Gilad Shalit and Jewish solidarity

This Saturday marks the fifth anniversary of Gilad Shalit's captivity at the hands of Hamas.

The debate for and against his release is well known. The truth is that we are all - the public, government and media - merely providing lip service regarding the possibility of Gilad's release. The statement that we are doing all that is possible for his release outrages me most of all. It is simply not true. We are not doing everything. We can do more. The question at hand is ethical: Is Israel's leadership, with public support, willing to meet the high price-tag demanded by Hamas in return for every single IDF soldier who remains in captivity; or will the leadership and the public decide that the price is too high.

I asked certain ministers and MKs in the Knesset Cafeteria what would have happened if, God forbid, a senior IDF officer or MK would have been captured instead of Shalit. Would we then also not have met all of Hamas' requirements? Most of them replied that the State of Israel could not afford a situation in which a senior officer or public figure is held in Hamas captivity, as this would humiliate the country and harm its status.

The necessary conclusion is clear - we need to decide whether a soldier, any soldier, is worthy of receiving complete protection, even if that entails jeopardizing the security of all other citizens, or decide that, given the situation in the Middle East, we will, at times, have to sacrifice soldiers for the sake of the state's security. That is the sad truth.

At present, the media is also considerably doused with self righteousness. The daily countdown marking Gilad's days in captivity, out there in Gaza, has become futile, hollow and insubstantial given that no-one opposes his release nor makes light of his situation. All Israelis are united in the pursuit of Gilad's return. It is only a question of how much we are willing to pay for the sake of social solidarity.

There is a prevailing sense that the fight for Gilad's release, as it stands today, has reached a dead-end. People no longer notice that Noam and Aviva Shalit have left their home in Mitzpe Hila and set up their demonstration near the Prime Minister's house in Talbiya, Jerusalem. While they carry out their noble fight and demonstrate near the PMO, only a handful of ministers bother to approach and ask how they are keeping up. In short, this indifference and acceptance of the situation compels us to wake up before it is too late.

In commemoration of the fifth anniversary, the plan is that senior officials like the former head of Israel Security Agency ('Shin Bet'), celebrities and also Hezi Shai, who experienced three years in the harsh conditions of a Syrian prison cell, will sit in solitary confinement for an hour. This plan may just cause the public to internalize the simple question - are we willing to do everything, entirely, in order to bring about Shalit's release? I know that I am, and so is most of the Israeli public; it is important that the Israeli government knows this.

טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו