2008 Woodie Awards
Israel Club: The Roi Amitai Experience
Chana Wiznitzer
Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
On September 10, 2007, hundreds of people crowd into Belfer Hall's Weissberg Commons for the sole purpose of attending the Israel Club's inaugural event, featuring key speaker Roi Amitai. Roi, a shy young man, stands in the center of the room, awed by the presence of so many people, while Dylan and Rachel, co-presidents of the Israel Club, scramble to find more chairs. Despite their best efforts, some students must still settle themselves comfortably on the floor.
Once this is successfully accomplished, all eyes turn to Roi.
Roi Amitai is a survivor. He does not consider himself a hero; he states that what happened to him could have happened to anyone. As a survivor of the fateful attack that claimed two lives and has him in and out of hospitals to this very day, he is the last person to have seen Gilad Shalit alive. Now, for the first time, he will speak. There is a hush as we wait for Roi's words. Surprisingly, it is not he who takes the microphone, but Ariel Kotler, Executive Director of One Family Fund, an organization dedicated to helping survivors of terrorist attacks.
"I'm sure you'd much rather have Roi speak than me," he begins, "but Roi won't do it. He hasn't taken one interview since the day of the attack; he hasn't been on one TV station.
He said, "Ariel, I'll come; I'll be wherever you need me to be, but if I see my face on TV, my whole battalion is coming after you." We laugh appreciatively. "He says it's not about him.
He's not a hero." Ariel explains that he will translate for Roi, who prefers to speak Hebrew. Roi does address the audience in English to thank them for coming, explaining that he is very shy but is very excited to be here. He then proceeds to show us some pictures from the army. He specifically focuses upon his comrades, Lieutenant Hannan Barak and Sergeant Pavel Slutzker, who were both killed in the June 26 attack. What happened that fateful morning? At 5:30 AM, an RPG missile was fired at a merkavah 3, the strongest Israeli tank. The merkavah is fortified with reactive protection, which means that behind its steel shells, there are explosives.
When a missile hits the tank, it explodes out instead of absorbing the strike, thereby reacting when it's hit. In a stroke of very bad luck- or excellent targeting on the part of the terrorists- the RPG missile managed to hit the most sensitive part of the tank. Hannan and Pavel immediately left the tank and were gunned down and Gilad was kidnapped.
The terrorists, who Roi believes knew that there are four people to a tank, were not finished. Roi was trapped in the drivers seat inside the cockpit. The terrorists took two grenades and threw them inside the tank, spraying several bullets as well in order to ignite the ammunition therein. They were successful. Roi lost consciousness due to the toxic combination of Freon gas and smoke. Roi suffered severe injuries, including the complete collapse of his lungs and partial deafness in one ear.
The army gave him an honorary discharge, which he waived. Seven and a half months later, Roi put his uniform back on and returned to his battalion, explaining that there "wasn't a different option." After a moving promotional video describing the mission of One Family Fund, the floor is opened for questions.
When asked as to whether there was any mishandling of the situation, Roi replies that "the total event, from start to finish, was under six minutes. There were three terrorist cells attacking from three different areas; people were mixed up," seeming to assign no blame. He explains that there was absolutely nothing that he or his friends would be able to do differently were the event to happen again. It wasn't that they weren't prepared but simply that the terrorists surprised them.
One SCW student questions, "If there's a choice to get Gilad back by trading three or four hundred terrorist soldiers, what do you think he'd want?" Roi explains that he could not answer for Gilad, but he believes that the people in Israel would be willing to trade because it is a question of time. Kotler elaborates on that point, explaining that Israel's reaction to kidnappings directly impacts the morale of her soldiers. "If you were kidnapped and the Israeli army is not going to do everything to get you back, how are you going to fight; what kind of morale are you going to have?"
Another SCW student asks Roi about the video that had surfaced a year after Gilad's capture. Did he think that was Gilad talking for himself, or was he forced? Roi answers that it is definitely Gilad on the video, but "one million percent that he was dictated to and they told him exactly what to say- there were many mistakes in linguistics and the way he pronounced things," a belief that he states is supported by specialists in the field.
During the 48 hours that Roi has spent in New York, he has been most overwhelmed by the outpouring of support. He feels like people deeply, truly care about him and his family. It's amazing; people literally open up their stores, hearts and wallets and say, "Come on, take whatever you want." When Ariel asks Roi what the best experience he'd had thus far was, he says it's mind-boggling that people care so much and that they want to make such a difference. It is at this point that Ariel provides us with the tools to make a difference.
One Family Fund is an extremely important organization because it exists to help the survivors of terrorists attacks, who are victims as well. There are camps and programs for children; one counselor explains that "we've seen that touching helps to connect the kids, to give them warmth, tenderness and a feeling of security- many of these kids are lacking that." One Family Fund creates a community for those who have been hurt by terror. We the students of YU can help by adopting a family, an enterprise that costs $6000. The family receives $500 a month. Of course the family's accounts and financial needs are verified. One more question before the event concludes.
A YU student inquires in an urgent, gripping tone, "Did you get a good look at any of the terrorist's faces and if you did, does it still haunt you today?" Kotler turns to Roi, who speaks to him briefly in Hebrew. He gives a short laugh, then turns back to all of us. "He saw legs, but they're not haunting him." More information about One Family Fund is available at their website, www.onefamilyfund.org.
Once this is successfully accomplished, all eyes turn to Roi.
Roi Amitai is a survivor. He does not consider himself a hero; he states that what happened to him could have happened to anyone. As a survivor of the fateful attack that claimed two lives and has him in and out of hospitals to this very day, he is the last person to have seen Gilad Shalit alive. Now, for the first time, he will speak. There is a hush as we wait for Roi's words. Surprisingly, it is not he who takes the microphone, but Ariel Kotler, Executive Director of One Family Fund, an organization dedicated to helping survivors of terrorist attacks.
"I'm sure you'd much rather have Roi speak than me," he begins, "but Roi won't do it. He hasn't taken one interview since the day of the attack; he hasn't been on one TV station.
He said, "Ariel, I'll come; I'll be wherever you need me to be, but if I see my face on TV, my whole battalion is coming after you." We laugh appreciatively. "He says it's not about him.
He's not a hero." Ariel explains that he will translate for Roi, who prefers to speak Hebrew. Roi does address the audience in English to thank them for coming, explaining that he is very shy but is very excited to be here. He then proceeds to show us some pictures from the army. He specifically focuses upon his comrades, Lieutenant Hannan Barak and Sergeant Pavel Slutzker, who were both killed in the June 26 attack. What happened that fateful morning? At 5:30 AM, an RPG missile was fired at a merkavah 3, the strongest Israeli tank. The merkavah is fortified with reactive protection, which means that behind its steel shells, there are explosives.
When a missile hits the tank, it explodes out instead of absorbing the strike, thereby reacting when it's hit. In a stroke of very bad luck- or excellent targeting on the part of the terrorists- the RPG missile managed to hit the most sensitive part of the tank. Hannan and Pavel immediately left the tank and were gunned down and Gilad was kidnapped.
The terrorists, who Roi believes knew that there are four people to a tank, were not finished. Roi was trapped in the drivers seat inside the cockpit. The terrorists took two grenades and threw them inside the tank, spraying several bullets as well in order to ignite the ammunition therein. They were successful. Roi lost consciousness due to the toxic combination of Freon gas and smoke. Roi suffered severe injuries, including the complete collapse of his lungs and partial deafness in one ear.
The army gave him an honorary discharge, which he waived. Seven and a half months later, Roi put his uniform back on and returned to his battalion, explaining that there "wasn't a different option." After a moving promotional video describing the mission of One Family Fund, the floor is opened for questions.
When asked as to whether there was any mishandling of the situation, Roi replies that "the total event, from start to finish, was under six minutes. There were three terrorist cells attacking from three different areas; people were mixed up," seeming to assign no blame. He explains that there was absolutely nothing that he or his friends would be able to do differently were the event to happen again. It wasn't that they weren't prepared but simply that the terrorists surprised them.
One SCW student questions, "If there's a choice to get Gilad back by trading three or four hundred terrorist soldiers, what do you think he'd want?" Roi explains that he could not answer for Gilad, but he believes that the people in Israel would be willing to trade because it is a question of time. Kotler elaborates on that point, explaining that Israel's reaction to kidnappings directly impacts the morale of her soldiers. "If you were kidnapped and the Israeli army is not going to do everything to get you back, how are you going to fight; what kind of morale are you going to have?"
Another SCW student asks Roi about the video that had surfaced a year after Gilad's capture. Did he think that was Gilad talking for himself, or was he forced? Roi answers that it is definitely Gilad on the video, but "one million percent that he was dictated to and they told him exactly what to say- there were many mistakes in linguistics and the way he pronounced things," a belief that he states is supported by specialists in the field.
During the 48 hours that Roi has spent in New York, he has been most overwhelmed by the outpouring of support. He feels like people deeply, truly care about him and his family. It's amazing; people literally open up their stores, hearts and wallets and say, "Come on, take whatever you want." When Ariel asks Roi what the best experience he'd had thus far was, he says it's mind-boggling that people care so much and that they want to make such a difference. It is at this point that Ariel provides us with the tools to make a difference.
One Family Fund is an extremely important organization because it exists to help the survivors of terrorists attacks, who are victims as well. There are camps and programs for children; one counselor explains that "we've seen that touching helps to connect the kids, to give them warmth, tenderness and a feeling of security- many of these kids are lacking that." One Family Fund creates a community for those who have been hurt by terror. We the students of YU can help by adopting a family, an enterprise that costs $6000. The family receives $500 a month. Of course the family's accounts and financial needs are verified. One more question before the event concludes.
A YU student inquires in an urgent, gripping tone, "Did you get a good look at any of the terrorist's faces and if you did, does it still haunt you today?" Kotler turns to Roi, who speaks to him briefly in Hebrew. He gives a short laugh, then turns back to all of us. "He saw legs, but they're not haunting him." More information about One Family Fund is available at their website, www.onefamilyfund.org.
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