The Roar of Tanks: A Special Report from the Jerusalem Branch

“If you listen carefully you can hear big tanks roar past our home on the way to the Jordan front,” exclaimed David B. Galbraith, president of the Jerusalem Branch during a special telephone report to the Ensign.

“We have been getting heavy military traffic passing our peaceful home in Bethany. There has been a fear that a third front might open up. This would mean that Israel would be fighting on three fronts instead of two, and it would put Jerusalem within firing range of the attackers.”

President Galbraith heads a branch of some 20 members that is periodically doubled to 40 by the arrival of students from Brigham Young University in a resident study program. The students were already in Israel when war erupted in the Middle East, and for safety’s sake they were evacuated and are continuing their studies in Salzburg, Austria.

“Now that the students are out and safe, we are concerned with the well-being of our regular members. They are not concentrated in any one area; in fact, we have families all the way from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south.

“We have Dr. and Sister Kenneth Brown from Mapleton, Utah, serving as dentists on a kibbutz in the Galilee area. They see aerial ‘dogfights’ every day and they can hear heavy artillery pounding away day and night. They frequently have to run into the shelters. They are really experiencing the war.

“Then we have Sister Margreta Spencer from Magrath, Alberta, Canada, who is chief physiotherapist in the general hospital at Sasad. She has called to tell us that she is well and that she is not in danger. However, the hospital is receiving the war wounded from the front line, and right now she is very busy caring for them.

“We are really concerned about Obed Narkan. He was born in Israel but was raised in California. When he returned to Israel he became a convert to the Church and is now a priest. We don’t know where he is exactly, but he was serving in the Israeli Defense Forces based near the Gaza Strip. He is sure to be fighting in the Sinai. But until we hear from him there is no way we can contact him.

“Recently, my wife and I went to visit some members in a kibbutz, a communal settlement in the Galilee area. They had 120 young people serving at the front. Three were known dead, and there were many injured.

“People are beginning to realize just how serious this war is. It wasn’t expected to last as long as it has. It is a long war for this part of the world. But the overall effect is just being realized in terms of lives, suffering, and dollars. The newspaper today said that the war is costing Israel approximately $6 million per hour. That’s a staggering amount for a country of this size, especially one that is still developing and where people, even before the war, were struggling for a higher standard of living.

“The war is having its effects on various segments of the society. For instance, for the first few days of the war, we had no milk because all the milk truck drivers had been called to serve in the defense forces. So had the garbage truck drivers, the bus drivers, the taxi drivers, and many other people who keep a society functioning.

“We are on a war footing here in Jerusalem and throughout Israel. We have the regular wartime precautions to observe, such as blackout procedures where all automobile headlights are painted black and all windows are covered at night. And although the newspapers tell us that there are no shortages, there are. There are no imports, and many shelves are starting to look bare. However, none of the shortages are such that substitutions can’t be made. Rice is hard to get and sugar is a little hard to come by, but gasoline is still in plentiful supply, and has not been rationed at all.

“Here in Jerusalem we run a small textile export business, but with the war under way, the government has ordered our factory to turn itself to sewing military uniforms.

“In all, we are safe and secure here, even though we have had an occasional air raid warning, but the all-clear has sounded within an hour or two at the most.

“The kibbutz we visited prepares each night for any possible attacks by sending the children to bed in the shelters. To make the children feel comfortable and as cheerful as possible, the adults have decorated the walls with bright pictures and tried to make things as happy as possible.

“On our return from the kibbutz we passed many captured tanks that the Israelis are bringing back from the front, refitting where necessary, and sending them back to the front to be used again.

“On the whole, things are fine, and we are still holding our regular Church meetings. Our Sabbath is on Saturday, which is the best time for the members to get together.” The branch in Jerusalem was created in September 1972 and is a part of the Switzerland Mission.