There’s No Place Like Home

The whirring of the helicopter’s engine preceded its appearance in the darkening blue-gray late afternoon sky high above Mitzpe Hila which itself sits perched 1600 feet above sea level four miles south of the Lebanese border.

Moments later the helicopter landed in a clearing amidst a lush green forest bearing its precious cargo. A police escort was waiting on the ground on motorcycles and in reinforced vehicles as supporters waving Israeli flags waited with heightened anticipation along Mitzpe Hila’s main road.

Gilad Shalit and family jumped off the helicopter into a waiting GMC Savana for the five-minute ride back to the home he hadn’t seen for the 1942 days following his kidnapping at the hands of Hamas terrorists in Gaza who slipped through a tunnel into Israeli territory snatching Shalit. While Mitzpe Hila had been declared a closed military zone a day earlier there were still as many as a thousand people on hand to cheer him on including residents and many Succos guests.  Mitzpe Hila is a popular vacation spot for Israelis familiar with its pastoral quiet its wide array of guest homes and bed and breakfasts. Many volunteers who had manned the protest tent that Gilad’s parents had set up near the prime minister’s home in Jerusalem to press their case for his return were also invited to the homecoming as a reward for their efforts. 

When the van pulled up at the Shalit house Gilad was third person out after his parents. He looked furtively to his left at the crowd and seemed to wave or even salute briefly placing his left hand over his head. Crossing in front of the Savana he ducked under a row of trees and disappeared from the eye of the cameras but not before appearing to break into a sprint to rush inside.