Five Years and Four Months Later, A Homecoming

If you’re a regular visitor to my blog, you’ll certainly have noticed the banner over there in the top right corner of my blog’s sidebar. Sargent Gilad Shalit was kidnapped by Hamas on June 25th, 2006, when he was a 19 year-old corporal on active duty in the IDF. In Israel army service is compulsory for all young men and women and their tour of service ranges from 18 months to 3 years, followed by a lengthy reserve duty.

Gilad was not in Gaza when Hamas kidnapped him, he was within Israel’s borders at a military base. The terrorists who took him wounded from his tank were members of Hamas’ military wing. The other 2 troops in Gilad’s tank, including his commander, died, 5 others were wounded in the attack. Over the five-year period of his captivity, there were no visits from the Red Cross to ensure that his humanitarian rights were upheld, no routine proof of life given.

Until now, all the efforts to secure Gilad’s release have failed. In exchange for his return this upcoming week, Israel has agreed to release more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners, including some 450 terrorists who have directly caused the deaths of both Israelis and foreigners. They include Nasser Batima, jailed for planning a hotel bombing in Netanya during Passover in 2002 in which 30 Israelis were killed as well as Ahlam Tamimi, the Palestinian woman who drove the suicide bomber who attacked a Jerusalem pizza restaurant in 2001, killing 15 people. Also included on the list of those to be released are those who participated in the 2000 “lynching” in Ramallah of two Israeli reserve soldiers and those responsible for the abduction and murder of soldiers Nahshon Waxman, Avi Sasportas, Ilan Sa’adon and Shahar Simani.

There is not an Israeli who does not understand Aviva and Noam Shalit and the anguish they have suffered during their son’s 5-year captivity. And yet, while we rejoice with them in Gilad’s hopeful return, we cannot but wonder how long before someone else’s son or daughter becomes the next kidnap victim or the next victim of a terrorist act at the hands of one of those released in the exchange.

So while Hamas will be joyful and welcome their sons and daughters home with a hero’s welcome, Israelis will remain subdued. We have too much experience with the promises of terrorists to do otherwise.

Hoping that people and the media can give #giladshalit the space and time he needs to recover. Let him be #Gilad again before anything else.—
JenniferT (@wysiwygjt) October 12, 2011

Related:
News of Hamas-Israel prisoner deal met with apathy in Ramallah
Bereaved families petition High Court against Shalit deal

Update October 18, 2011:
09:10 – The news media have been talking non-stop since early this morning and as of now the pace has picked up to a frenzy. Still no sight of Gilad other than reports of his having been transferred to Egypt and the Rafiah border crossing. Celebrations in Ramallah, Um el Fahum and Gaza. Reports of calls for another kidnapping. Haniyeh confused why the world is celebrating the return of Shalit but not the Palestinian prisoners. East Jerusalem residents are demonstrating in the streets with Hamas flags.
09:30 – Two female terrorists, one mentioned above, have refused to leave the Red Cross bus so that they are not deported to Gaza.
09:45 – IDF confirms that Gilad has been transferred to Egypt.
09:55 – Thanks to the intervention of Egypt, one of the female terrorists will be deported directly to Egypt rather than Gaza. Not clear what is the fate of the 2nd female terrorist.
10:05 –  The prisoner exchange continues and you are invited to follow the developments on Ha’aretz’s Live Blog.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Sergeant First Class Gilad Shalit Enters Israel – ow.ly/70Ab9 #giladshalit—
IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) October 18, 2011

Can we get #GiladShalit to his home so we can get some good food in him. #JewishMothers—
Carol Warady (@carolw) October 18, 2011

AMEN! and later today, after so many, many days, my #giladshalit banner comes down.

Galei Tzahal- Soon We’ll Become A Song

Every year in Israel we experience the manic switch from the depths of sorrow remembering and honoring those who fell in terrorist action and our armed forces who died while serving their country so that we could rejoice in Independence Day, which falls on the day following Remembrance Day.

Army Radio is again this year repeating its project, “Soon We’ll Become a Song“, which pairs poetry written by some of these young fallen soldiers with Israeli composers and musicians. The entire project will be broadcast (in Hebrew) on Army Radio, Monday afternoon (Israel time), the time we start to transition from sorrow to joy.

Better shared!

Moving right along at full tilt

Or is it tilt-a-whirl?

Trying hard not to think about all the things that still need doing before our Passover holiday in little over a week’s time. Things have become a bit more complicated while I deal with recovering from another bout of pneumonia (the 2nd in two months) and a third round of antibiotics. Everything leaves me breathless. Thankfully, I have two sisters-in-law to lean on for cooking (and a strange feeling to not be including my mother-in-law (z”l) in that sentence), though the festive meal is at our house. I’ll be leaning on my sons and husband for the post-meal cleanup, which takes almost as long as the cooking and preparation.

Also weighing heavily on our minds as we go into the week before Passover holiday is the current situation in the south, which picked up considerable speed this weekend. Since early Friday morning, at least 75 rocket and missile attacks have been launched from Gaza, including an anti-tank missile that was fired on a school bus, mortally wounding a 16 year-old student. Who knows how many more rocket attacks before this post is published Sunday morning Israel time.

Meanwhile, Mr. Haniyeh has asked that Israel stop retaliating, to which I can only reply, “Chad Gadya.”

Updated: seems I’m not alone in my thoughts on the latter subject. The Wifely Person Speaks. Go listen.

Better shared!

We Stand Strong Together-Reflections on September 11

The WTC from the Observation Deck of the Empire State Building-2000

Memorial NYC-2002

The top photo was taken late in the summer of 2000, not long before our eldest was drafted into the IDF, when we visited the US for the first time together as a family since returning home to Israel in 1990. The kids weren’t exactly thrilled to be in New York. They were ready to go home after 2 intense and enjoyable weeks of DisneyWorld and visiting with family in Minnesota. None-the-less, we took the ferry and toured the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, walked through Central Park and along Broadway to Times Square, checked out the viewing decks of the Empire State Building and the WTC, visited Pier 54, saw the UN, the Guggenheim, ate dinner in Chinatown; in other words, we did all the usual touristy things. And then we went home and the memories of our trip to the US quickly faded into the background of our daily routines.

Almost exactly one year after our return flight home from JFK, at about four in the afternoon, my husband called to tell me to turn on the TV, that there’d been some sort of aviation accident in New York City. The first images I saw on TV were of smoke billowing out the side of one of the World Trade Center towers, accompanied by hesitating and uncertain commentary how such an accident could have happened. This went on for a while and then another plane flew into the 2nd tower. My disbelief slowly turned into anger and then disgust at what I was seeing.

Stories of loss and survival, heroism and sorrow were told in the days after the hijackings on 9/11. Many of us realized for the first time how vulnerable an open society like the US was and how easy it was for someone to intentionally turn that openness against us. The anger and frustration many felt were expressed in bigoted, ugly acts against newly stamped Americans who had themselves escaped from extremist or oppressive regimes. As the granddaughter of Russian immigrants, those acts, while few, made me feel ashamed to be an American.

Now, nine years later, recalling that day brings up emotions just as strong and an additional one, regret. Regret that it took such horrific acts to shake the US out of its stupor; regret that not everything that followed was carried out with the same pureness of purpose that the deaths of more than 3,000 people mandated; regret for the continued bigotry and hatred.

Five or ten years from now one can only wonder where the aftereffects of 9/11 will have taken the US and the world in their wake. If we forget the ideals that made the US a beacon for so many of our forebears, then I fear it will be a dark path. I would hope instead, like the sentiment expressed in the flag above, that we would choose to stand strong together.

I’d like to thank the Academy

There’s only one thing I can say after listening to our PM’s awards acceptance speech press conference last night about the unilateral cease fire in Gaza,

Where is

Gilad Shalit?!

(941 days in captivity and counting…)