Andy and I just said good-bye to family who had come here to celebrate our nephew’s bar mitzvah. I’ll write more about that experience in a separate e-mail as it is too rich a subject to combine with anything else. But I will mention this; in describing what it’s like living here, I summed it up this way: Israelis are not polite (I’d enter that observation in the next Understatement of the Millennium contest), but they are warm. That warmth displayed itself on a national level during the last two weeks and I think it’s worth describing.
On June 25th, 2006, two months shy of his 20th birthday, Gilad Shalit, a corporal in the Israel Defense Corp’s Armoured Division, was abducted by Hamas terrorists in a cross-border raid near the Kerem Shalom (ironically, the Vineyard of Peace) crossing between Gaza and Israel. Four years later, he is presumably still in Gaza although no one, including the Red Cross, has been allowed to visit him. Members of last month’s “Freedom Flotilla” refused to carry a simple letter to him and no one; not the French* who have made an anemic attempt to advance his cause; not the Americans; and not even the Israeli government has achieved his release. Despite round-the-clock efforts to rescue their son, Noam and Aviva Shalit have endured more than 1,470 days of agony knowing that their Gilad is in constant danger.
And so, after 4 years, the Shalit family literally took to the streets. With the support of family, friends, neighbors and strangers they embarked on a 12-day, 120 mile journey from their home in Mitzpe Hila, a small bucolic town nestled in the Western Galilee overlooking the Kziv Stream and the Montfort Crusader Castle down toward Herzlia, then on to Tel Aviv and finally arriving at the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem where they have vowed to stay until their son comes home. As the throngs, reaching into the thousands, entered cities carrying banners, sporting “Free Gilad” tee-shirts and chanting slogans, police cordoned off highways and local streets to give the marchers easy passage. Already congested highways were brought to a standstill, but on this rarest of occasions, few Israelis complained.
Because, for once, we all agree on something. We all want Gilad home. Rare unanimity. But there is no national consensus as to how to achieve that goal. Do we support Aviva and Noam who understandably demand that the government bring him home their son at any price? Some say yes. It doesn’t matter if Hamas is demanding the release of thousands of prisoners, some with gallons of blood on their hands. Israel has had a policy of “no man left behind” and Gilad should be no exception. Others, such as Prime Minster Netanyahu argue that some prices are, in fact, too high. We have suffered the deadly consequences of freeing convicted murderers in previous prisoner exchanges and we cannot subject ourselves to those risks yet again.
It would be easy if we could say, “Well, it’s sad that Gilad was captured, but he’s just one soldier. Time to move on.” We can’t do it. We’re not wired that way. Because Gilad may be just one son but for the 5.7 million of us** living in a land of mandatory military conscription, he is our son. Our greatest strength is our greatest vulnerability. For us, losing one citizen is one too many. There is a Hebrew expression “Kol Yisrael arevim zeh lazeh (All Jews are responsible for one another). Hamas understands this one is trying to use it to the best of their advantage.
I don’t know how this tragic chapter in our history will end. Hopefully, in triumph. Hopefully, the Shalits will once again be a complete family. I don’t know. But I do know we’re made of tough stuff, and we are not going to stop championing the cause of Gilad’s freedom. I just hope the price is not too high.
*He has French citizenship through his father.
** Number of Jews living in Israel according to the 2009 census.
