A spontaneous round of applause broke out and one of the reporters raised his hand and asked "Will we be able to interview them?"
The Minister gestured to Shimony to answer and he said "You will be able to see them for a moment but then we will have to take them to have a physical examination and debrief them. In a day or two they will hold a press conference together with the Prime Minister in Jerusalem".
Several more hands were raised and questions were asked and answered. Most questions focused on the sudden change in the policy of Israel towards Iran and vice versa. The Minister of Defense summarized "Israel will no longer threaten the Iranian regime and will not interfere with the ties that it is building with the West and the US after the nuclear deal. Iran has reaffirmed its obligation to refrain from any military nuclear program but insists that it has the right to continue developing its peaceful nuclear infrastructure. Hopefully the rest of the hostages will be released soon and the good relations Israel had with Iran will be restored. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. You'll hear more from the released hostages tomorrow evening or the day after."
The unmarked private jet landed at Ben Gurion airport, near Tel-Aviv. The control tower directed the Iranian pilot to a large hangar at the edge of the airfield. Before the passengers, in this case the released hostages, were allowed to disembark, four soldiers from the elite unit of the Israeli police approached the plane. Two other soldiers equipped with anti-tank missiles were out of sight from the cockpit but had their weapons trained on the plane. The pilot had turned off the engines and the hangar was very quiet.
The Israeli officer connected a microphone and earphones to the slot in the plane's fuselage and told the pilot to open the doors slowly. A male steward stood at the door with his bare hands clearly in sight, held away from his body. He let down the staircase and moved aside. Morris and Vicki now appeared at the door and started to descend down the stairs. One of the soldiers led them away, while the officer with the microphone politely asked the pilot's permission to come aboard. Once the permission was granted two soldiers climbed up the stairs and entered the cabin. The crew consisted of the pilot and co-pilot and two male stewards. They were all smiling at the soldiers. The officer asked permission to search the plane and it was readily given by the smiling pilot, who in excellent English said "You are welcome to search the plane but I assure you everything is above board, what you say Kosher." The soldiers didn't respond and carried out a thorough search of the cabin. In the storage compartment they found a big box that looked like an old fashioned trunk, favored by rich passengers who went on long steamship cruises a century earlier. The officer motioned to one of the stewards to open the trunk, and after the pilot authorized the request, the steward opened it. The two Israeli soldiers pointed their weapons at the trunk, prepared for any unpleasant surprise. Indeed, they were surprised to see three expensive looking fine Persian silk rugs. The pilot said "These are gifts from Imam Mourtashef to your Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Mr. David Avivi" and signaled to one of the stewards to take them out of the box and down the stairs. The Israeli officer sensed the convivial ambience and asked the pilot if he needed anything. The pilot pointed at the fully stocked kitchenette and thanked the officer for his offer. He said they needed to refuel the jet and the Israeli officer laughed and said "Imagine that Iran is buying oil from us". After a couple of minutes permission was received and the Iranian jet taxied to the refueling pump following the directions from the control tower. Twenty minutes later it was airborne on its way back to Tehran.
In the hangar there was a small reception committee that included a representative from the Prime Minister's office, another one from the Ministry of Defense and David Avivi from Mossad. Also present were the children and grandchildren of Morris and Vicki Aladgem, a psychiatrist and a senior physician from the nearby medical center. There was only one TV crew from the office of the Israeli Defense Forces spokesman. The edited video would be distributed to all the local and foreign news agencies. After being formally welcomed by the official representatives the excited freed hostages were given 15 minutes to meet with their family. Then they were escorted to a small office where they received a thorough medical examination. The psychiatrist was impressed that they were as sane as could be expected after the ordeal of their kidnapping in Turkey and two months in Evin Prison.
They were seated on a sofa and drinking tea when David entered the small office and introduced himself. "I understand that your treatment in the prison was reasonable."
Morris said "We, and the rest of the prisoners, were not tortured or harassed. There was one jailor who at times intimidated us but on the whole even he treated us well. We are especially grateful to Imam Mourtashef for choosing us to be sent home. We were so happy when he agreed to send me with Vicki that we kissed his feet." David told them that he had met with the Imam twice and played a modest part in their release.
Vicki was excited to hear this. She said "I even cleaned his shoes with my scarf. I saw that he had dirtied them with some green very fine powder."
David pricked his ears. As a physicist with some knowledge about nuclear materials he knew that there were many types of green powders, but there was one type that held a special interest for him. He asked Vicki if he could have the scarf and she willingly obliged and removed it from her neck and handed it to him. David took a close look and he could see the traces of the powder that she talked about. He then asked "What is the situation with the other prisoners?"
Morris gave a detailed account about each of his former cell-mates. He said "There is this young guy, Zorik, who has spoken up for us when it was necessary. He and his girlfriend, Inbal, managed to boost our morale and keep our sanity. I was greatly surprised when he asked for religious tutoring but this brought us in touch with the Imam and he made sure that we were not ill-treated. Johnny, the Member of Knesset, was a big disappointed to us".
David told them they would be taken to a 5-star hotel in Jerusalem where they will be guests of the government for a few days until their detailed debriefing ended. They would be allowed to see their family for a couple of hours every afternoon. He informed them that the PM has invited them for dinner and that they would attend a press conference with the PM after dinner. The date was set two days hence, allowing the Aladgems a little more time to get used to life as free people. Vicki and Morris thanked David for his help in arranging their release and for speaking to them so gently. David shyly shrugged and said that Israel was proud to have senior citizens like the two of them.