Thin and pale, wearing a long-sleeved light shirt and black cap is how kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit appeared in his release photo after five years and four months in Hamas captivity. At 10:20 am today, all Israel watched their TVs to view the picture they had been waiting for years to see.
At this poignant moment, it seemed that the voices of the commentators and generals arguing over the price of the prisoner exchange were suddenly silenced and the well-phrased questions about the winners and losers in the deal were set aside. Gilad Shalit was free, the first Israeli soldier to be retrieved alive from the clutches of Hamas terrorists. Previous soldiers captured by Hamas were murdered: Avi Sasportas, Ilan Saadon, Nachshon Wachsman, and Border Guard Nissim Toledano. To get Shalit home alive, some of the murderous kidnappers were set free.
Shalit's family, including his parents Aviva and Noam, and grandfather, Zvi Shalit, travelled prior to the release to the Tel Nof Air Force Base. They were directed to a special compound that was prepared and fenced off in advance, where they followed the broadcasts and reports on the step-by-step progress of the prisoner exchange of Gilad's long road home.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Ehud Barak, and IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Ganz also proceeded to Tel Nof to oversee the operation, periodically sending out their spokesmen to the battalions of correspondents waiting at the gate: everything is under control; the process is proceeding as planned. The anxieties of the past few days since the deal was announced were thus gradually dissipated - something would go wrong, a last-minute hitch would turn the celebration into something else. After all, Noam Shalit noted that the Middle East is an unpredictable insane asylum with its own logic.
Just after 11:00 am, at the Keren Shalom border crossing into Sinai, not far from where Gilad Shalit was kidnapped on June 25, 2006, IDF spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai stood in front of the cameras to make what appeared to be a statement prepared long before. "Gilad Shalit has come back home," he said, fully aware of the drama of the news.
A few minutes earlier, Netanyahu, Barak, Ganz, and the Shalit family closely followed on the TV screens an interview with Shalit by an Egyptian TV correspondent. Gilad appeared stunned, emotional, and agitated by the momentousness of the circumstances.
In the huge media tent at Tel Nof set up by the Prime Minister's Office and the IDF Spokesman journalists and security officials alike followed the interview with bated breath and many shed tears. Some were clearly looking for clues regarding Shalit's mental and physical health. When they heard his answers to the Egyptian journalists questions the consensus was that he "Seemed to be talking sensibly."
One senior Israeli government official described the interview as, "A shocking and humiliating event - a kidnapping by Egyptian TV that was scandalous."
Three Blackhawk helicopters, the first carrying Gilad Shalit in his carefully laundered and ironed uniform, conveyed the released soldier in the early afternoon from Kerem Shalom to Tel Nof air base. The flight last 17 minutes as cameramen and photographers pointed their equipment to the skies in the hope of getting elusive images. At Tel Nof the main ceremony was closed to journalists as well as Gilad's Shalit's emotional reunion with his family.
As planned, Gilad Shalit was greeted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Ehud Barak, and IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Ganz. Shalit stepped out of the helicopter to a salute from Netanyahu. Shalit saluted in return. The prime minister walked up to the released soldier and hugged him, saying, "Welcome back to the State of Israel. How good it is that you have come home." Netanyahu, Barak and Ganz escorted Shalit to meet his parents, brother, sister and grandfather. "We have brought your child home," Netanyahu told the Shalit family.
A short while afterwards Netanyahu sent a threatening message to the terrorists who were released today in exchange for Shalit. He told them that if they again act against Israel, "Your blood will be on your own heads."
Barak described Shalit's health as "good." He said, "He looks absolutely fine and is in complete control of his faculties. Ganz said that only today did Shalit complete the mission that he began five years and four months ago.
Nearby the IDF medical unit stationed a mobile clinic with advanced x-ray equipment and a dental laboratory so that Shalit could have a comprehensive check up as quickly as possible to give a picture of his physical and mental health. A team of psychologists spoke to him about the conditions of his incarceration. Initial indications are that all is well although Shalit has not seen daylight for some time and is suffering from nutritional deficiencies.
The Air Force then took Shalit and his family by Blackhawk helicopter to their home in Mitzpeh Hila in the Galilee. He was greeted by local residents, while the Police were deployed to keep out curious onlookers. Finally, Gilad Shalit was home. His father Noam Shalit said, "Today, it is as if our son has been born again."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 18, 2011
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011