Overview
Retired Israeli Air Force (IAF) colonel and former El Al captain Dror Gorelik has described an unexplained aerial encounter he says occurred over Israel in 1998. In the video interview, titled Anomaly, Gorelik recounts seeing an unusual object while returning from a military training exercise near Tel Nof Airbase. He says the incident, which remained unexplained for more than two decades, challenged his understanding of aircraft identification and left him with what he described as years of “lost sleep.”
Gorelik’s background is central to his account. According to the interview, he served in the IAF for 22 years, flying Skyhawks, Kfirs and F-15s before becoming a squadron commander and later heading an operations branch. He subsequently spent 27 years as an El Al captain. The video presents his experience as a reason to take the report seriously, while acknowledging that expertise alone does not establish the nature or origin of an unidentified object.
The 1998 Encounter
Gorelik said the sighting occurred on a clear summer day at approximately 12:30 p.m., during a large-scale IAF exercise. He was flying an F-15 as the wingman, or number two aircraft, in a two-jet formation returning to Tel Nof for landing.
He initially noticed what appeared to be a bright yellow light close to the ground. His first assumption, he said, was that another aircraft might be entering the landing pattern in an unsafe manner. The object then moved rapidly and positioned itself between Gorelik’s aircraft and the lead jet, at an estimated distance of 300 to 400 meters.
According to Gorelik, the object had a metallic, silver-colored body resembling a “mushroom” or “muffin.” He described a row of yellow lights around its perimeter and an orange-colored underside. He said it displayed no visible exhaust or other propulsion system, and that its movement and acceleration did not correspond to any aircraft or balloon he recognized.
Attempts at Corroboration
Gorelik said the lead pilot did not report seeing the object. However, he recalled that the navigator in the lead aircraft later acknowledged seeing a bright yellow light pass beneath the plane’s wing, though the observation was not reported during the flight.
He also said he contacted personnel at the control tower and radar facility after landing. Neither the tower nor radar operators, according to his account, had detected unusual activity. Gorelik further recalled asking a senior commander whether Israel possessed technology capable of producing what he had seen. The commander reportedly responded jokingly that the military had requested funding for such a craft, but that the request had not been approved.
Context and Remaining Questions
The interview places Gorelik’s account within a broader international debate over unidentified anomalous phenomena. It references public statements and testimony involving former U.S. officials, including Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Senator Chuck Schumer, and witnesses such as David Grusch and Karl Nell. Those discussions have increased public attention on UAP reports, but they do not independently verify Gorelik’s 1998 sighting.
No radar records, cockpit video, photographs or other documentary evidence are presented in the available summary. The account therefore remains an eyewitness report without publicly documented confirmation. Gorelik says he decided to speak publicly because UAP investigations have become more open and because he believes his aviation experience enables him to distinguish conventional aircraft from something genuinely anomalous. The video concludes by inviting others who may have witnessed similar events in Israeli airspace to come forward.
