"I Felt I Had to Return to My Body": A Soldier's Encounter with Near-Death
After surviving a suicide bombing, Dror Zicherman recounts his near-death experience: "I still can't see anything, and then he says to me: 'You don't belong here', steps on my head, pushes me back into the cloud floor, and I descend, starting to return to my body."
- 'כאן' תאגיד השידור הישראלי
- פורסם י"ג אלול התשע"ח
Dror Zicherman (screenshot from the video) #VALUE!
In 2005, soldier Dror Zicherman was seriously injured when a suicide bomber detonated 30 kilograms of explosives near him. Since the attack, Zicherman has struggled with PTSD, which disrupts his daily life.
The attack occurred at a checkpoint near Tulkarem. "There was a warning about an impending terrorist attack. We set up a checkpoint, and a taxi arrived with eight passengers. One passenger, a skinny guy, was wearing a leather jacket that made his body look puffy. The terrorist realized he had been discovered and detonated the explosive device. At that moment, there was a helicopter overhead as part of a drill. I barely made it to the hospital on my last drops of blood. I lost consciousness immediately, couldn't continue anymore."
Reflecting on the decade since the incident, Zicherman said, "I could barely leave the house. Every morning I woke up thinking about those horrible moments. I re-lived the attack every day, and it hurt all over my body. I feel as if I'm still lying there on the road in Tulkarem. PTSD is a severe mental injury, an invisible wound that doesn't heal. The way to cope with it is to acknowledge it and walk with it hand in hand."
"I Still Can't See Anything, Then He Says: 'You Don't Belong Here'"
"I saw my commander blow up right in front of my eyes," Zicherman recounted, reliving the incident that abruptly changed his life. He referred to his commander Uri Binmo, who was critically injured and later died from his wounds.
Regarding his near-death experience following the injury, Zicherman explained, "I saw my body at the injury site, and the experience was very vivid and clear. I felt myself leaving my body, looking at myself lying on the ground, on the road in Tulkarem. I started to float and move away, not understanding why I was distancing from my body. I saw my body below, the taxi around it, and the craters from the explosions. Everything became small; I could see the mountains around in the distance. I saw the streets.
"I ascended even higher, and suddenly everything looked even smaller. I encountered a cloud, unable to penetrate it. I pushed my head, seeing a floor of an infinite cloud, and a blue horizon. Suddenly, a very strange, daunting figure approached, glowing. His face was blinding, and he moved towards me in giant steps. I still couldn't see anything, then he said: 'You don't belong here', stepped on my head, pushed me back into the cloud floor, and I descended, starting to return to my body. I felt I had to reach my body, needed to get back down. Suddenly I was back to myself, alive, and 'boom'. There was a flash. I returned to myself," he concluded.
Watch the footage:
(Credit: 'Kan' Israeli Broadcasting Corporation)
