She fled Iran in the 1980s, trekking hundreds of miles in extreme cold, evading the Iranian border police and wandering in the desert to make it to Israel. Today, "S" goes back to Iran via a slightly different path – through the technology at her disposal as a soldier in Unit 9900 of the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman), where she is tasked with analyzing Iranian topography.
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After her brother received his enlistment notice to the Iranian army, S' mother decided to move with her children to Israel. "It started with the enlistment notice, but really didn't end there," says S, looking back. "The authorities in Iran were not accepting, to say the least, of Iranian citizens trying to flee Iran, certainly not to the "Zionist entity."
S' family joined a group of families that for months planned to escape together. In the period leading up to the escape, S and her family maintained a low profile, rarely leaving their house. Ultimately, the long months of preparation culminated on the last night they spent with their grandfather. They packed a bit of food, some water, and understood they were on the verge of an arduous journey, large parts of which would have to be on foot. "It's an unfathomable distance – almost like walking from Tel Aviv to Eilat twice," she said.
At first, everything went according to plan, but just as it seemed things were going to be fine, came the hardest moment of her life. "One very dark night, in the middle of the desert, my father asked us to go on without him. I froze in place. I was paralyzed. I couldn't move. How do we go on without him? What will come of him?"
The young S was not prepared to bid her father farewell. "After deliberations, my mother convinced my father to continue. It was a moment I will never forget," she says.
Following days and nights of intensive trekking, with very little food and water, S and her family crossed the Iranian border into a neighboring country. Several days later, they met an Israeli representative who told them there was a direct flight to a country in Europe, but that not everyone could board the flight. "It's a huge dilemma. Do we take the opportunity and leave some behind, or take the risk and wait for the next flight that no one has promised will ever come?" she recalls.
After agonizing deliberations, they forfeited the flight and decided to wait as a group. Every night, they hoped the next day would bring them the flight to take them to Israel. Several weeks passed before they eventually boarded a flight to Europe, finally allowing them to breathe a sigh of relief. It was the first time on the journey that they were not in danger of being apprehended. From the perspective of S, however, the concern hadn't dissipated. "Even when we were outside of Iran, we didn't have the courage to take off the hijab (the veil worn by many Muslim women). The fear is ingrained."
Ultimately, S and her family immigrated to Israel and overcame the difficulties. Today, S serves in Unit 9900, analyzing and researching the place she once called home.
She gathers the most up-to-date intelligence information, deciphers it and identifies topographical changes – intimately familiar with every inch and stone in Iran.
"I still live in Iran. With the help of advanced technologies, today I can use my knowledge to defend the State of Israel. I appreciate the opportunity to live in Israel every single day. This is the closing of a circle for me."
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