In the months following the capture of the Hermon, Aryeh Zur of Beersheva formally established the Golan Ski Club
“Sidonians called Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir.”
— Devarim 3:9.
“And in another passage it states, ‘Until Mount Sion which is Hermon’. So the mountain had four names [Hermon, Sirion, Senir, Sion]. Why is this written? To extol the praise of Eretz Yisrael, that four neighboring kingdoms all took pride in this mountain, with each one claiming that it be named for them. Senir — This is snow in Ashkenaz and in the language of Canaan.”
–Rashi ibid.
Just a three-hour drive from Yerushalayim, and only six hours from the 110-degree weather in Eilat, stands “the eyes of the nation,” as the imposing summit of Mt. Hermon is referred to in Israel in a nod to its strategic importance. Wedged between the borders of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, it remains divided, desired, and contested territory, as it has been for millennia. Its towering height makes it the only location in Israel to experience regular, significant snowfall every winter, and it features Israel’s only successful skiing operation on its long slopes.
Two days after the guns fell silent following the Six-Day War in June 1967, Israeli Air Force Commander Motti Hod obtained authorization from Defense Minister Moshe Dayan to seize control of one of the peaks of Mount Hermon, in order to establish a strategically placed observation post for the IDF to overlook the Damascus region. Colonel Pinchas Noi, the commanding officer of the 13th Golani Battalion, and his radio operator landed by helicopter on the southern peak of the mountain and planted the Israeli flag. Shortly thereafter the IDF observation post was operational, and the Har Chermon military base emerged as a crucial asset in intelligence gathering from Syria and Lebanon.
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