Arieh Copelan
As the Israeli air campaign against Hamas in the Gaza strip threatens to become a full scale land war, a son of Wendover could become one of the first israeli soldiers in the possible invasion of the terrorist held strip.
Arieh Copelan a 2010 graduate of West Wendover High School is currently serving in an infantry battalion on the Israel/Gaza border as a light machine gunner.
Son of Advocate publishers Howard and Corinne Copelan, Arieh has been in the Israel Army (IDF) since March 2011 and in the elite Kfir Infantry Brigade sin June 2011. After completing advanced urban warfare training this summer his unit was posted to the Gaza border this summer when terrorists increased missile attacks against civilian Israel targets to an almost daily event.
Wednesday, Israel upped the ante with the assassination of Hams military chief Ahmed Jabari.
After confirming the death of the master-terrorist and commander of Hamas’ military arm, Ezz e-din al-Qassam, Hamas announced: We are now at war with Israel. Jabari, 52, was killed by a targeted Israeli air attack in Gaza City. A key figure in the radical Palestinian Hamas movement, he was caught driving in a black Mercedes in Gaza City.
Hamas has announced a general call-up and threatened to respond not just with rockets but suicide attacks inside Israel. Its leaders warned that their Fajr-5 rockets had a range of 75 kilometers and could reach locations north of Tel Aviv.
Israeli sources say the air operation called Pillar of Cloud aimed at targeting more Hamas leaders, degrading its military infrastructure and demolishing its rocket stocks, especially the long-range Fajrs.
The Israeli Navy joined the air force in striking Palestinian missile sites in southern Gaza from the sea.
In their first report on progress, Wednesday night, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reported that the wave of Israeli air strikes over Gaza had seriously degraded the Hamas terrorists’ ability to conduct missile attacks on central Israel, despite a major effort to avoid harming civilians. “We are set to expand out counter-terror operation if necessary.” He said.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that most of Hamas’ Fajr rockets and their silos had been hit as well as many other strategic sites. Operation Pillar of Cloud had four objectives, said Barak: restoring Israel’s deterrence; seriously reducing the terrorists’ rocket arsenal; harming their high-profile leaders and restoring peace to southern Israel.
The IDF spokesman reported that reserve units are standing by in case a ground operation is called for by a Palestinian escalation. The call up of reserves could include Copelan’s brother Sam. Currently a graduate student the 2005 graduate of West Wendover High School is also an officer in an infantry battalion in the same division as his younger brother.
I think that a kid that grew up in the USA should have entered the US Military. He didn’t have to go halfway around the world to serve.
To the Copelands
Im very proud to know that your son has gone to defend PEACE for the Great Country of Isreal.I pray the Creator Protects Him and ALL the Sons of Isreal.I believe Us Here in the United States are also being Protected
by the Sons of Isreal as they Go into battle against hamas and others who seek to destroy freedom for US ALL.Im sure the US Military would be in agreement with him serving in Isreal.May Isreal Swiftly destroy All who try to suppress WORLD FREEDOM.
to Gentile: First of all, Arieh is a religious jew, who would starve if he went into the U.S. Army, he eats kosher. Second, as a religious jew, the U. S. Army wouldn’t let him be a Combat soldier, he would end-up at a desk job, not what he wishes to do, serve and defend America and Israel. Third, the Israeli Army is the ONLY foreign Army a U.S. Citizen can do, and not lose his US Citizenship, Fourth, while Jews from America serve in the Israeli Army, other American Soldiers DON”T HAVE to go (American Troops) and serve/defend Israel. If the American Government let a Jewish American serve in Israel and is O.K with it, isn’t it the best proof that serving for Israel is good for the United States. Israel is a VERY good friend of America, and the ONLY democracy in the Middle East(I myself see America and Israel like a Big Brother/Little Brother relationship).
To Gary Richards: Thank You!
Sorry I still agree with Gentile.
To Gentile and Ralphy S, You two are the most ignorant people I have ever seen. To judge someone who is putting their life on the line all because he is not fighting in the USA is pathetic. Just because he is fighting in the Israeli Army does not mean he is not still defending the US.
News flash the Copelan family is Jewish and from Israel. They have 3 kids that I know of that now live there.
Im so disgusted that you would make such a abnoxious comment about a child defending his family and the country his family is from. Not only that but this child was a resident of the town you call home for years if not his whole life. Have a little respect!
As I Inderstand In Jewish Faith and ALL the Great Teachings Of Israel SHALOM to ALL
@former resident: You’re entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to mine thank you.
@ Ralphy s. Yes you are entitled to your opinion, and like you said Im entitled to mine. And I stand by mine that your comment makes you look like an abnoxious, ignorant jerk!
I’m definitely not “abnoxious” but perhaps obnoxious.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/162397#.UK5ME2ewVpQ
Kislev 8, 5773, 22/11/12 01:53
Repeat 1,000 Times: ‘We Told You So’ About Oslo, says R. Melamed
Israelis opposed to the Oslo Accords and the Gaza disengagement have once again been vindicated, says Rabbi Eliezer Melamed
David Lev
Israelis who were opposed to the Oslo Accords and the Gaza disengagement have once again been vindicated, said Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, Rav of the town of Har Bracha and the Rosh Yeshiva of the Har Bracha Yeshiva – and they must continually remind their fellow Israelis of how right they were. In this case, he writes in his weekly column in Besheva, Arutz Sheva’s weekly magazine, the need to educate Israelis about the dangers of surrendering land to Arabs takes precedence over what many consider to be the breach of courtesy by those who say “we told you so.”
“When we said that Gaza would turn into an arena for missile launches on Israel, the leftists claimed we were ‘threatening’ the public – and now they are firing at the Tel Aviv area,” writes Rabbi Melamed. “We warned them that the evacuation of Gush Katif will strengthen our enemies, and the government officials arrogantly said that the withdrawal would increase security. We cautioned that giving up the Philadelphia belt along the Sinai border in Gaza would give the Arabs the opportunity to smuggle missiles into Gaza, and they said that the agreements with the Palestinians and the Egyptians would prevent any smuggling from taking place. And now, that too has come to pass.
“We said that leaving Gush Katif would propel Hamas to control of Gaza, and they claimed the opposite, that the PLO and Fatah would be strengthened,” Rabbi Melamed wrote. “We said that if we do withdraw, the next war against them would be more difficult, that we would have to fight them in their cities and our international status would be badly affected. They claimed the opposite, that if thy do attack us after the withdrawal, we would be able to strike back at them with force.”
In every case, he said, the position of the right has been borne out historically; it is only because of Israel’s willingness to relinquish territory that the country finds itself in its current situation. “If the Israeli media were fair, they would play back all the comments by the politicians who supported Oslo and the disengagement, so that the public could hear and judge them for their silly promises, and see how their view of reality and their analytical ability is impaired.”
Although the country is still paying the price for its earlier mistakes, Rabbi Melamed is hopeful for the future. “Fortunately many Israelis are going through a process of opening their eyes to the truth. Many are already aware of the prejudices of the ‘experts’ on the left, their lack of roots and loyalty to their people and their homeland. Many Israelis relate to their analyses as comedy, in which any relation to actual reality is purely coincidental.”
The best way to encourage this process, he adds, is to continue repeating the mantra of “we told you so,” even though it may be “annoying and boring. We must continue to place the blame where it belongs, on the leaders of the left. We must repeat ‘we told you so’ even 1,000 times,” Rabbi Melamed adds. And if it is repeated enough times, the message may finally get through to Israelis, hopefully in time to prevent future mistakes.
Tags: Disengagement ,Oslo Accords ,Rabbi Eliezer Melamed
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