Hezi Shai (; born 1954) is a former tank commander in the

Israeli Defense Forces Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

. During the

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization ...

, he was one of five Israeli soldiers declared

missing in action Missing in action (MIA) is a casualty (person), casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoner of war, prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have been ...

after their tanks were hit during the

Battle of Sultan Yacoub The Battle of Sultan Yacoub was a battle between Syria and Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War, which occurred near the village of Sultan Yacoub in the Lebanese Bekaa, close to the borders with Syria. Background At the beginning of the inva ...

. Shai and his tank crew became separated and he walked into a camp of the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command () or PFLP-GC is a Palestinian nationalist militant organisation based in Syria. It is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). It was founded in 1968 by A ...

, a pro-Syria Palestinian militant organization headed by

Ahmed Jibril Ahmed Jibril (; – 7 July 2021) was a Palestinian militant and political leader who was the founder and leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC). During the Syrian Civil War, Jibril was a ...

. He was taken captive and smuggled into Syria. His whereabouts and even the fact that he was alive were unknown to the Israeli defense establishment for the next two and a half years. Later a nephew of Jibril captured by the Israelis hinted to Shai's existence. Following extensive negotiations mediated by Austrian diplomats, Shai and two other captured Israeli soldiers were released in May 1985 in exchange for 1,150 Palestinian and Lebanese security prisoners held by Israel. The

Jibril Agreement The Jibril Agreement () or "Jibril Deal" () was a prisoner exchange deal which took place on 21 May 1985 between the Israeli government, then headed by Shimon Peres, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-G ...

, involving as it did so many Palestinian prisoners, many of whom were serving life sentences for mass murder, was not popular in Israel, but Defense Minister

Yitzchak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until his assassination in 1995. Rabin was ...

convinced the

Israeli Cabinet The Cabinet of Israel (; ) is the cabinet which exercises Executive (government), executive authority in the State of Israel. It consists of Minister (government), ministers who are chosen and led by the Prime Minister of Israel, prime ministe ...

to approve the deal.

Biography

Hezi Shai was born in

Nes Ziona Ness Ziona (, ''Nes Tziyona'') is a city in Central District, Israel. In it had a population of , and its jurisdiction was 15,579 dunams (). Identification Lying within Ness Ziona's city bounds is the ruin of the Arab village of Sarafand al-K ...

, Israel, to Shlomo and Doris Shai, both immigrants from

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. He has four sisters. He studied at a national-religious school in Pardes Katz. Shai served as a staff sergeant and tank commander during his army service. He led a course for tank commanders. Following his discharge from the army, he began working for

Bank Leumi Bank Leumi (, lit. ''National Bank''; ) is an Israeli bank. It was founded on February 27, 1902, in Jaffa as the ''Anglo Palestine Company'' as subsidiary of the Jewish Colonial Trust () Limited formed before in London by members of the Zionism, ...

, where he met his wife, Iris. Shai has three children and resides in

Holon Holon (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located south of Tel Aviv. Holon is part of the Gush Dan, Gush Dan metropolitan area. In , it had a population of , making it the List of cities in Israel, tenth most populous city in Isra ...

. His son Omer, born one year after Shai's release, was named in honor of Dr. Herbert Amry, the Austrian diplomat who mediated the release.

Battle of Sultan Yacoub and captivity

On 9 June 1982, three days after the

broke out, Shai was called up with other

reservists A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person ca ...

. Shai commanded a tank deployed in the

. The eleven-tank convoy was surrounded by Syrian and Palestinian forces and engaged in heavy fighting throughout the night of 10–11 June. When ordered to retreat to Israeli lines, Shai's tank, which was the last in the convoy, was hit by an enemy shell and its turret was entangled in a tree. The crew, consisting of Shai, Zechariah Baumel, Zvi Feldman, and Arye Lieberman, abandoned the tank and hid in an orchard. They came under fire again and were separated. Shai wandered into a camp occupied by the

(PFLP-GC), a pro-Syria Palestinian militant organization headed by

, and was taken prisoner. Shai recounted in an interview:

"On the way down I entered a Jibril camp. Someone approached and asked, 'Who are you?' I replied in Arabic that I was with the Iraqi forces. There were artillery forces below and I said, 'I am with the cannons', I spoke the word 'cannons' in Hebrew with an Arab accent. I simply forgot the Arabic word. The guy told me to go, but someone else heard me and told me to wait. He came out and saw me and said, 'You are an Israeli.' The jig was up".

Shai was questioned by gun-wielding PFLP-GC members, then blindfolded and shoved into the trunk of a car. He was bound hand and foot and the car drove off. After a half-hour drive, Shai was pulled out, and his captors began slapping him. Then they applied red iodine to his face and covered his head and eyes. He later realized that this was a subterfuge used to smuggle him into

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

. "For the first three months of my captivity I thought I was in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, when I was actually in a residential neighborhood in Damascus", he said. Shai was held for two years in a dirty bathroom in a Damascus apartment. He wore pajamas and his legs were chained. The bathroom, measuring , contained a toilet, a faucet, and a bed, and was fitted with a heavy iron door. Shai spent hours lying on his back thinking about his wife and family. Sometimes he paced the small area, and he also began cleaning the wall tiles and sealing the cracks with soap to prevent the incursion of roaches. He was able to obtain a

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

representative, but his request was denied. At one point he started a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

to force them to bring in the Red Cross, but gave up when he saw it was not working. His captors continually played mind games with him, making him doubt his wife's loyalty. When they told him, eight months after his capture, that they had kidnapped two other Israeli soldiers, he contemplated suicide in order to "screw them", figuring his captors would demand a high price for his return. Two years into his ordeal, Shai was transferred to a larger cell. He was briefly given over to interrogation by the Syrians, who "beat him with broomsticks and subjected him to electric shocks" before returning him to the Jibril group.

Prisoner exchange

For the first two and a half years of his captivity, the Israeli defense establishment did not know that Shai was alive and assumed him dead. The only hint that an Israeli soldier was being held prisoner came one month after the Battle of Sultan Yakoub, when a Jibril officer reported to ''Ad-Dustour'', a Lebanese newspaper, that his group was holding a prisoner named "Tetsi Shai". This information was not acted upon by the

Israeli Intelligence Community The Israeli Intelligence Community () is made up of Aman (military intelligence), Mossad (overseas intelligence) and Shin Bet (internal security). Current agencies Former agencies * Nativ: the organization responsible for bringing Jews ...

. In September 1982, Israel opened negotiations with the PFLP-GC through a foreign mediator for the return of two Israeli soldiers, Yosef Grof and Nissim Salem, who had been captured by the PFLP-GC on the Beirut-Damascus highway. Four other soldiers abducted with Grof and Salem had already been repatriated in an earlier

prisoner exchange A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners: prisoner of war, prisoners of war, spy, spies, hostages, etc. Sometimes, cadaver, dead bodies are involved in an exchange. Geneva Conven ...

. While Jibril did not mention that his group was holding Shai,

Shmuel Tamir Shmuel Moshe Tamir (; born Shmuel Katznelson; 10 March 1923 – 29 June 1987) was a prominent Israeli independence fighter, lawyer, and Knesset member. After a successful career fighting the British, he entered the Knesset from 1965 to 1980, ri ...

, the lead negotiator, began to suspect Shai was alive when Jibril's nephew was apprehended by Israel and hinted to that effect. The Israelis found the ''Ad-Dustour'' report in their intelligence files and began to pressure Syria. The President of Austria appointed Dr. Herbert Amry, Austrian ambassador to Greece, to conduct the lengthy negotiations with the PFLP-GC, and Amry began shuttling between Tel Aviv and Syria. On 5 July 1984, Amry visited Shai, took his picture, and asked him to write a letter to his wife. Amry presented proof of Shai's existence at an Israeli press conference a few days later. The brokered deal, known as the

, called for PFLP-GC to release the three Israeli soldiers in exchange for 1,150 Palestinian and Lebanese security prisoners being held by Israel. Involving as it did so many Palestinian prisoners, many of whom were serving life sentences for mass murder, the Jibril Agreement was not popular in Israel. Jewish residents of the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

were incensed that Palestinians convicted of killing settlers were being set free, and protests were staged.

Defense Minister A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

claimed that an

Entebbe Entebbe is a city in Central Region, Uganda, Central Uganda which is located on Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda pri ...

-style rescue operation had not been possible, so he "had no choice" and had negotiated "the best terms we could", and convinced the Israeli Cabinet to approve it. Minister without portfolio

Moshe Arens Moshe Arens (; 27 December 1925 – 7 January 2019) was an Israeli aeronautical engineer, researcher, diplomat, and Likud politician. A member of the Knesset between 1973 and 1992 and again from 1999 until 2003, he served as Minister of Defense ...

supported Rabin in the vote, but later regretted it. Many of the released prisoners went on to participate in the

First Intifada The First Intifada (), also known as the First Palestinian Intifada, was a sustained series of Nonviolent resistance, non-violent protests, acts of civil disobedience, Riot, riots, and Terrorism, terrorist attacks carried out by Palestinians ...

and committed further attacks against Israeli civilians. Grof, Salem, and Shai were delivered to Red Cross representatives at the

Geneva Airport Geneva Airport – formerly and still unofficially known as Cointrin Airport – is an international airport of Geneva, the second most populous city in Switzerland. It is located northwest of the city centre. It surpassed the 15-million-pas ...

on 20 May 1985. In the years following his release, Shai suffered from post-traumatic stress, having difficulty concentrating and sleeping, and "getting angry and upset over every little thing". His impatience, fear of authority figures, and recurring dreams of being in captivity persisted for many years.

Banking and public speaking career

Shai works as a project manager in

's main branch in Tel Aviv. He also speaks before Israeli soldier groups, gives interviews to media on prisoner negotiations, and visits families of captured soldiers to offer encouragement.

References

External links

"Do it for the troops: Soldiers must have deep knowledge that State will do everything to free them" by Hezi Shai
''

Ynetnews Ynet (stylized in all lowercase) is an Israeli news and general-content website, and the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronoth'' newspaper. History Ynet launched on June 6, 2000, in Hebrew, following other Hebrew outlet's website launches i ...