\u00e9 to Canada; and Rabbi Shmulik Yeshayahu of the Ohel Yaakov Community Kollel. (photo from Community Kollel) While acknowledging that the situation in the Middle East is constantly changing, Col. Adam Susman told those gathered at the Ohel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7306,4361,1739,2462,4330,59,60,2945,2194,5803],"class_list":["post-25422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-community-kollel","tag-hamas","tag-idf","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-jewish-national-fund","tag-jnf","tag-security","tag-shalom-branch","tag-veterans"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}