In August 1998, as soon as Israel's Foreign Min. David Lavy received the bad news from Kenya about a bomb blast in Nairobi, he reached out to PM Netanyahu &passed the information to him.
At the end of a short emergency meeting, a decision was made to send highly trained military personnel, medical supply, and heavy equipment to Nairobi to assist in the rescue efforts.
The rescue team was from the highly trained Home Front Command that was formed in 1982, after a blast decimated an IDF command in Lebanon, burying 127 Israeli security personnel.
To oversee the rescue operation in Nairobi, the IDF sent one of its most high-ranking officers, Brigadier Gen. Ilan Harari.
Meanwhile at Ben Gurion Inter Airport, an Israeli Air Force Boeing 706-300 destined for JKIA was being loaded with medical supply, state-of-the-art rescue equipment and eight working dogs, each with a Star of David emblazoned on its leather harness.
The bomb blast happened on Friday, &it was the aim of the Israeli rescuers to arrive on the bomb blast site, latest Saturday morning. Since it is against Jewish religious customs to work on a sabbath (Saturday), special permission had to be sought from the Chief Rabbi of Israel Eliyahu Bakshi-Doro to allow the soldiers to work on the Sabbath to save lives.
And at around 3.00 AM in the morning the Israeli Air Force Boeing 707-300 packed with , 160 soldiers, Foreign Ministry representatives, medical staff, equipments and rescue dogs, left Tel-Aviv over-flew the Red Sea, Eritrea, Ethiopia & landed in Nairobi in the morning.
Upon arrival, the team set up a command centre on the blast site under the watchful eyes of Brigadier Gen. Ilan Harari and began scouring the rubbles.
“It’s an important mission, a dangerous mission. We have a lot of staff &a lot of equipment. That’s why it was decided to send a high-ranking officer,” Brigadier General Harari said.
The US marines based in Kenya were among the first foreign forces to arrive on the site to support Kenyan security personnel and brave civilians who were digging through the rubbles . The Americans appeared overwhelmed and only concentrated on their Embassy side.
However, things started moving faster when the Israelis arrived.
One of the things that the IDF rescuers requested immediately they arrived on the blast site was the architectural plan of the top floor of the Ufundi building, but none was immediately available. To have a rough idea , they asked someone who was familiar with the building to make a rough drawing.
They then brought in the dogs and heavy equipment and turned on very sensitive equipment that could detect a buried finger tapping or the whisper cry of a dying man.
They worked diligently through the night using powerful lights. Meanwhile, the Americans stopped working as darkness crept in and left the site.
In fact, one Israeli rescuer recalled how an American told him there was no point to continue because those buried under the rubbles were all dead. “You know what one said to me? ‘What’s the difference? They’re already dead,'" the Israeli soldier recalled.
At 10 pm. on Saturday night, the Israeli managed to free their first survivor 45-year-old businessman Francis Nganga, who was fully conscious. They were also able to converse with another woman but lost contact with her on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, another Israeli team began to search the surrounding buildings. Inside one building, Sergeant Ilan Citron of IDF discovered a mother&her 13-year-old son in a caretaker’s quarters 21-story Coop bank, which was standing in ruins. They were Grace Akinyi &her son, Gabriel Wasonga. They walked out of the wreckage in a daze.scared but unharmed.
As Sunday came to an end, the likelihood of finding survivors diminished,&many began losing hope. However, the Israelis remained hopeful with Brigadier Gen Ilan Harari declaring , “We didn’t come here to be heroes. We came to help people &we will stay until the job is done."
@AFCBeef You cannot be a starting cb for club that go to back to back wc finals and not be good. Romero is a cunt but worldclass cb. Arteta can get his argentina version for us. Konsa is worse and more expensive. Sol campbel 2.0
🚨 Vinicius Jr. to Koke during the Madrid derby: "You’re a crybaby piece of sh*t."
Koke's response: "Mbappe is eating your toast (stealing your spotlight). He is the best."
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@DAZNFutbol
🚨🔴⚪️ BREAKING: Bruno Guimarães to Arsenal, HERE WE GO! 🇧🇷
Agreement in place with Newcastle after long talks and personal terms in place with Bruno since July. Fee worth £75m.
New midfielder for Mikel Arteta. 🔜
🚨 José Mourinho on Vinicius Jr: “When it happens in so many stadiums, always with the same, there is something wrong”.
“I told Vini: you scored a wonder goal, why did you celebrate like that? Why can’t you celebrate a goal with just the happiness of being a great player?”.
🚨🔴⚪️ Newcastle have started plans to bring in a new midfielder with new coach Matthias Jaissle involved…
…as Bruno Guimarães is expected to become Arsenal player shortly.
@afctosi And this is where he loses everything. Already contradicting himself agreeing personal terms mean agreeing to arsenal why is it still in vini's court and why would rocnation refuse to admit that
The decision is firmly in Vini’s hands. Accept a well below market offer from Madrid in which he doesn’t control his own image rights or get a global superstar package at Arsenal. It will come down to how much Real Madrid mean to him. Cross your fingers AFC fans.