Arie Schiff's legal battle was accompanied by an entire country.
Arad resident who woke up one night, in November 2020, went out to the parking lot, noticed burglars trying to steal his car and shot one of them to death.
Behind the legal battle that managed to keep Schiff out of prison, stood most of the time his youngest son, Ben.
Few in those days knew that just as the father fought for his freedom, so did the son fight, but with demons in his head.
Eight years ago, in July 2014, Ben Schiff embarked on Operation Eitan, and so far he is having a hard time returning from battle.
"My wife, Inbar, first noticed that I was a completely different person," says Ben.
"Impatient, nervous, depressed, out of focus, unbearable. She did one and another, and said maybe it was related to the operation. She went into Google, read a bit and realized there was a place in Ramat Gan called the 'Battle Response Unit'. We turned to them and they immediately realized, "They probably already saw a thousand like me. There was no choice, we started living alongside a battle shock."
How do you feel?
"That my nerves are exposed, lying over the skin. Every little breeze feels like a hurricane to me. I was anxious, alert and pessimistic. I stopped being an active, social and happy person. In the moment of truth, during the operation, I did not understand what was happening, "And as soon as the adrenaline sank, unwanted pits opened. I haven't slept in a few years. I fight all the time. I'm still half there."
If you meet Ben (36) on a hot, hot summer day, you will not notice anything.
A gentle, quiet, eloquent guy.
When we met, he held Ofri, his two-month-old daughter, in his arms.
An exemplary father.
But as we delved deeper into the conversation it became clear how fragile everything was, and in one moment it could turn upside down.
Ben is the youngest son of Leah and Aryeh Schiff.
The fourth in number after the late Ofer, Einat and Irit. A family that was one of the founders of Nofit, a community in the Lower Galilee, but migrated following Arieh, who was an Air Force officer. Ben was born in Eilat when his father served in a fact camp.
In the early 1990s, Arieh received an offer to run several gas stations in the southern region, and the family moved to Arad.
Ofer, the older brother, decided to stay in the north, and when his son was in the fifth grade, the family suffered the first severe blow.
Ofer, who worked on missions, was killed in a car accident when he was 24 years old.
"It was a time when I had no parents," Ben recalled.
"Everyone in the family was with himself and took the sadness to his own place. I stopped being a child. I fed myself and did not do homework because no one checked. My father said he did not believe in monuments and wanted to commemorate Ofer in living things. He set up a tent in the yard. "Travelers who stayed with him for free for more than 10,000 people. He sat with everyone and told about my brother, that was his way of coping."
Unlike his family members, most of whom served in the Air Force, Ben wanted to be a Nachlai, where he enlisted in 2004.
"I asked for a fight, even though I was not the most athletic kid," he laughs.
"I was pretty sweet, but in training I worked hard to be successful."
After the advanced training, he took a medic course and arrived at the infantry school, where he served as a company medic. During the service he went through the disengagement from the Gaza Strip and the Second Lebanon War. No incident left him traumatized. He resented the reserve officer for not recruiting him either.
"I arrived at the reserve in a good unit," he says.
"A company of doctors, whose job as a paramedic was to help them with everything they needed. The doctrine of warfare was that during a war it was possible to establish a hospital anywhere in the world. At 'Pillar of Cloud' we were already on the fence It was an experience.
I'm southern, and these wars are a rewarding battle for the house.
At Tzuk Eitan, I was glad I was recruited.
I was motivated because our unit is full-fledged, comes to work, and I am one who takes the job seriously, trusts myself. "
In July 2014, after preparing APCs at a hospital in the north, Ben's unit went down to a gathering area near Kibbutz Bari, where the doctors and medics were divided into units that needed manpower.
"The lieutenant colonel asked for a volunteer, and I immediately raised my hand," Ben recalled. "Quick. They brought me a weapon that I did not even check if it had a stab. Fortunately, in the end he fired."
Ben and Gil, his crew for Company 20 in the 906th Battalion, infantry officer course.
After a brief acquaintance, they were already at the entrance to Gaza, on their way to the Shaja'iya neighborhood.
"As we entered, we were told to prostrate ourselves, and all night we were left lying on the ground, while at a distance of half a kilometer there was a war with explosions and gunfire.
Surreal, like in the movie.
I don't think I was worried at this point, because the adrenaline is pushing the fear aside. "
At the end of that night, Ben's unit went down to the nearby Kibbutz Nahal Oz, for a light nap and a shower, and in the evening entered the Strip again.
"A lot of what went inside I don't remember, I have blackouts," he says.
Like the dead and wounded?
"I will jump straight to the end. While we were back at the base taking a shower, the company I joined left some guys in some pillbox. That day a terrorist infiltrated there and shot five of them to death. Guys who had been guarding me a few days before."
What do you still remember?
"A soldier snatched a bullet in the leg, a little below the knee. We heard the screams, and instinctively I asked to run towards the shout. I turned around and saw the doctor buried in the ground, unwilling to move. I shouted 'Doctor!'
And he replied 'I'm waiting for them to call me.' I realized he had finished his part in the battle. I took his bag and ran towards the wounded man. Today the arterial blockers are much simpler to operate. High-tech treatment. Within minutes a tank arrived to evacuate the wounded man, and later the same tank commander was killed by a sniper bullet. Everything you hear about. "I was in a blackout. I knew what the job was."
Precisely in a battle did you function?
"I was disconnected in those moments, as if it were a computer game. You walk in a built-up area and buildings fall around you. I remember that the second we passed the fence a pit opened behind us, and 7-8 rockets were fired at Be'er Sheva. We felt the heat waves. Crazy. They were just waiting for us to pass to make it clear 'think you won?'
"I have a picture with Gil, we were photographed as soon as we left. I am in blood-red pants, and you can see with my own eyes that I am a different person."
What else is left in memory?
"We stopped to sleep in a house in Shaja'iya, a house we were going to blow up the next day. We went in with 18-year-old Sedirniks, and in the living room were scattered packages of dollars. The fighters saw and none of them touched the money. "Missionary children. We felt this was the most justified war."
What do you think made you fall after?
"The stress and the danger of death. In that case with the doctor who did not want to join me for treatment, I felt alone. That everything is on my shoulders, that no one can be trusted, and if I do not act bad things will happen. It is a feeling that remains with me. To this day I do not trust others. "Something needs to be done, only I will do it right. I will not ask for help."
"Thanks to Itzik Saidian"
"You can see with my own eyes that I'm in a different zone."
With his friend, Gil, on his way out of Gaza, Photo: From the family album
He met Inbar, his wife, after he was discharged from the army, a few weeks before he left for the United States, on a mission on behalf of the Jewish Agency. She also grew up in Arad, and studied under him in high school.
So there was no WhatsApp.
We talked every day for hours on Skype, and when I returned we immediately moved in together.
We got married in 2011, when I was 25. "
Communication with Amber, he says, is a significant part of their relationship.
So it is no wonder that as soon as he returned from the war, Inbar realized that he had returned another.
"He was tense and nervous," she says.
"I remember a friend of mine said something about 'Cliff, we lost' in the 'solid cliff', and he raised her voice. It had never happened before, and for me it was a total shock. I married him because I was looking for someone who was not stressed, and to this day he is a very hero. In stressful situations. You will not see a gram of hysteria on him. I said 'there is a rock here', while I am just the opposite, hysterical.
"He came back different from the fight, and only from the stories can you understand why. I come from a family where 'treatment' is not a bad word, and fortunately it flowed and did not deny his condition. My message to women married to post-trauma victims is' Treat yourself, because you do not understand how much. You need it. "
Ben went every week to Tel Hashomer for treatment, then to Be'er Sheva and from there to the Baha'i city.
To this day I am in treatment every week.
If it helps?
I have no idea.
Every day the challenge is new.
When there is employment I am preoccupied, but there are falls.
I have not worked for a long time, because there were jobs that I could not stand, and I only blame myself.
I tried to work confidently, as a night ranger, I thought it was a job I would be in with myself and be able to deal with, but I fought with the manager.
I have no argument, the place is lovely, the people are lovely, I just have the wrong regulation.
"Sometimes I find myself in a seizure, and only when I finish do I realize what happened. I go out, and it affects home, life and friends, 80 percent of whom are not with me because I am less sociable. I am tired all the time because I do not sleep well .
Amber knows this well.
"It will not go away one day," she knows.
"Like losing a leg, Ben has lost something in emotional regulation. Right now I feel it depends a lot on me. Ben is honest and mature, and it actually takes me a while to internalize that he is disabled. Sometimes there are arguments, so I have to remind myself that I must contain, listen and understand him. "I understand what you are talking about, but I do not necessarily agree, 'so that I do not disappear in this context. This is a whole Torah."
Is it hard to hold on like that?
"It's delicate and complex to be in a relationship with someone in his situation, but I love him terribly and remember very well who I married.
"It's hard, and there are days when I catch my head and say 'what is this shit', but overall we are striving for a normative life and want to give our daughters everything a normal couple gives. Explosions and quarrels also exist in other couples, so everything should be taken in proportion ".
Ben: "Amber suffers, because she is the first in the line of fire. We love and work hard to get by and it is not easy, because I do not always make sense and it does not deserve her. Sometimes she is unable to contain, because it is not that there is someone in the house written 'disabled' The forehead.It's a transparent disability.Sometimes she gets upset about something I have no control over.
"I once asked her 'if I did not have a leg and I would fall, would you also get upset?'
I do not want to be in this situation, but sometimes it does not work. By the way, a lot has changed thanks to Itzik Saidian. I do not encourage or support his act, but he raised awareness, even inside my house.
"The Ministry of Defense also changed the attitude from the same incident. I was in the process of years with the Ministry of Defense to get recognition of my situation. The process dragged on because you have to stand in front of a committee and move from place to place. "Tomorrow I can go to the committee. In a few days I will receive an answer. This is something they could have done years ago, but it would have taken such a case for them to tick."
Maybe afraid of people who can take advantage of the situation.
"It's a silly thought. If a swindler soldier found a liar doctor, and they both want to make money at the expense of the state, then what can be done? .
"It's not that I get a crazy pension and can retire. Money is not enough for much, but recognition and support are important. We almost gave up, because it took a long time, and we brought a lovely lawyer and nothing moves - until everything moves at once. It's not that I've healed .
Ben's parents did not know about his condition until in 2019 the Telegrass affair exploded and Ben was arrested along with 42 other members of the network who were involved in the distribution and sale of cannabis.
"If I had not been in battle, I would not have gotten into a criminal entanglement in the first place," he is convinced.
"It's a stage in life that has often led me to wrong choices. I'm not reset in many ways, and I do not look for excuses or regret, but when you are in some mania you do not see the red flags."
He got into the affair, he says, after reading on Facebook that Telegrass executives need a writer and editor for a new project.
"I sent a message 'What project?'
"They replied, 'Content site. Is writing wrong? I did not hide it from anyone.'
So what's criminal here?
"All the arrests were subject to a war on criminal organizations, so all members of the organization are complicit in the offenses, from the cleaner to the head of the pyramid. They took me in for questioning and I did not cooperate, because at first I felt like a journalist "And somehow I turned into an indictment."
How long have you been in custody?
"Two months, in the Nitzan detention center. It took them a month to get an indictment and another month until there was a hearing, and you are not taken out before you get a review from a probation service, so it's another two weeks. The process was smeared. "But in prison you smoke and eat, and I admit I did not belong. That is also the feeling given to me by the wardens and the director of the department."
How did it end?
"It's not over. I'm released without restrictive conditions, but the trial continues for years to come, because they are currently conducting a petty trial, finding out if the evidence gathered is legal before even talking about it. My parents only heard about my situation when I stood before the judge and lawyer. . Until then I did not tell, and for them it was a market. Suddenly things worked out for them. They understood my behavior, because for a long time they walked next to me on eggs. I could explode on anything. They supported me and still support. I was under house arrest for a while, During this time I went for treatment every week. I obtained permission from the court, leaving accompanied by a parent, who would drive me like a little boy to the city of the Baha'is and wait in the waiting room until I finished. "
"I dropped the token that I'm a zombie"
With his wife Inbar and daughter Abigail.
"I was flooded with emotions", Photo: From the family album
On the day we visited his house, Ben looked after Ofri, his new daughter, and waited for Abigail to return from kindergarten.
"The girls saved me," he is convinced.
"I do not know if I would be here without them. Thanks to them I get up in the morning, open my eyes and get out of bed. That is the motivation. When the first Abigail was born, I was on all kinds of pills, and when she learned to walk I got the token that I was a zombie. Things happen and they pass me. "Take pills. Because what do they do? Emotions consist of a huge spectrum, from the most depressed to the happiest, and the ball cuts the edges. There is no anger and depression, but also no enthusiasm. As soon as I stopped I was overwhelmed with emotions, but the connection to the girl was absorbed."
Some of the care that Ben goes through is carried out, surprisingly, with the help of the 14 chickens that have been roaming in his backyard for more than a year.
"During 'Tzuk Eitan' we lay in a huge coop in Shaja'iya. We lay right in the shit of the chickens, and from there we fought the battle. To this day the smell of excrement does not come out of my nose, stuck there, and how disgusting it is - I learned to live with it. Why not raise chickens? '
"It sounds like a great idea, because our dog just died and I did not want a new dog, because we were with a little girl. This chicken is an animal that needs less hugs. Food and water, and she is doing great."
The smell did not bring you back to the operation?
"Doesn't smell anything. It's probably already part of the soundtrack of my nose. My senses are completely wrong. I'm nervous or depressed and everything is intensified, so the smell is part of the brain."
14 chickens is already a small coop.
"At first there were three chicks. I built a coop and saw it was too big, so I brought another and somehow built another coop, because that one was already too small. No need to learn to handle. Food, water and usually a hen will lay 150-250 eggs a year. I distribute to my parents .
What do they give you?
"They're relaxing. I put a sitting area outside, and I sit there in the morning with the cigarette and coffee. They turn around next to me, and every time I go out they run to see what I brought them."
"Will they both sue and take revenge?"
"They did so much for me."
Arie and Leah Schiff, Photo: Photo: Dudu Greenspan
Apart from caring for the chickens, Ben is also responsible for the operation of the B&B set up by his parents.
In general, the last few years and the traumatic events have brought them closer together.
"Because I am in an ongoing war mode, it was precisely the struggles that would have provoked me to take command," Ben is convinced.
"During my father's difficult times, I would get up at four in the morning, drive to Avri Gilad's studio in Tel Aviv and from there continue at full speed.
Did you feel obligated to help your father?
"They did so much for me, so as soon as my father got involved, first of all I quit the job I had as a laboratory assistant at the Dead Sea lab. I had no doubt about it."
You asked "How did this happen to us?"
"I asked myself why I deserve these things. I was afraid of my father, and all along I did not believe we would achieve such success and I was not optimistic. The lawyers, era and sixth gas, kept telling me 'do not worry'. I told them 'if there is a lawyer in the world "He can laugh. He laughed. Is there absolute truth in court? You do not know what will be dropped on you, but they did a great job."
Could the event have ended differently?
"There was no need to file an indictment. There is a clear statement of self-defense here, there is a law in the State of Israel, but come, see a coin under a flashlight and file an indictment. Too bad, because they lost and not my father, who for 70 years had no one entanglement with "The law. I told him, 'Well, you're with us, that's what matters, and what comes next we will deal with. He could have ended up injured or worse."
Is Arad calmer now?
"There was a decrease in the number of crimes, and only because the injured squad was eliminated. But now other squads are coming. Two vehicles were stolen this week. Last week there was an attempt to run over outside the police parking lot. An MDA volunteer went out to see what was happening, pulled out a gun, stood in front of the vehicle and shouted. 'Stop, stop', the driver did not stop, shot in the air, the man came out and raised his hands.
The volunteer, who did the right thing, sat for hours in interrogation, and only today, after a week, was his weapon returned.
In the end, when you pull out, you lose.
The question is to what extent?
Is five hours smiling, or eight months?
This is not supposed to happen.
"The police had to say, 'Congratulations, come tomorrow at a time when it is convenient for you to testify,' and return the weapon to him that day."
Although Schiff the Elder was sentenced to nine months of community service, in January the family of Muhammad al-Atrash, the burglar who was shot to death, filed a claim for compensation of more than four million shekels.
In the past there was even a fear of revenge.
Ben is less worried.
"The al-Atrash family buried the scene of the revenge in the lawsuit they filed. Will they both sue and take revenge? The lawsuit will not ripen. They have to prove a person's earnings, and they have nothing to do with it. We also asked them to issue medical documents, maybe he has a week to live. Knows?".
"In Israel, everything works by force"
"Doesn't smell anything. It's probably already part of the soundtrack of my nose."
With the chickens, Photo: Efrat Eshel
When a son is calm you can be impressed by his shanty, and very quickly you also come across electric guitars that hang on the wall and a large collection of discs.
Until recently he was the guitarist of the punk band "Mooney's Cassettes", but the band was shut down after the singer decided to look for his future abroad.
"I love loud music," Ben laughs.
"It's not surprising, because I put 'play' and know where the music comes from. Playing is therapy, and playing loud is the best therapy. Taking everything out and as loud as it releases."
To the extent that?
"I envy him and my sister who lives in Guatemala, who have the courage to do what they want. I have roots here that hold me. You see, I entered the army with motivation, and after liberation I defended Israel as an ardent Zionist, and I do not say that today I love the country less, but I was beaten. The war, my and my father's entanglement that were really unfair, and now there is a battle with the municipality. We are building a new neighborhood, the contractor is not wetting the ground and phosphate dust is flying at us. In Israel everything works by force and it is tiring. When I was in the US I think who am I to tell them to do this?
Life here is complex, and maybe they would have been more comfortable there. "
A glimmer of hope for change appeared recently, when the Ministry of Defense awarded Ben a scholarship, and he will soon begin studying sound engineering at Sapphire College.
"I want to do something new," he says.
"I have many hours of music in my life. I do not know if I will do it, but I miss the work."
Have you ever felt like Job? After all, you could be in a completely different place today.
"When the affair started with my dad, we were sitting with some guys and someone said, 'Son, what poor people are you.' "Seriously, but we are healthy and I have a great family, and if necessary, we will deal. I would not exchange my cards with anyone else."
shishabat@israelhayom.co.il
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