With the Israelis now two years into the so-called War of Attrition against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, military supplies are at a premium.  And it's not just guns, ammo, tanks, and jets that they need, but auxiliary supplies, too.

My brother, Lou, is a wholesaler in San Pedro.  He's also a pillar of the Jewish community who wants to do all he can for the young Jewish state.  So he recently purchased a bunch of binoculars for Israel, an act for which (among others), he was recently awarded the Israeli Medal of Freedom—an honor he shares with Barbara Streisand!

And since he got so many, a pair ended up in my hands.  Behold:

This particular model is wide-angle with a 9° field of view.  It's an 8×40, which means it magnifies eight times and the lenses are 40mm wide.  Those wide lenses are great as they let in more light for a really brilliant view.

"Sunscope", I understand, is actually a California-based distributor of Japanese binoculars. This particular model was made by the Kamakura Koki Company, based out of Saitama, Japan.  Saitama is a big city just northwest of Tokyo.

8x magnification is actually pretty nice!  Excellent for birdwatching and amateur astronomy.  I've gotten some lovely views of the Moon and Jupiter through them—you can see the four Galilean satellites of the latter most clearly (sorry I don't have photos to share!)

By the way, if you want to pick up a pair of your own, Lou might still have some in stock.  When you go, say hi to David, my nephew.  He's worked in the shop for a while.