Dan Aridor satirized the famous 1968 "Ammunition Hill" song to spoof a tweet by Defense Minister Benny Gantz that he considered a melodramatic depiction of "the war on COVID-19". Defense Minister Gantz tweeted: "Following the closure in Majdal Shams, which has become a bright red city, the defense establishment is directing increased resources to the locality - we have added food packages to the municipality for those isolated, and Home Front Command forces work with municipality officials and we’re accompanying every family in isolation in the Anshei Chayil project. "We won’t leave anyone behind." Aridor wrote: It was morning of the virus war’s second closure The horizon reddened brightly; we were in the midst of the battle of Majdal. We’d been fighting there for three hours. There was a stubborn, deadly battle; the virus fought tenaciously. It was an unusually fortified target. At one point in the fighting, only four soldiers remained. We ascended from there with a force of two companies. I didn’t know where the others were, as communication with Company Commander Bennett was cut at the beginning of the battle (slipped disc). At that moment I thought everyone was infected ... At two, two thirty We entered through the clefts To the virus-strewn field Of Majdal. Facing fortified viruses And infections one hundred twenty A hundred plus a few young guys Atop Majdal. The Pillar of Dawn has not yet arisen Half a company was infected long ago, But there we already were On Majdal Hill. Among the contagious viruses We left only the paramedics And we ran unconsciously Straight towards the viruses. At that moment a virus was thrown from outside. Miraculously we didn’t get infected. I was worried the viruses would throw more viruses. Someone had to go upstairs and watch. I did not have time to ask for volunteers; I sent Grotto. Grotto hesitated for a moment, went upstairs, and started operating the machine Q-Tip. At times Grotto passed me and I had to shout at him to stay in my line. That's how we passed about thirty houses. Blitzer was covering from above and we cleaned out the houses from the inside, Until it infected his head and he turned off the Zoom. We went down to the canals To the nooks and the rails And to the viruses in the burrows Of Majdal Hill. And no one anyplace asked Whoever was infected first did fall You needed a lot of mazal At Majdal. Those who were infected were sent to isolation That they not infect others Until we infect the next in line On Majdal Hill. Maybe we were lions But those who still wanted to live He was forbidden to get infected On Majdal Hill. We decided to try to blow up their virus with a mask. The mask made some dents on the virus. We decided to try a closure. I waited over them until the guy with the swab returned. He would throw me bundles and packs of Q-Tips, and I laid the packs one by one in the doorway Of their bunker. They had a method: First they threw a virus and then shot a cold; then they rested. So between a virus and a cold, I’d go to the door of their bunker and there placed the swabs. I activated the Q-tips and moved as far away as I could. I had four meters to maneuver, because there were viruses behind me too. I don’t know why I got a medal; all I wanted was to get home safely. Seven, seven twenty To Cutting the Chains of Contagion Command Gathered all the rest From Majdal Hill. Smoke rose from the hill The sun rose high in the east We returned to the city, seven From Majdal Hill. We returned to the city, seven As smoke rose from the hill The sun high in the east did rise On Majdal Hill. On fortified viruses And to our hero brethren Who were there infected, twenty-year-olds... On Majdal Hill. The 1968 song by Yoram Taharlev, performed by the Central Command Variety Ensemble, celebrates an actual grueling battle that was waged at the site of a police station built by the British in northern Jerusalem on a site called "Ammunition Hill". During the 1948 War of Independence, the Arab Legion conquered sections of northern Jerusalem which resulted in the creation of an Israeli enclave on Mount Scopus which was cut off from the rest of Israeli Jerusalem. Ammunition Hill became one of the Jordanians' fortified positions preventing the two segments from being united. During the 1967 Six-Day war, on June 6th, Israeli paratroopers were sent to capture the position but had received erroneous information seriously underestimating the strength of the Jordanian force at the position. Made up of bunkers and trenches, the paratroopers fought a tough battle in which they conquered the position, enabling Israeli forces to liberate the Old City, though the force lost 37 soldiers. Ammunition Hill Flash 90
