Um Rashrash

Avraham Aden, a Company Commander in the Negev Brigade, raises the improvised ink flag above the police station of Um Rashrash, marking the end of the "Ovda" operation.

The makeshift flag was made by the medic of the force after the soldiers of the unit discovered they do not have a flag.

The stripes were drawn in ink, and the Star of David was taken from a first aid kit.

After Egypt conquered the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip in 1948, fedayeen terrorists began cross border attacks on the Jewish kibbutzniks and farmers in Israel.

In 1956 when Gamal Abdul Nasser, the leader of Egypt closed the Suez Canal and cut of shipping from Israel's Port of Eilat, Israel was ready to attack. Initially French and British troops participated.

They joined Israel in order to maintain their hold on the Middle East and to prevent the encroachment of communism as Egypt was making closer ties with the Soviet Union.

But Israel did almost all the fighting, taking the entire Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip in a matter of days.

A year later, in an American brokered deal, Israel relinquished control of those areas back to Egypt.

But she gained vital information that lead to the swift victory of the Six Day War in 1967, when she again liberated the Sinai and Gaza.

Osirak Bombing - Opera Operation

In the early 1980's Iraq, under Saddam Hussein began building the Osiraq nuclear reactor. Israel feared that Iraq would use the reactor to build nuclear weapons and bomb Israel.
When negotiations didn't work, Israel, under Prime Minister Menachem Begin decided to bomb the reactor.
In June of 1981, a squadron of fighter jets flew into Iraq, bombed the reactor and returned safely home.
The successful mission was met with praise in Israel but condemnation from other countries. These same countries later thanked Israel during the 1991 Persian Gulf War when Iraq's further plans for war were revealed.
One of the pilots was Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut who later died in the space shuttle disaster in 2003.