Man Miraculously Set Free From ISIS Reveals How God Intervened During Capture - WORLD WATCH MONITOR CHARISMA NEWS

Iraqi army soldiers search a house for Islamic State militants and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) north of Mosul, Iraq, Jan. 19, 2017. (Reuters/Ari Jalal)

Man Miraculously Set Free From ISIS Reveals How God Intervened During Capture

 2/9/2017 WORLD WATCH MONITOR  CHARISMA NEWS

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"Meghrik* was on a bus when it happened.

He was travelling from Aleppo to Al-Qamishli in the north east of Syria, a seven-hour journey even before the war started. Now, war means there are many checkpoints to stall progress on the 430-kilometer trip.

After a few hours, they approached yet another checkpoint. Drawing closer, the travelers could see the black and white flag of Islamic State (IS) blowing in the breeze. In the distance, they could just see the city of Raqqa, where IS still has its Syrian headquarters.

The driver slowed down and stopped when an IS fighter, dressed all in black, raised his hand.

Three fighters got on. Meghrik, sitting at the back, watched as they began checking other passengers' IDs. He started to sweat and took a deep breath to calm himself down.

A fighter stopped next to him. "Are you a Christian?" he asked.

Meghrik answered "no". He was raised by Christian parents and the family name was on his ID card, but he didn't believe in God anymore; he thought Christianity was ridiculous.

"You're lying. Your name says you're a Christian. Come with me," the fighter said.

'Worst Case Scenario'

He was paralyzed by fear. Being kidnapped by IS was a worst-case scenario in the minds of most Middle Eastern Christians. Torture, sadism, death threats and pressure to deny Christ are some of the things the imprisoned might face. But the soldier appeared reasonable despite the reputation of IS.

Meghrik left the bus, taking a small bag with him. As he passed the other passengers, he noticed the horror and fear on their faces.

The soldier showed Meghrik's ID to the commander at the checkpoint, who said: "An infidel. You cannot continue your journey." Meghrik tried to speak but was ordered to shut his mouth.

Sent to a house in Raqaa, later in the day he sat in a mocked-up courtroom facing an IS judge, who looked at his ID and concluded that he was a Christian.

"You're sentenced to death," the judge said.

As Meghrik heard the words, he felt like he was in a nightmare.

"It cannot be true," he told himself.

He felt the strength leave his body, replaced by fear.

"But I am not a Christian, I don't believe what my parents taught me," he told the judge in a whisper.

"This is the verdict," the judge replied.

Meghrik was thrown into a room that served as his prison cell. Fear kept him awake, and he hoped that it was all a big misunderstanding.

Later, men in black clothes took him to be executed. They tied his arms, covered his eyes and pushed him into a car. After driving through the city, they arrived at an open area. There were graves already dug for those sentenced to death.

Loaded Weapons

They took off Meghrik's blindfold, and he looked into the hole with horror. They pushed him in and then he heard the men loading their weapons. Tears ran down his cheeks, and he felt completely helpless. 

Seconds passed, but there was no shot. Then one of the soldiers broke the silence.

"You can live if you convert to Islam," he shouted.

"I will convert," replied Meghrik, seeing no other way out.

The men took him out of the hole and back to the room where he was imprisoned. He felt relieved but still fearful, especially when another man in the room with him said: "Converting is of no use. They kill you anyway."

The next day, IS soldiers took him to be interrogated and tortured. They gave him 30 lashes from a length of cable; this treatment went on for two more days.

On the fourth day, he faced a new accusation. "We checked your mobile phone. You insulted the Prophet," said one of the men. "Tomorrow we will kill you. You will go with a car bomb or we will slaughter you in another way," another man added.

Fortunately for Meghrik, that never happened. One of the IS leaders visited and told him he would be taken to another place and not executed.

He was taken to another IS judge, who told him he would soon be free.

Ten days after he was kidnapped, Meghrik walked out of the IS prison holding a document that gave him the right to pass through IS checkpoints and return home to his parents.

Asked why he felt he wasn't killed, Meghrik says it was an answer to prayer, even though he hadn't felt able to accept the existence of God.

"The moment they threw me in the hole to kill me, I said to God, 'If you exist, please give me a chance to get to know You.'" He continued to pray for his release even though he was later forced to convert to Islam and then tortured. "God changed the heart of the judge, and he set me free," he said. 

*Name changed for security reasons.

This article originally appeared on World Watch Monitor. 

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IDF Soldier Gilad Schalit's Capture, in his own words (Part II)

Gilad Schalit's Capture, in his own words (Part II)

By BEN CASPIT, JPost 

03/30/2013

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Former IDF soldier gives military investigators account of attack that led to his capture, deaths of 2 comrades.

Gilad and Noam Schalit reuniting Photo: Reuters)
 

On June 25, 2006, IDF Corporal Gilad Schalit was abducted by Palestinian militants from Gaza, who had infiltrated into Israel by tunneling under the border fence. An attack on Schalit's tank led to the deaths of two of the tank crew, and Schalit, frozen in the face of an assault, freely admitted that he had acted in such a way as to facilitate his capture. After more than five years as a hostage in Gaza, Schalit gave IDF investigators an honest and often unflattering recount of the events surrounding the attack. The second part of an exclusive two-part feature.  (For part one, search for "Gilad Schalit in the top right hand corner.)


The use of the hand grenades that were thrown into Gilad Schalit's tank casts doubt on the view that the main goal of the attack was to kidnap a soldier. If the militants had wanted to kidnap a soldier, it is unlikely that they would have thrown a grenade into the tank. They wanted to kill, to cause as much damage as possible and then get away quickly.

Click here to read the original article in Hebrew

Somehow, Schalit survived the grenade blasts and exited the tank. As he left the tank, he saw the terrorist climbing the front of the tank which on the Merkava is referred to as "the knife."

In order to climb, the terrorist needed to use both hands, which meant that his personal weapon - a Kalashnikov - was strapped across his back. At this point, he was in close range, making him an easy target. Schalit, who was sitting on the dome of the tank, where the tank commander has a view of the surrounding area, saw the militant climbing toward him but could not see the second militant on the other side of the tank.

The militant had still not seen Schalit, and Schalit could have easily moved his hand 10 cm to take control of the .50 caliber tank machine gun and shoot him, cutting him to pieces in seconds.

The .50 cal is not a weapon that you would want to have fired at you - its firing speed is lethal, and squeezing the trigger is quick and easy. But that is not what Schalit did; in fact, he did nothing.

It is plausible to assume that if the machine gun had been fired, it would have killed the militant climbing the tank and caused the second man to flee. Even if it had not occurred that way, taking control of the machine gun would still have given Schalit, who was inside the tank with three guns and the main tank cannon at his disposal, a marked advantage over his adversaries.

“You never thought to shoot the terrorist?” Schalit was asked during the investigation.

“No,” he answered, “I was completely confused. I did not think about anything. I was in shock.”

Seconds later the terrorist noticed Schalit at the top of the tank and Schalit shouted to him in Hebrew, “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot.”

The militant realized that Schalit was handing himself over, and leveled his weapon at him. He then shouted at Schalit in Hebrew, “Come with me.” Schalit climbed down from the tank, shaking wildly.

The second militant joined them, the two immediately understanding what a prize had fallen in their laps: a live Israeli soldier who was not fighting back. This was the prize that Hamas had dreamed of for years, and now here it was in front of them.

The three of them, Schalit and his two captors, moved quickly to the Gaza fence. At 5:21 a.m., they blew a hole in the fence and entered a small tunnel underneath. Schalit went with them quickly the entire way, without attempting to slow them down to save time until the second tank or other back up could arrive. He simply went along with them and ran toward the fence.

One of the militants crawled underneath and told Schalit to do the same, the latter complying immediately. The militants told him to move more quickly and he rushed to obey. Afterward, his bullet proof vest was found next to the fence; it appears he took it off in order to move more freely.

After passing under the fence, the three headed deep into the Gaza Strip, with all possible haste. An IDF tank arrived at the scene and at an observation post locked a fix on the three, but permission to fire was not issued. It was still not known that a soldier was being kidnapped. They were already more than a kilometer in Palestinian territory. Finally the tank opened fire, but only with its machine guns.

They did not receive permission to fire heavy weapons, and the machine guns missed their target. Schalit and his captors reached the first line of houses where a tractor was waiting for them. They boarded the tractor, which took them to a car, which in turn took them to another car. On the way, the terrorists stripped Schalit of his army uniform and dressed him in civilian clothing. Schalit was firmly in their hands, and five and a half years of captivity had begun.

Humus and Soccer

Schalit remembers his time in captivity clearly. He was not held in basements and he was not tortured other than slight "annoyances" in his first days of captivity. Though they hit him a bit and tied him to bars, they quickly understood that he was fragile and would die in their hands if they beat him too badly. They did not want him to die, that would have been a catastrophe. At that point, Schalit was the Palestinian people’s greatest asset.

During his captivity he was passed among several Palestinian families around the Gaza Strip. He watched television, listened to the radio and was even occasionally allowed to surf the internet. He heard all of the news reports during “Operation Cast Lead” in winter 2008-9, and watched all of the 2010 World Cup games. He specifically remembers the game he saw when he was moved from one family to another - it was a game featuring Spain, the world champions. All in all, he was treated reasonably.

The main problem was food. There were not many culinary options and Schalit was forced to eat what Gazans eat, which is mainly humus. Understandably he was in a depressed state, which affected his appetite, which in turn caused a dramatic drop in his weight. He did not go on a hunger strike, and indeed never considered the option. One day he ate with a family on their rooftop in Khan Yunis and from their roof he could see the Mediterranean.  Under other circumstances, he could have believed that he was on vacation.

 Schalit communicated with his captors in Hebrew and English, and his guards were changed throughout the duration of his captivity. For the most part, he was guarded by a special squad who worked in shifts. Schalit knew exactly what was happening in Israel; he followed the elections in 2009, and knew what was going on in world events. He was never in danger during “Cast Lead,” though it was suspected that since the operation was an attempt to save him it might anger his captors.

Schalit complied completely with his captors and interrogators at all times, though there was little new information he could provide. The scant details he did know, he told them. When asked, he provided information about Israeli fortifications and the Merkava tank. It was important to him to please them and give them information in order to receive good treatment.

The story of Gilad Schalit is a difficult one, full of failure. It is about the failure of his tank team, of Schalit himself and the lack of intelligence, which was the responsibility of the Shin Bet security service, which had had no success in tracking him for more than five years. Two soldiers died in the initial action, defending Israel. They did not perform their duties as well as possible, but the history of the IDF is full of stories of failure. That is just the way of war.

Schalit may have handed himself over to the militants without putting up a fight, but it is unfair to criticize him. It was a normal, human reaction. I served as a tank commander and I have no idea how I would have acted in the same situation. It is entirely possible that I would have responded just like him.  “Do not judge a man,” it is written, “until you are in his place,” and in this case there is no way to judge him. He has already been judged by spending more than five years in captivity. On the other hand, it is important to know the circumstances behind this terrible event and to learn lessons from it. There will be similar situations in the future and we must hope they will end differently than this one.

Schalit is an introverted young man who is both emotional and fragile. It is likely that he should not have been placed in a tank unit in the first place. Perhaps he simply was not fit for it. When his tank was hit, he went into shock and lost the ability to act. The term "hero", which was given him by IDF Chief Benny Gantz  when Schalit returned to Israel, is misplaced. Brigadier General Avigdor Kahalani, a tank commander in 1967 and 1973, was a hero. Major Roi Klein, who died in the 2006 Lebanon War by jumping on a grenade to save his comrades, was a hero. Lieutenant Colonel Avi Lanir, tortured to death by Syrian soldiers during the Yom Kippur War, was a hero. The history of Israel and the IDF is checkered with many stories of bravery, and Gilad Schalit is far from being among them. He is in a way a type of anti-hero. He was a soldier who was placed in a difficult situation and chose a path of submission. There is no heroism in this story. This story is one of humanity that is both sad and touching.

It is possible that Schalit was never fit to serve as a combat soldier. Still maybe it is the very fact that he served in the tank unit and fulfilled his duty to his country even so that is his badge of honor. Yet after all of this, we cannot forget that there is a state to protect, one that is surrounded by enemies. Israel cannot afford to allow herself too many stories of "bravery" like this.

So what is the lesson of this story? There is no lesson. It is a good thing that Schalit returned home and received a new lease of life, which I am happy about. He is traveling, which is great, but if I were in his stead I would somehow try to take the public adulation and celebrity, and attempt to make a positive contribution - even a symbolic one - for the benefit of Israeli society.
The State of Israel paid a heavy price for his return, one that is hard to swallow. His story will not be included in lessons on combat tradition, and he knows this. There are those that think that this is the beauty of it all, that the lesson to be learnt here is the strength of Israel in its concern for every single soldier, without exceptions, but I am not among them.

On the other hand, there is no doubt that there is no other nation that knows how to invest itself so completely in the safety of each and every soldier. Yet along with the celebrations and joy, there must be some soul-searching on the part of the state, the IDF and Schalit himself.

If I were Schalit, I would devote some of my time and energy to some form of volunteer work that would give back to the state. Something symbolic, that would show thanks to the country that compromised many of its essential interests in order to bring him home, if for no other reason than to feel good. Maybe this will still happen. But first he must enjoy the freedom that he has truly earned. He may not be our hero, but he still is our antihero.

Translated by Amishai Gottlieb.

http://www.jpost.com/Features/In-Thespotlight/Gilad-Schalits-capture-in-his-own-words-Part-II-308198