New Yorker Noy Leyb was watching images of Hamas terrorists infiltrating Israel in his Upper East Side apartment on Saturday when he decided to take off for the Middle East and volunteer for his elite unit in the Israel Defense Forces.
“No one expected me to come – my commander even said there were no expectations because I wasn’t in the country,” Leyb told The Post. “For me, there is no question. My heart is in Israel. There is no way that anything will stop me from coming back.”
As co-founder and COO of startup BachPlace – a smart booking platform for group travel – Leyb hastily had to cancel meetings and get-togethers and “live my normal American life.” But he didn’t think about the decision.
“That’s on hold — for now, and who knows how long,” Leyb, 32, said of his career and personal life. “Maybe a day, a week or a month from now. I’m leaving here on a one-way ticket, not sure when I’ll be back.”
New Yorker Noy Leyb volunteered to serve with his elite unit in the Israel Defense Forces unit.noyleb/Instagram Leyb said there was ‘no question’ about returning to serve, even though he was not expected to. Noy Leyb/Facebook
He spent the early part of Saturday trying to book the first flight to the Jewish homeland and got a midnight flight.
“I yelled at the ticket agent, why couldn’t he get me a flight earlier,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m packing or what I’m going to do, but I just need myself and that’s it.”
Upon arrival, the reservist, who first joined the IDF in 2009 at the age of 18, was preparing himself for combat.
Leyb first joined the IDF in 2009 at the age of 18. Noy Leyb/Facebook
“This is not an operation – I fully expect to go to war,” he said.
Leyb called the IDF “the most moral army in the world,” describing how the armed forces “literally warned the terrorists that we were coming and told them to move before we neutralized the threat.”
“We value women’s wives and children and innocent civilians,” he said, noting that Israeli soldiers took terrorists to hospitals for treatment, and contrasted Hamas, which “placed rockets under schools, and used women and children -child as human. shield.”
Leyb is the co-founder and COO of startup BachPlace.Noy Leyb/Facebook Leyb canceled meetings, events and his “normal American life” to return to his country to serve. noyleb/Instragram
The brutal nature of Saturday’s surprise attack, “the barbarism, the inhumanity – it’s like we’re in a dream,” he said of the images, which included kidnappings, young and old bodies being paraded for sport.
“This is what you see in the craziest action movies. But it’s happening now.”
He is not naive about the impending danger, but he does not waver in his determination to face it: “I will not lie, I am afraid. I’m nervous.”
In the final moments before his flight to the unknown, Leyb, in a hoarse voice, said that he gathered his Star of David necklace, yarmulke, and prayer book for the trip. He called his parents, said a prayer, and “enjoyed the last moments of civilization.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
