For the Damned No Glory
Caught in the Midst of Terror
by
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"At what time will Ms. Winfrey arrive?" The revered replied, "Give me a few minutes, I am going to make the arrangements." Mr. McIntyre replied: "Reverend, you mean you haven’t called her yet. It’s getting late and we are definitely running short on time." The reverend was able to establish contact with Lance Burger, Ms. Winfrey’s producer. The reverend brought Mr. Burger up to speed on the gravity of the situation. It so happened that Ms. Winfrey, at that precise moment, was on location in Atlantic City, taping a segment for a show entitled "Gambling Addiction." Neither the reverend nor Mr. McIntyre knew it yet, but the unfolding event in Evanston has been of great interest to Ms. Winfrey since the killer took the two sisters hostage. In fact, from her location in Atlantic City, Ms. Winfrey kept in constant contact with her producer, who followed the events and brought her up to date from time to time. Ms. Winfrey had not a clue that by a twist of fate she was about to be drawn into the crisis and would play a determining role in bringing it to an end. Mr. Burger contacted Ms. Winfrey through her cell phone and informed her as to the request of the reverend. She immediately put her assignment on hold, got on her private company jet and headed back to Chicago at once. No sooner had Ms. Winfrey left Atlantic City, the news of her mission was beginning to spread around the nation and the world. The whole thing kind of caught the FBI by surprise, as a media frenzy started to develop in the area surrounding the school. From the airplane, on the way back to Chicago, Ms. Winfrey telephoned the reverend and the two had a brief conversation. She sounded very concerned for the Nelson sisters and expressed sympathy for their plight. Ms. Winfrey was deeply touched when the reverend informed her that the sisters turned down an offer from the "Coronary Killer" to allow them to go free, opting for continuing captivity in order to force the killer to surrender and to prevent him from escaping. According to the Egyptian "Voice of Freedom," which by the way was the first medium to broadcast the news, the responsibility for the act rested entirely on the shoulders of the Israeli army. The original version of the broadcast circulated in the air as follows: "Israeli soldiers attacked a mosque near the West Bank and killed fifty-five worshipping Palestinians." The news of the attack in its original, distorted version, spread like wildfire from the Middle East to around the world. Almost every major news medium picked up on it as if it was absolute fact. That was, until CNN began broadcasting by radio and television the accurate version of the incident some three hours later. The Arabic media continued to broadcast the conflicting version and insisted that theirs was the accurate one. Twenty-four hours later, the Israeli government, through its foreign and defense ministers, held a press conference to bring a categorical denial to rumors that Israeli soldiers were responsible for the attack on the mosque. According to Defense Minister David Eshkol, twenty-six-year-old Moshe Eban (the perpetrator of the crime) was not an Israeli soldier as inaccurately reported by the Arabic media; but a civilian disguised in army fatigues, misrepresenting himself for a soldier at the time he committed the heinous crime. Even after the press conference, the Arabic media continued to broadcast the misleading news and insisted that the Israeli army and government were responsible for the attack. Tensions in Jerusalem mounted to a peak. A self-imposed curfew immediately went into effect in the West Bank. Suddenly the question to ask was not whether the Palestinians were going to retaliate, but rather when. Tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank had long become a way of life. Acts of violence against Jewish targets over the years are, unfortunately, routine occurrences. Yet, no Israeli nor Palestinian can say that he or she has grown accustomed to terrorism, when terrorism often robs one of a close friend, a father, a mother, a sister, a brother, a son, a daughter or just someone whose life gives meaning to one’s existence.
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About the Book
Henry Wiseman’s life has been a continuous saga, marked by turbulence and the intrusion of violence and terror. As a child, Henry experienced racism and prejudice firsthand, growing up under the specter of apartheid in segregated South Africa. As a young man, he engaged in a personal crusade to bring about changes in his homeland, and consequently achieved one of the greatest successes of his life, all during his first year as a freshman at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois. Henry later met this beautiful young Jewish woman, Eva Meir, with whom he fell madly in love. They complemented one another’s life, as they committed to each other in marriage and began a family of their own. Henry became an active member of his community and would eventually lead a moderate-size congregation in Evanston, as the pastor of the Second John the Baptist Church of Evanston. In his capacity as a religious leader, Henry found himself drawn into the path of a serial killer who descended on Evanston and unleashed a campaign of terror that led to the kidnapping of two young girls from Henry’s congregation. Henry would eventually offer himself as a hostage and manage to persuade the killer to surrender to the authorities. With time, Henry was able to make good on a promise to his wife to take her on a dream vacation to South Africa and Israel. They were in Israel for only a few days, exploring the wonders of this majestic land, when suddenly they found themselves trapped on a hillside road overlooking the West Bank, as a group of Palestinian terrorists on a mission of vengeance against Israel exploded a deadly biochemical bomb some two hundred yards away from where they stood.
About the Author
Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Joel Chery migrated to the United States on November 2, 1973; he joined his older sister, Vitania, who at the time resided in the north side of the city of Chicago, Illinois. Shortly thereafter, they moved to the small suburban town of Evanston. It was in Evanston that Joel first met his beautiful wife, Dolores; they were married on December 10, 1977, at the First Baptist Church of Evanston, where they were members, and four children were born of that union: Mark, Daniel, Allan and Elizabeth. Joel attended Oakton Community College and William R. Harper College in Illinois, and he later graduated from Roosevelt University of Chicago in 1989, with a bachelors in general studies. In 1990, Joel relocated to South Florida, where he has been living with his family since, in the city of Tamarac.