IDF veterans who rediscovered life

A visit to India proved a turning point for 20 disabled Israeli ex-soldiers

IN 2008 DOCTORS feared Noam Nakash would never walk again.

The 21-year-old was just six months away from discharge from the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) when he suffered life-changing injuries while serving in Gaza.

The catastrophic attack on his unit robbed him of one of his legs and left the other severely injured.

But last year, after 17 operations and years of intensive therapy, he spent two weeks on an expedition to India where he not only walked, but climbed mountains.

He was one of 20 men, all wounded in conflict, to participate in the trip, which included a gruel- ling trek through the Himalayas.

Mr Nakash admitted that he was anxious at the prospect of making the trip. “Yes, I was worried. How would I do the trek in the mountains?”

But his fears proved unfounded. “It was hard at first,” he said. “At the beginning I had to ride on a horse rather than walk. But then I decided I Bed-ridden: Haim Yakar in 2006 would get off the saddle, and I felt the ground beneath me,” he said

The experience allowed Mr Nakash, who is 28 and lives in Tel Aviv, to regain his self-confidence.

“The trip made me feel as if something inside me had really woken up and now I’m looking forward to the future,” he said.

The visit to India was the brainchild of Beit Halochem (translated in English as Home of the Warrior), an organisation which oversees five sports, rehabilitation and recreation centres serving 51,000 disabled veterans and victims of terror and their families.

The trip was filmed and aired on prime-time Israeli television last summer. Now, for the first time, the documentary will be shown to an audience outside of the country.

Later this spring the JW3 community centre in north-west London will host the UK premiere of The Journey Emotional high: the group celebrate after making it to the top of a