The World

4460 Opchapd Lake Poaci
west Bloomfield, MI 48323
Phone: 248.683.1010

gent ofreel °flats/ Woomfidd

Assisted living ,

Studios and suites with private baths

with catered services

in beautiful surroundin gs

created especiall y

for older adults.

Three well planned daily meals
Emergency call systems
Housekeeping and linen services
Round the clock staffing
Nurse manager
Personal care assistance
Medical supervision
Spa with pool and exercise room
Scheduled activities
Game room
Library
Hair salon
Sundries shop
Transportation
Valet parking for residents

Includes all utilities with the exception of telephone and cable television
Call Renee Mahler at 248.683.1010 for additional information

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SWNMAS 1 'ER
xim
cal/yet

Our most popular style.
Practical for any area of your
home. A unique process reduces
footprints and vacuum marks.
Features advance Teflon
treatment to resist stains.

The newest look in carpet.
Extremely durable, made
of new improved
STAINMASTERs'
The carpet is easy
to maintain

-Reg. $32.00-

-Reg. $24.99-

Sale... $16 94. yd.

Sale... $1794. yd.

Soft yet durable. For rooms that require a more
formal elegant look. Most spills bead up.

-Reg. $49.99-

Sale... $357

d.

CARPET COMPANY SINCE 1959

RESIDENTIAL • COMMERCIAL

FOR ALL YOUR FLOORING NEEDS

8/14

1998

32 Detroit Jewish News

Kenya's Heroes:
Israeli Rescuers

Specially trained reserve
forces give Israel a
welcome moment in the
positive spotlight.

ERIC SILVER

Israel Correspondent

i, Wiener, the husky soldier
who dragged out the first
survivor of the Nairobi
bombing saved by the
Israeli dog squad last weekend, is a 29-
year-old architecture student working
his way through college as a life guard
at the Hebrew University swimming
pool in Jerusalem.
Like him, most of the 170 skilled
officers and men who flew to the
Kenyan capital within 24 hours of the
explosion that wrecked the United
States embassy are reservists. They are
recruited from all branches of the
armed forces during the last year of
their three-year compulsory service
and trained on simulated disaster sites.
Back in civilian life, the volunteers
are called up for one week a year of
intensive refresher courses. A perma-
nent alert staff is primed to mobilize
them at short notice.
"My men are not the strongest sol-
diers in the army," the commander of
their training base, Major Ronen
Greenberg, smiled this week, "but
they have to be pretty strong — and
they have to have a talent for technol
ogy. They must know how to handles,
sophisticated equipment, and how to
fix it quickly if it malfunctions during
..
an emergency."
They are taught patience and
extreme caution. Gil Wiener and his
team kept their Kenyan survivor talk-
ing for six hours before they got him
out of his steel and concrete trap.
Their commander insisted that they
work only from the side and above.
Although the man had an almost sev-
ered leg and head injuries, rushing the
operation might have brought tons of .
rubble down on rescued and rescuers.
The emergency unit was established
during the 1982 Israeli invasion of
Lebanon after an explosion demol-
ished an army administrative block in
Tyre, killing 89 soldiers and secret ser-
vice agents. Since then, it has seen ser-
vice at home and on humanitarian
missions on three continents.
It rescued Israeli civilians from Tel
Aviv flats hit by Saddam Hussein's
Scud missiles during the 1991 Gulf
War. In the mid-'80s, it joined the

hunt for survivors of massive earth-
quakes in Mexico.and Armenia and
flew in food, tents and medical sup-
plies. In 1992, it extricated dead aid
wounded from the four-story Israeli
embassy building blown up by Islamic
fanatics in Buenos Aires.
The army also sent a medical aid
team, protected by 270 infantrymen,
to Rwanda during the 1994 civil wa
and firefighting helicopters to help put
out a huge blaze at a Turkish arms fac-
tory in 1997.
Defense Ministry officials in Tel
Aviv hailed the Nairobi mission as a
debt of honor. Kenya joined most
African states in cutting diplomatic
relations with Israel after it invaded
Egypt, a fellow African country, dur-
ing the 1973 Yom Kippur War. But
Kenya continued to maintain close
economic links with the Jewish state.
Hundreds of Israeli specialists worked
on industrial and agricultural develop-
ment projects there. Kenyan managers
and technicians studied in Israel.

"I'm a doctor.
I won't let you
die."

In July 1976, Kenya secretly
allowed Israeli transport planes to
refuel in Nairobi after their epic rescue
of hijacked airline passengers from
neighboring Entebbe.
Some of the team sent to the
Kenyan capital last weekend are veter-
ans of the Buenos Aires and Armenian
operations. They are among the least
flamboyant of Israeli soldiers.
When the Nairobi crowd lauded
Gil Wiener on Saturday night, he
remonstrated: "I'm no hero." Another
rescuer explained: "Saving lives is just
something that's in our blood."
During that first rescue, the survivor,
Sammy Ngana, was suffering so much
pain that he begged the Israelis to let
him die. "I'm a doctor," retorted
Lieutenant Nahum Nesher, one of the
team. "I won't let you die."
The men do their job, with no
time for sentiment. Ronen
Greenberg, the chief instructor, con-
fided that during 10 years as a rescuer
he experienced only one "happy end-
ing." He located an elderly woman
trapped in a Tel Aviv flat shattered by
one of Saddam's Scuds. "While we