In an exclusive interview with the Jewish News Agency*, the chairman and CEO of Dori Media Group, Yair Dori, talked about his days as a soldier of IDF.
“In May 1970, during a combat on the Suez Canal, 15 of my mates died and I was seriously wounded and kidnapped by Egyptian forces.”
“I was prisoner of Egipt, a country with which we were on war. Although international agreements were violated, I was in a country that had a clear policy on prisoner treatment,” he said to draw a line between his situation and the current situation of Gilad Shalit, who is captive under Hamas’ rulers.
Nevertheless, Dori stressed that his situation “wasn’t easy” as “there were questioning sessions in which I was tortured”.
“That is why my experience cannot be compared with Gilad’s, who was abducted by a terrorist group”.
Since he was released, Dori confirmed that he underwent “traumatic” situations because he went through circumstances for which he wasn’t prepared.
“The moment I was released was hard and confusing, because after being with the enemy, there were lots of people who hugged and received me”, recalled the businessman, who was 23 years old when kidnapped.
Regarding Gilad Shalit, Dori said that “personally, I believe that we have an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped 3 years ago, and we need to do our best to help him”.
He noted that “Israel must release him at any price” because he might share the same faith of Ron Arad, who is missing since October 16, 1986”.
“If I were a Government officer, I would do everything to release him (Shalit), without taking into account the consequences and the cost. I’d rather have a free soldier with the cost of 700 terrorists,” he asserted.
Finally, Yair Dori expressed his deep wish of having Shalit home and explained that “he needs to go back to his normal life little by little. Once released, it will be hard for him to understand that he is a public person and that all of us were witnesses of his captivity and his release”.
*Jewish News Agency in Spanish, Agencia Judía de Noticias en idioma español
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