Gilad Shalit

Gilad deserves better than this

Chas Newkey-Burden — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 09:53:00 +0100

When details of Gilad Shalit's conversations with military investigators were published last week, a vocal minority criticised him. One Israeli commentator even called for Gilad to stand trial for "negligence". I was disappointed but not surprised by these responses. During the years I spent campaigning for Gilad's freedom, I encountered relentless negativity from some friends of Israel.

I was told that campaigning was futile, as Hamas would never release Gilad, except in a coffin. When the wonderful day came that he walked free, the doom-merchants changed tack, telling me that Hamas would have tortured him daily for five years, so he would be "as good as dead".

Whenever I questioned these claims, I was told I was hopelessly naïve. "You don't get it," they told me, employing the condescending catch-phrase so beloved of the more cultish members of our movement. Thank goodness enough of us did "get it" and never gave up.

Since the fuller account of Gilad Shalit's experiences has emerged, some say he was too weak or passive on the day of his kidnap. It's easy to criticise from afar, isn't it? None of us can know how we would have reacted. These armchair heroes remind me of the fat old men you see at football matches, who wheezingly berate the young athletes on the field.

Uglier still was the palpable sense of disappointment at Gilad's revelation that he was not tortured, other than "slight annoyances" in the first days. So caught-up are some in the quest for anti-Hamas propaganda that they would almost have preferred tales of brutality. Gilad is merely a pawn in the political cause of such Israel "supporters"- just as he was for Hamas. It's very sad when people on both sides place ideology ahead of humanity.

Many missed the real revelation of the story: Gilad Shalit's commendable honesty. He could have claimed convincingly to have forgotten the circumstances of his abduction, or presented a more flattering account. Instead, he told the story in all its uncomfortable truth. This speaks volumes for his character.

I was already familiar with his admirable character, as I spent a day with him earlier this year. We had tea with his family and then strolled between London landmarks.

He is a sensitive, kind and observant young man, aware of and grateful for the enormous efforts so many made on his behalf. It was wonderfully surreal to walk down London's South Bank, discussing European football with the man who was for so long a hostage, a face on thousands of leaflets and news bulletins. How surreal freedom must be for him.

The deal for his release came with a price: more than 1,000 prisoners were set free. Although I was in favour of the exchange, I understand the perspective of the people who opposed it. It would be good if those who continue to feel bitterness over the deal could move on and leave their resentment behind, or at least channel it towards those who struck the deal, rather than at Shalit himself, who had no part in the negotiations.

So he didn't act like an ice-cool Spartan on the day of his capture? These things happen when you push everyone into national service. Even the bravest of IDF troops are not guaranteed reward or respect, as the Mavi Marmara commandos discovered last week when Netanyahu sold them out with his apology to Turkey.

Israeli soldiers are criticised enough by opponents of the Jewish state. Friends of Israel should not be adding unwarranted judgments of their own.

Gilad Shalit tells lone soldiers they are ‘courageous’

Anna Sheinman — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:15:36 +0000

Former kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit met 50 lone soldiers in Jerusalem on Thursday and told them they were “courageous and admirable”.

Lone soldiers are young men and women who have made aliyah from countries all over the world without their families and joined the army.

Mr Shalit met a group of lone soldiers, played table tennis and pool with them and expressed his support for the choice they had made.

“I admire each one of you for what you are doing for our country,” he said. “Your decision to leave your families and friends and make aliyah on your own and join the army is truly courageous and admirable,” he said.

“Although you are far from your own families, you are not alone: we are all one family and are here to support you and make you feel most welcome as Israeli citizens."

Mr Shalit met the lone soldiers at the office of Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organisation that along with the Friends of the IDF provides support to the soldiers while adjusting to their new life in Israel.

Gilad Shalit receives a hero’s welcome from the UK

Marcus Dysch — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 14:30:46 +0000

Gilad Shalit has made his first visit to Britain since spending five years as a prisoner at the hands of Hamas.

The former Israeli soldier thanked British Jews for their efforts to campaign for his release, took part in a conference and watched a Premier League football match during his four-night trip which ended earlier this week.

The visit came just days after the Israeli strike which killed Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari, who masterminded Mr Shalit’s capture in June 2006.

Mr Shalit, 26, travelled to London to take part in a conference organised by B’nai B’rith UK. On Friday, Mr Shalit met members of the community, including London cabbies who had publicised his plight by putting his image on their taxis.

Lord Sacks said: “Every week for five-and-a-half years we prayed every Shabbat for Gilad, and we have been blessed to see you again.”

Mr Taub presented Mr Shalit with traditional British gifts including a box of tea and an umbrella .

He told him he had become “a symbol of something that is best about us as the Jewish people: how we can come together in support of the values that are so important to us, and particularly the value of a single human life which in our tradition is worth an entire world”.

On Friday evening Mr Shalit took part in a service at South Hampstead Synagogue and socialised with other conference participants. The following night Mr Shalit joined revellers at a gala evening at which he was presented with honorary membership of B’nai B’rith.

He also went to the Foreign Office to meet Middle East Minister Alistair Burt, who told him of the efforts made in Parliament to secure his release.

Mr Shalit also attended last weekend’s north London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham.

Hamas release video reconstructing Shalit’s capture

Anna Sheinman — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:12:35 +0100

On the first anniversary of Gilad Shalit’s release, Hamas’s military wing has released a film purporting to describe how the abduction was carried out.

The 44 minute Arabic-language video, released on Thursday, claims that Sergeant Shalit thought his abductors were Jewish, because they were wearing outfits resembling IDF uniforms. According to the video, when terrorists reached the Israeli soldier’s tank he shouted “I’m a Jew, I’m a Jew!”

The video opens with several interviews with Hamas officials. It explains the training undertaken by the terrorists who carried out the kidnap, and how the plan was developed. It then contains a re-enactment of the 2006 base raid which ended in Mr Shalit’s capture.

It is alleged that the team dug under the security fence, and that the explosive charge placed on the tank was detonated using an anti-tank missile.

The video was released as Mr Shalit celebrated one year’s freedom, giving his first interview to Israel Channel 10 this week.

If only Gilad Shalit's freedom had changed the Middle East

Jamie Slavin — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 15:07:47 +0100

From Isaac Newton being hit on the head by an apple to the self-immolation of Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi last year, history is littered with examples of seemingly insignificant events that have proven to be catalysts for much larger developments. The potential for a random alignment of events, small in number and short in duration, to irrevocably tip the balance of history, is immense.

The return of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit one year ago yesterday was a momentous event in and of itself. But it had the potential to be much more significant. It had the potential to be a tipping point. At least, I thought it did.

Along with millions, I watched Gilad's return with teary eyes. I cheered the embrace between father and son, separated for so long. I watched approvingly as Israel's leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, reunited a family. I marvelled at the crowds lining the streets of Gilad's home town of Mitzpe Hila and smiled as President Peres paid his respects to a man 60 years his junior.

Some said the wrong decision had been made. Some called the agreement, which freed 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, a capitulation to terror. Others said it was disrespectful to the memories of those who had died at the hands of the murderers who were released to cheers in Gaza.

Without second guessing the thoughts of those who have lost loved ones to terror, or live with the constant threat of this, those fears do not appear to have manifested. Since October 18 2011, there has been no wave of kidnapping attempts, no string of new suicide attacks.

At the time, I argued that Israel had chosen the brave option, affirming the supreme value that Judaism places on life. Whatever he did in future, Gilad Shalit could rest assured that his release had strengthened the foundations on which the Jewish state had been built.

I stand by that, yet in the back of my mind I can't help but feel a twinge of disappointment. I played a small part in the campaign to keep Gilad's plight in the public eye, with Downing Street vigils and the "Faces for Gilad" scheme, which asked members of the public to take a photograph of themselves calling for his release.

Rightly or wrongly, Gilad became a symbol for campaigners and Israel advocates. Israel faces such constant struggles that in some ways supporters pinned our hopes on Gilad. Here was an area where we could make a tangible difference, ensuring that world leaders could not forget the teenager dragged through a tunnel into Gaza. Perhaps hope of seeing him freed became about more than merely bringing a man home. Perhaps, over the years, it became a symbolic act of redemption, a fillip for those who watched endless bad news from Israel and yearned for something positive to emerge.

I'm anything but a fan of "what if" history yet, what if? What could the release of Gilad have precipitated? An improbable, perhaps undesirable, détente between Israel and Hamas? A realisation that these two implacable enemies could, through a third party, find agreement? Perhaps even a change of direction for Hamas; a recognition that it had more to gain from engaging with Israel than from following an extremist agenda?

But, in the year since his release, little has changed. In fact, things appear to have deteriorated. There is the new threat of attacks across Israel's border with Sinai and ever-increasing instability on the northern border, as the fate of the Assad regime hangs in the balance. To the east, Iran draws ever closer to its nuclear goal. It's a depressing picture.

This week, we received the sad news that the body of Majdi Halabi, an Israeli solider missing for more than seven years, had been found in the Carmel. Other soldiers - including Zachary Baumel, Tzvi Feldman, Yehuda Katz, Ron Arad and Guy Hever - remain missing, some for nearly 40 years. Their families are in a limbo no one should have to endure. It is a reminder of how Gilad's story could have turned out differently.

Yet he returned to an Israel that is in a more precarious position than ever. For those who hoped that his homecoming might mark a turning point, our tremendous relief and joy at Gilad's return has been coloured by a sense of disappointment. Ultimately, Gilad is just one man, just one soldier, and Israel's hopes for a peaceful future will not rest on one man, one idea or one symbol being a catalyst for change.

But one year ago, a small part of me believed.

Jamie Slavin is public affairs manager of the Board of Deputies of British Jews

Gilad Shalit speaks about captivity on first anniversary

Jennifer Lipman — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 09:53:37 +0100

For more than five years, Gilad Shalit lived in captivity, wondering whether he would ever see his family, friends or home again.

A year after he was freed, after 1,942 days as a Hamas prisoner, he has spoken of how much he values the little things that he missed during that time.

Speaking to Israel's Channel 10, he referred to experiences such as "seeing nature, walking outside, opening a window, meeting people, being on the street, getting a mother's hug, receiving warmth and love from family, friends" .

"This is something I didn't get all those years in captivity," said the 26-year-old, who was kidnapped at the Gaza border in June 2006, when he was just 19.

He told the interviewer that it had not been easy returning to normal life. "People have changed, have grown up, you feel as if you were left behind," he said.

Looking to the future, the soldier said that if he had children, it would be difficult for him to send them to the army. But he added: "In the end the state got me out of there…I have no doubt I will send my children to the army."

In the year since his release, he has kept a low profile, working as a basketball correspondent for Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot. In April he was spotted at a nightclub in Tel Aviv by British holidaymakers, much to their delight. And in an event that gave an eerie reminder of how life and art can overlap, he visited the set of the US television show Homeland, which was inspired by an Israeli series about missing soldiers adapting to life after captivity.

While he was a captive, Sergeant Shalit spoke of his worry that he would share the fate of navigator Ron Arad, perhaps the most well-known of Israel's missing soldiers, who was captured in 1986.

He said that during his lengthy period away from home, he would sketch maps of Israel and the streets of Mitzpe Hila, where his parents grew up. "So I would remember, so I wouldn't forget," he said.

Gilad Shalit gives first interview since release

Anna Sheinman — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 17:04:59 +0100

Gilad Shalit has given his first interview since his release almost a year ago. A clip from the interview, which was screened on Israel’s Channel 10 on Thursday evening, showed the former soldier speaking about his time in captivity.

He detailed how he used to pass the time. “During the day I would play with all kinds of games. Chess, dominoes, and I played all sorts of things with myself, strange games” he said. “I would make a ball of socks or a shirt and I would throw it in the trash. I would invent all sorts of things.”

He also said that he used to write, but was wary of upsetting his captors by doing so.

“I’d hide it sometimes, because some did not like my writing,” he said. “Some thought I was collecting information.”

Held captive by Hamas for over five years, Mr Shalit also spoke of his nerves on the day of his release: "I didn't know if something might happen, if someone may try to hurt us, if something would go wrong at the last minute," he recalled.

"And as soon as I got out of the vehicle and entered Egypt I had a sense of relief. Suddenly I saw before me dozens, hundreds of people, after not having seen more than a few people all these years."

Channel 10 said the rest of the interview was due to be screened “soon”.

Remains of missing Israeli soldier Majdi Halabi found

Marcus Dysch — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:59:19 +0100

The body of an Israeli soldier has been found more than seven years after he went missing while on a hike.

Majdi Halabi was 19 when he was last seen on May 24 2005, near Mount Carmel.

Remains found in nearby Daliyat al-Karmel three weeks ago were forensically tested, and DNA evidence has now confirmed they are those of Private Halabi.

His parents and other campaigners had long believed the Druze soldier had been kidnapped, and he had appeared on the Israeli Foreign Ministry's official list of soldiers missing in action.

Earlier this year the Israeli government was said to be working on a deal with three prisoners, one of whom was jailed for murder, who had claimed to know what happened to Private Halabi.

The teenager’s father, Nazmi, had said he believed the men were lying and that his son was still alive.

Anti-Israel activists ask Barcelona FC to uninvite Gilad Shalit

Marcus Dysch — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0100

Anti-Israel activists in Spain have called on Barcelona football club to drop an invitation to Gilad Shalit to attend a derby game against Real Madrid.

The four-time European Cup winners offered the former prisoner of war tickets to the October 7 El Clásico match as a gesture of goodwill.

BDS Catalunya, a Barcelona-based group promoting boycotts of Israel, has created a petition to send to club president Sandro Roselli asking him to withdraw the invitation.

Signed by more than 800 people, the petition states: “Since April, Gilad Shalit is no longer officially part of the Israeli army. However, in the eyes of the Catalan people and the world as a whole he still symbolically represents the IDF.

“We are also surprised to see your club express so much friendship and sympathy towards the only Israeli soldier to be imprisoned in recent years as a result of this conflict while, at the same time, maintaining absolute silence about the 4,660 Palestinian prisoners now confined in Israeli prisons.”

FC Barcelona vice-president Carles Vilarrubí said: “Barcelona is a place of unity, not divisions. This invitation does not indicate in any way that Barca takes a position in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Last year, Mr Vilarrubí invited Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to view the club’s facilities at its Camp Nou stadium.

Mr Shalit was released last October after being held for five years by Hamas. He is a keen sports fan and has spoken of how listening to reports on radio helped him during his time in captivity.

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth offered him a role as a basketball columnist, and he has travelled to the United States to watch an NBA All-Star basketball match.

Anti-Israel activists condemn Barcelona invite to Gilad Shalit

Marcus Dysch — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:18:50 +0100

Anti-Israel activists have called on Barcelona football club to withdraw an invitation to Gilad Shalit to attend a derby game against Real Madrid.

The four-time European Cup winners offered the former prisoner of war tickets to the October 7 El Clásico match as a gesture of goodwill.

BDS Catalunya, a Barcelona-based group promoting boycotts of Israel, has created a petition to send to club president Sandro Roselli asking him to withdraw the invitation.

FC Barcelona vice-president Carles Vilarrubí said: “Barcelona is a place of unity not divisions. This invitation does not indicate in any way that Barca takes a position in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Last year Mr Vilarrubí invited Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to view the club’s facilities at its Camp Nou stadium.

Mr Shalit was released last October after being held for five years by Hamas. He is a keen sports fan and has spoken of how listening to reports on radio helped him during his time in captivity.

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth offered him a role as a basketball columnist, and he has travelled to the United States to watch an NBA All-Star basketball match.