In Which Our Heroes Survive A Terrorist Attack. Well, Sort Of.

After the Sea of Galilee, we drove up the Golan Heights. As we drove up, I remembered back to the Yom Kippur War of 1973, when the Israelis defended the territory they had captured during the Six Day War of 1967.

It's strange to see how peaceful and beautiful it is -- I half expected it to be bristling with guns. On either side of the road going up, however, there are fenced off fields with warnings about passing marked minefields (apparently a hiker wander into a minefield not to long ago and was killed by a mine). Cows occasionally bust through for greener pastures and end up as hamburger for Eagles.

As we drove along the Golan Heights, we could see into Syria. I remembered the strategic importance of the Golan from the 1973 war, and it is amazing that Israeli tanks and paratroopers were able to crush and drive back the Syrian tanks that had the terrain advantage in 1967.

Lunch was at the Kibbutz Kfar Haruv Dining Hall, perched on the edge of Golan Heights.

But first, there was a scary moment of actual danger (well, scary to Aaron, actual danger to all). While Tom Sawicki and Ian were talking about the history of the back and forth of the Golan, and how Syrians used to lob shells and sniper fire at the kibbutzs below. We were standing at the edge of the heights, when suddenly I noticed a swarm of flies of Biblical proportions heading our way. Our security team told us to duck (and by “told” I don’t mean “asked, suggested, requested, or beseeched” I mean “commanded.”) We all hit the ground and waited patiently for the huge swarm of buzzing bees (the group later dubbed the swarm "Syrian Killer Bees chanting Hizbollah slogans") that took a while to pass. While most had caught the buzz that something was up, Aaron’s first thought that there was an incoming Syrian missiles. There was no visual evidence that he wet himself.

Lunch on the kibbutz was good, and the view of the entire Galilee area was commanding and beautiful. Someone who had lived on the kibbutz since the late 1960s (when it started after the territory was conquered) talked a bit about life on the kibbutz. One regret was that we didn't get to spend enough to with her, asking questions and learning more.