Eyal Berkovic: 'I survived a terror attack. They killed them, it was terrifying'
The former football star told the podcast 'The Wizard and His Sons' about the only Sabbath he spent on base during basic training in Nitzanim, when an infiltration attempt from the sea occurred: 'They hid us in the rooms because we were recruits. The commanders went out and killed them on the beach. It was terrifying.'
Eyal Berkovic recalled this week one of the unusual events from his military service. The former footballer and media personality told the podcast 'The Wizard and His Sons' about the only Sabbath he spent on base during basic training. According to him, it was precisely on that Sabbath that an attempt by terrorists to reach the Nitzanim base area via the sea took place.
Berkovic said that during basic training he stayed at the Nitzanim base for three weeks, and during that time he stayed for only one Sabbath.
'It was precisely on that Sabbath that terrorists entered the base,' he said. 'Check it, infiltration of terrorists into the Nitzanim base in May 1990. Is there such a thing? Precisely when I stayed for the Sabbath.'
Later, Berkovic described his feelings as a recruit during that event:
'They hid us in the rooms because we were recruits, the commanders went out and killed them on the beach. It was terrifying, imagine you are a recruit and they tell you there is a terrorist infiltration. Something crazy. They came there in boats.'
Berkovic is referring to the maritime terror attempt known as Operation 'Avak Drachim' (Dust of Roads), which took place on May 30, 1990, on the holiday of Shavuot. The Palestine Liberation Front organization of Abu al-Abbas planned to carry out a large-scale attack using speedboats launched from a mother ship. The goal was to reach the shores of Israel, with the planned destination being the Tel Aviv area.
Israeli intelligence identified the preparations for the attack in advance, and the Navy, Air Force, and ground forces prepared to thwart the arrival at the shores of Israel. Some of the terrorists were arrested at sea off the coast of Ga'ash, while another boat with 11 terrorists managed to reach the beach in the Nitzanim area. On the Nitzanim beach, a combined operation of IDF forces was conducted, during which the cell was thwarted: 4 terrorists were killed and 7 others were captured on the beach.
