Settler launches 'operation proposal'
Young man from Har Bracha settlement gets soldiers at Oranit checkpoint to assist in marriage proposal
On Sunday evening, a few minutes after sunset, Sara Toshinsky, 23, arrived with Shamir at the Oranit checkpoint in the West Bank. She expected they would pass through as usual, when things started going "wrong": IDF soldiers stopped the two's car, looked inside, traded grave looks and ominously announced they were "wanted for interrogation."
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According to a Monday report in Yedioth Ahronoth, the two were then separated and panic set in: Toshinsky, a Bat Yam resident, was taken to a checkpoint interrogation room, where a an "angry" interrogator informed her that "Nir’s car was involved in a hit-and-run. We know you were there with him."
He then showed her a photo of Shamir’s car parked in the Palestinian village of Hawara and topped this off by pulling out her ID card out of his pocket – which she could not understand how he got.
The two's "detention" was all part of an elaborate marriage proposal planned by Shamir. In order to execute it perfectly, he first had to enlist the cooperation of the Defense Ministry, the Border Crossing Authority and the troops stationed at the checkpoint and their commanding officer.
He even travelled to a Palestinian village to photograph his car there, and swiped his girlfriend ID card, so they could be used as "evidence."
While Toshinsky was being "questioned," Shamir – with the help of Defense Ministry officers – prepared a romantic scene in the checkpoint's parking lot, including a colorful rug and dozens of candles.
Toshinsky recounted how at the end of her "interrogation" she was ordered to go to the parking lot and wait for a police cruiser. On her way out, she passed several Border Guard officers – who, as part of the plan – all gave her somber looks, to stress the "seriousness" of the situation.
Moments later, still unsure what was going on, she was standing before Shamir. Between them, sparkling candles spelled out "Will you marry me?"
Shamir, a yeshiva student who is wheelchair-bound as a result of an accident, told Yedioth Ahronoth that the location was selected very carefully.
"I wanted to prove to her that anything was possible – there are no limits to love," he said.
And Toshinsky? She, naturally, said yes. "I didn’t suspect a thing. Another second and you would have had to hospitalize me," she recounted with a smile.
After the marriage proposal, the two sat for a long hour on the hill overlooking the Oranit checkpoint, while security personnel stopped by to congratulate them.
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