116: Inside an Iron Dome staging post and crossing Kerem Shalom into Gaza: Jonny heads for Israel’s Gaza border

Let’s take you to a top secret location in the south of Israel to observe at firsthand an Iron Dome battery, followed by a trip to Kerem Shalom, the border frontier exchanging goods and workers between Gaza and Israel.

We were told by the IDF the night before not to come because there’d been incoming rocket fire which they’d defended against from that very location.

But in the end, the invite and clearance was reinstated. When I arrived there, I was surprised by the personnel in charge of the two bulky anti-missile launchers. The IDF soldiers responsible for defending Israel with the system were three 18 year old girls. I interview two members of the IDF, who reveal what it takes to be a soldier with split-second responsibility, to make crucial decisions - and at such a young age. The Jenin operation, dubbed “House and Garden”, (yes, really) was also in full action and yet another car ramming and stabbing greeted our arrival into Tel Aviv.

I was part of an Elnet UK delegation, an organisation sharing democratic values and strategic interests between the Jewish State and the UK and Europe.

Come with me as I cross both sides of the buffer zone on the main border between Israel and Gaza. Never forgotten. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is supported by UK Toremet.

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