Veteran presenter and announcer Rivi Gadot revealed in an interview with Roi Katz on the Knesset Channel that she once broadcast coded messages to captive navigator Ron Arad during Kol Israel radio programs.
According to Gadot, the incident took place in 1986 or 1987 while she was hosting a regular music program on Reshet Gimel that featured listeners’ greetings and postcards.
She recalled that during one broadcast, then-Reshet Gimel director Gilad Ben-Shachar entered the studio and handed her two postcards with explicit instructions to read them on air for Ron Arad.
“He told me to read the texts exactly as written, including the wording mistakes," Gadot said, explaining that the intentional errors contained the hidden messages.
“I don’t know where it came from - whether from the Mossad or the Air Force - but I spoke with the military censor and they told me I could read it verbatim," she added.
Gadot shared one of the messages she read live on air at the time: “Dear Ron, we are waiting for you to come home, we’ll make lots of toast with yellow cheese together."
She explained that the word “yellow" was actually the encrypted message hidden within the seemingly innocent greeting.
“It gave me chills," Gadot said. “I read it several times, somehow slipped it in between songs, and said to myself: for moments like these, it’s worthwhile being on the radio."