Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Elder of Ziyon
The epic tale of enemies coming together and
collaborating to save the life of an eagle:
A rebel chief with a passion for birds of prey captures an eagle on the battlefield.
Realizing that the bird is an endangered
species and is being tracked by animal conservation experts from the bird’s
place of origin, the rebel reaches across enemy lines, to the experts who know
how to save the bird’s life. Together they embark on a journey through three
different battle zones, setting aside personal gain and deeply embedded traditions in order to save the life of one magnificent animal.
This may sound like the synopsis for a movie (a
super-duper, eco-friendly, anti-war, let’s all be green movie). It’s not.
This is just another day in Israel.
Few would have dreamt this eagle’s breathtaking
journey was possible and yet, it happened and now he is back in Israel, in the
hands of experts who will nurse him back to health.
The eagle had been released back in to the wild
four months ago. Two weeks ago, the bird’s tracking device could no longer be
seen on the radar. No one knew that he had flown over the border, into Syria. Not
until Gal Lusky was contacted by a Syrian who told her: “We have an Israeli
eagle.”
Gal is the founder of Israeli Flying Aid, an
NGO that has been providing humanitarian aid to Syrians for the past six years
(since the war began). IFA was founded in 2005 and focuses on life saving aid
and relief to communities in areas stricken by natural disaster or territorial
conflicts, specializing in countries that lack diplomatic relations with
Israel.
The eagle was being held by a Syrian rebel
commander (for more on who the “rebels” are please read: Who are the good guys?
here: https://inspirationfromzion.com/2017/04/06/syria-101-the-simple-version/). Luckily for the eagle, the commander has a predilection for
birds of prey and some experience in handling them. The commander proudly told
Israelis: “I saw the bird on the battlefield when we were preparing ambushes
against ISIS. I had a gun but I didn’t kill him. I walked up to him very slowly
and caught him with my hands. He was a living creature, a living soul.”
Generally speaking Arab culture does not
promote the idea of animals as pets or anything to do with animal rights.
Animals are seen as something to be used: a food source, a source of profit or
a status symbol. The commander could have easily decided to keep the eagle as a
status symbol but he realized that the bird needed medical care and, seeing the
tracking device that marked the eagle as S-98, he understood that the people
caring for the bird up to that point were Israelis. He knew that the best thing
for the eagle would be to return him to Israel. But how?
Through their contact via Israeli Flying Aid
the Syrian rebels sent notice that they were holding the eagle and requested
instructions on how to properly care for him. They were afraid that someone
would steal the eagle and try to sell him. Following instructions from Israel’s
Nature and Parks Authority, the rebel commander instructed his soldiers to
provide the eagle with two chickens to eat every day. This is extraordinary
considering that the soldiers, who were suffering from lack of food, provided
the chickens for the eagle while they ate bread during the weeks it took to
return the eagle to Israel. They sent video of the eagle eating to Israel, to
prove that they were taking proper care of him (see in the Channel 2 item
linked below).
The Syrians had to travel through not one but
THREE different militia territories before they were able to hand the eagle
over to the IDF.
So, what does this story mean? That there are
good guys on the other side? That peace is possible?
No.
It means that Israeli compassion to Syrians in
need has made an impact. Now there are many in Syria who understand that
Israelis are not the monsters of Islamist propaganda but rather people who
strive to ease the suffering of others – human and animal alike. It means that
there are those who have learned from Israel’s example, that it is possible to
choose compassion over killing, to choose to collaborate even with the enemies
on the other side of the fence.
“I had a gun in my hands but I caught him with
my hands, I didn’t kill him.”
Does
this story mean that the unnamed Syrian rebel commander is a “good guy”? No.
But he did do something good for this eagle.
Save one life and it is as if you have saved
the world. All life is sacred – that of our neighbors living next door, that of
the Syrians fighting on the other side of our border and that of an eagle who
just wants to be able to fly free. All lives matter. Here, that’s not a slogan,
it’s just another day in Israel.
Here is the news story as it was reported on Israel’s Channel 2.
Here is the news story as it was reported on Israel’s Channel 2.
