After a late night meeting for IDF Reserves duty planning, I drove a senior IDF commander back to our home base last night.
Driving through the winding roads in a valley… we saw a car stopped ahead of us, just around the bend, in the pitch black darkness of the night.
“Slow Down and turn on your strobe lights,” said my passenger and commander, as we both readied our weapons. The officer had his gun out the window pointed at the vehicle.
I pulled up alongside the vehicle with PA plates, as my strobe lights illuminated the suspicious car.
My passenger asked the driver why he was stopped on the road in the middle of the night.
The Arab driver replied sheepishly that the car was out of gas…and help was on its way.
We asked him why he didn’t check the gas gauge on his car….and he replied that it was his brother’s car and he didn’t notice it when he left the house.
“You didn’t notice because you were fasting for Ramadan?” The officer asked.
The driver nodded…turning slightly red from embarrassment.
“Listen….do yourself a favor. Get out of your car….put up a reflective warning triangle…wear a reflective vest…just make sure you are visible so no one slams into you…,” the officer told him.
The driver complied immediately.
As we drove off, I yelled out and wished him a “Ramadan Kareem” as he stared incredulously at the two of us.
We drove back to the base….the rest of the ride was uneventful.