Last July, as my family celebrated the fourth anniversary of our aliyah, I wrote an article for the Five Towns Jewish Times about Gilad’s fourth anniversary in captivity, which was marked just days before our anniversary (the article, “Sitting Alone in a Room,†was updated for the second issue of Koleinu, available at www.issuu.com/koleinu). I reflected upon our personal accomplishments and the many milestones we had passed in the years since our aliyah. I was amazed to reflect upon the tremendous growth our children have undergone here. I added that in all that time, with all that has passed for our family, Gilad Shalit has been a prisoner somewhere, in unknown but certainly unpleasant (at best) conditions.
I feel an inextricable link to Gilad Shalit. Each time a milestone of his captivity passes, a similar milestone passes for our family. As the June 25 anniversary marking five years in captivity for Gilad Shalit approached, I sat down with Aynat Libman (a volunteer who helps deal with English-speaking media and other English PR issues) and then Gilad’s father, Noam, to discuss their efforts, the upcoming anniversary, and how they are moving forward.
With the fifth anniversary around the corner, I expected to learn of a frenzy of activities, rallies, and demonstrations being orchestrated by the family and was surprised to learn that they were not planning any major events to mark the date. According to Aynat, “We have chosen not to mark that day because there hasn’t been any efficacy in marking that in the past.â€
Although their efforts at PR and awareness have definitely been successful, I noted that they have not achieved their ultimate goal and asked Aynat what the average person can do to help. She replied, “We believe that the primary reason that results have not happened yet, is because Bibi Netanyahu is using a tactic of scaring the Israeli population . . . where if we release terrorists, we are endangering everybody else.†She added, “It’s not that we are eager to release these terrorists . . . but it has been five years and nothing has happened, not militarily and not diplomatically. As we know, politicians work off of what they believe is public opinion . . . The more we can let them know . . . that this is something that has widespread support, I think that is what we as individuals can do.â€
She also invited people to visit www.gilad.org, to see when and where there will be events near them and then to show up at events and show support. They believe that the demonstration of support at their events and rallies shows the politicians that the country supports them.
I have written about my uncertainty regarding the potential security risks. The Shalits, as Gilad’s parents, have an obligation and moral imperative to push for the freedom of their son without other considerations. Yet, the leaders of the country have an obligation to weigh the costs against the risks and try to make decisions for the benefit of all. It is too easy to say, “We must do this or that†without at least considering the potential consequences.
Thinking that she seemed to be saying that we need to pay any price for Gilad’s freedom, I asked her what she thinks we should tell the parents of a future victim of one of these terrorists, should they be released and resume terror activities. Aynat told me, “Past heads of the Mossad and Shabak—people who know much more about Israel’s defense situation than you or I do—say, ‘Israel can handle this.’â€
She added that it is important to note that terrorists are trying to kidnap our soldiers and/or kill us on a daily basis. These efforts are thwarted by Tzahal, which is, she said, “in a different place than it was and is handling these situations.â€
She referred to a recent press conference where former Shin Bet heads Ami Ayalon, Carmi Gilon, and Yaakov Perry, alongside former Mossad head Danny Yatom and former IDF Commander-in-Chief Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, came out in favor of an exchange. In that news conference, Carmi Gilon is quoted (by Nana10) as saying outright, “It is sad for Israel if we cannot handle the increased threat that a release of terrorists would lead to.†Since those people and others like them, who know more about protecting the State of Israel than the average person knows, are in favor of an exchange, the Shalit family believes that such an exchange will not unduly increase the risk to Israeli civilians or military.
The final part of the argument in favor of an exchange (according to Libman) is the fact that as Jews, “when talking about the potential risk to others, there is one potential and then there is a life we know we can save. Are we really going to not take any chances and make Gilad rot in some Hamas prison? As Jews, how can we do that to another Jew?â€
In light of the worldwide pressure for Israel to negotiate with a unified PA/Hamas governing authority, I asked Aynat what the Shalits would say to President Obama and other world leaders about dealing with such an authority. She answered by referring to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s open declaration to the U.S. Congress that dealing with a group that includes a terrorist organization is simply not an option. She also referred to a demonstration they held recently in front of Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz’s home protesting the fact that our government recently released $300 million in funds to the PA, saying, “That’s not something that should be happening.â€
A few minutes after concluding my discussion with Aynat, Noam Shalit emerged from a private “staff only†section adjacent to the tent, where he had been on the phone. As I waited for him, I realized that despite the suspension of their lives to focus on doing their utmost as parents to gain their son’s freedom, they must still have other obligations and commitments to fulfill. I was boggled to consider how difficult it must be to run parallel lives, their public lives on the one side and their family lives on the other.
SK: Five years later, in hindsight, is there anything that you regret either having done or not done?
NS: There could be many things. We are generally thinking forward, not backward . . . We certainly make mistakes. We did not learn in a university how to struggle in a hostage situation; there are no courses like that in university.
SK: What’s your response to Nabil Sha’ath’s May 25 interview with IMRA (audio available on YouTube), in which he says that upon the completion of a reunification deal between the PA and Hamas, it is his opinion that the PA should take responsibility for Gilad Shalit yet not release him. Sha’ath states they would rather continue to hold Gilad and eventually exchange him for prisoners in Israel, despite the fact that in the past, the PA has traditionally returned soldiers who were seized in PA-governed areas directly to Israel without an exchange. [I believe Noam had not heard the statement prior to our interview.]
NS: If they establish a new government—in the meantime, it is all just talk—it would be a new situation . . . We will see that the [unified] Palestinian authority is responsible to free Gilad. It will not be us alone, but also the leaders of the world . . . The French president told me last week that he too will push such a government for this.
It is not logical that they will continue the crime of holding as hostage an Israeli and European citizen against the Roman Convention [I believe he meant to say Geneva Convention]. It is not logical that they would continue a war crime that has gone on for five years.
SK: Many immigrants (such as myself) come to Israel too old for military service. We thus have very little understanding of what it means to be in the military until our children experience it. What are your feelings toward military service? I know you have a daughter who is currently in the military (who was enlisted after Gilad’s kidnapping). Knowing what you have gone through so far, would you agree to her serving in a combat unit?
NS: It is only a hypothetical question, but not all children even ask for permission to serve in combat.
SK: After all you have been through, would you advise other parents to avoid military service for their children?
NS: [emphatically] No . . . To advise not to perform military service? We would not say such a thing.
SK: Combat duty?
NS: Also no, but one has to worry [switches to English] be worried about it, about what happened. [Returning to Hebrew] This is not the first time that a soldier who has been captured has not returned home.
As I ended my visit, I reflected on how the Shalits’ quiet dignity and ability to keep the nation focused on the plight of their son Gilad is simply amazing. Without rancor or malice, they await the greatest of pleasures of any parent, to hold their son in their arms, welcoming him home after his long absence.
Shmuel Katz is the editor of Koleinu (www.koleinu.co.il), a new Israeli newspaper affiliated with the Five Towns Jewish Times. Shmuel, his wife Goldie, and their six children made aliyah in July of 2006. Prior to his aliyah, Shmuel was the executive director of the Yeshiva of South Shore in Hewlett. You can contact him at shmuel@katzfamily.co.il.
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Last July, as my family celebrated the fourth anniversary of our aliyah, I wrote an article for the Five Towns Jewish Times about Gilad’s fourth anniversary in captivity, which was marked just days before our anniversary (the article, “Sitting Alone in a Room,†was updated for the second issue of Koleinu, available at www.issuu.com/koleinu). I reflected upon our personal accomplishments and the many milestones we had passed in the years since our aliyah. I was amazed to reflect upon the tremendous growth our children have undergone here. I added that in all that time, with all that has passed for our family, Gilad Shalit has been a prisoner somewhere, in unknown but certainly unpleasant (at best) conditions.
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