IDF reservist flies home in plane's washroom seat

(JNS) - When a 27-year-old Israeli university student vacationing in Thailand on Oct. 7 was determined to fly home to join his military reserve unit, he was given an unusual seat on the sold-out and overbooked El Al flight to Tel Aviv: the plane's restroom.

"I felt for the first time that it was a war for our existence, and that we need to be here to protect our country," Itay Kahana recounted in an interview with JNS on Sunday after completing nearly five months of reserve duty. "I had no second thoughts," he added.

From paradise to firefight

On that fateful autumn morning, Kahana had complet...