Jumpers into Jerusalem land without a snag

The parachutists were greeted in the park by Christian tourists who came for the Feast of Tabernacles organized by the International Christian Embassy.

By GIL HOFFMAN
Updated: SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 06:24
IDF Skydivers land at Jerusalem's Sacher Park (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
IDF Skydivers land at Jerusalem's Sacher Park
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
A historic jump of eight parachutists into Jerusalem’s Sacher Park took place with- out any problems on Thursday as part of the city’s Sukkot celebrations.
The parachutists were greeted in the park by Christian tourists who came for the Feast of Tabernacles, organized by the International Christian Embassy, and asked for selfies with the parachut- ists and their equipment.
“The city looks amazing from the sky,” parachutist Yogev Pinhas said. “Seeing the Old City walls from that direction cannot be described. I was so emotional. It was definitely a challenge, but it ended successfully, and I hope that the people in the park enjoyed watching us.”
Other parachutists described the jump as “the best experience of their lives.” The jump was held in honor of Israel’s 70th birthday and the 51st anniversary of the reunification of the city.
It was the dream of former prime minister Ariel Sharon’s foreign press adviser, Ra’anan Gissin, who himself has been jumping out of planes for decades. Gissin did not jump himself this time, because such a challenging jump into an urban park requires specialized jumpers with skydiving experience of over 1,500 jumps.
“It’s an unprecedented, once in a lifetime event that we are doing for the sake of Israel and Jerusalem,” Gissin said. “We hope people will see this all over the world.”
Gissin did add a caveat that there were a couple IDF jumpers who parachuted into Israel’s 50th birthday celebration at Jerusalem’s Givat Ram Sta- dium, which was attended by then-US vice president Al Gore. But, he said, a jump of this magnitude has never been attempted before.
The jumpers, who are members of the Israel Skydivers Union, took off from Herzliya and flew over Jerusalem’s Old City. They fell some 11,000 feet for 50 seconds before they took out their parachutes and then fell gradually for another five minutes to a 50-by-70 meter area of the park.