A little over 3 years ago, when kidnapped Israeli soldiers Udi Goldwasser and Eldad
Regev were returned, no longer alive, from Hizballah captivity in the last
prisoner swap undertaken by Israel, I wrote a note on facebook about their return to Israel, in coffins.
Reflecting
on this now, while hoping accounts are true and Gilad Shalit who is about to be
released from Hamas captivity after 5 years is ALIVE, I remembered this
note because of the third last paragraph, about the sanctity of life and the honour
of those who serve their country, and the duty to bring them home.
I wrote
that note when I was very sad and pained that day. You can read the note at the bottom of this post. I hope in the next few days to share a
different type of emotion. We are all waiting to see Gilad back home. An entire
nation has been hoping, praying, dreaming, campaigning for this day to come.
Last year, when visiting Israel, I was happy to have the opportunity to take part in one day of the March for Gilad Shalit, in the Netanya (my home town) leg of the march. It is hard to put down in words what that day felt like. 15,000 people were reported to have marched that day. For 6 hours, in the middle of the day, middle of summer in the harsh Israeli heat. Young and old, secular and religious, from all walks of life. I have not been back to experience the recent social protests this summer in Israel, but it was said there was a sense of unity and mutual vision. That's what the march last year felt like. Gilad's father, Noam Shalit, led the way. Everyone was united and in high spirits. Those who couldn't march greeted us along the way, residents of the small towns along the route, handing out water and fruit, all voluntarily, to encourage the marchers on their way. Gilad Shalit was everyone's son, brother, friend, everyone came out to show their desire for his return. It was very special and inspiring to see so many people come out and share solidarity about one person's ill fate to be held captive.
15,000 marching for Shalit, July 2010
Later in my trip, while visiting Jerusalem, we visited the protest tent for Shalit outside the PM's home. It was late in the evening and the Shalit family were not there that evening. But still, people flocked there, and the tent was constantly visited by supporters, messages of support hanging up everywhere.
Shalit protest tent, Jerusalem, July 2010
And already, voices are piping up saying the price of his release is too heavy. 1000 terrorists for one person, what will this bring for Israel's future security? I don't know the answer to that. Military experts can speculate, in a much more learned manner than I can, and maybe they are right. But I think today, like most people, I choose to go with my heart, not my head.
Yes, I know the price of terror. Everyone who has lived in Israel during any of the wars or intifadas, as I have, knows the price. I can recall every single attack that happened in Netanya during the second intifada. The panic, the franticness, the cellular lines crashing, trying to do the call around, finding out where everyone is and are they ok. When you find out your loved ones are ok, relief is almost instantly replace with guilt, because someone else's loved ones aren't ok. If it's not anyone you know, it's someone that someone you know knows. Every time. Netanya, a coastal city on the Eastern border of the Mediterranean sea, was hit very hard in the height of the second intifada, being located a mere 14km's from the West Bank, the Palestinian territories. Some things never leave your memory, and I remember exactly what it was like in those days. The well known Passover Massacre, carried out by the current Palestinian governing party, Hamas, took place at the Park Hotel, on the street I lived in at the time, in the hall where my cousin had held his Bar Mitzva approximately 6 months earlier.
Yet, as I said, 15,000 people from Netanya joined the march that day. My former fellow residents, who like me had been scarred emotionally by the effects of terror, whether personally losing someone or not. The pain and trauma is shared by all. The parents, grandparents, siblings, friends of those we have lost, what would they give if they could get their loved ones back? Those we have already lost, we can never get back. But Gilad Shalit, we can get him back. We want him back. We all want to see him alive, hopefully. Smiling, hugging his parents once again. We want to add him on facebook, though he doesn't know what facebook is. We want to write on his wall, welcome back, through our smartphones, though he's probably never heard of an iphone before. We want to see him catch up on everything he has missed, let him know we've been thinking of him, all of us.
Yes, this is not a strategic argument. It is purely sentimental. But that is what humans are, or should be. We have a heart. Can't wait to welcome you back, Gilad. We've been thinking of you.
A Very Sad Day.....on Thursday, 17 July 2008 at 03:32It's a very sad day today in Israel. After 2 years of uncertainty, the fate of the 2 kidnapped soldiers Udi Goldwasser & Eldad Regev who were kidnapped into Lebanon by Hizbollah terrorists has finally become known as the two were returned to Israel today, in coffins.
I think it's shattering. You might think, they've been gone for 2 years now, surely the family has prepared themselves for the likelihood of this outcome, surely they must have built up thick skin to deal with this possibility. But I doubt that very much. I believe that no matter what you keep telling yourself, trying to prepare yourself for the worst, it's human nature to always keep that flicker of hope that maybe, just maybe, it isn't so, maybe they are still alive. And when you find out that your worst fears and thoughts are a reality and that flicker of hope as been completely extinguished, that's a big, big crash. I don't think any words that you say or any thoughts that you think, any scenarios you conceive can ever prepare you for that. And to say it's tragic, to say it's distressing, to say it's terrible, doesn't begin to cover it. No words can.
And I don't claim to understand and sense the full weight of what that actually means. But with the hope of the soldier's families came the love, support and hope of the whole of Israel. And with that hope being put out entirely, I believe any Israeli, or any decent, compassionate human being who has followed the period of their captivity feels that little knot in their stomach, feels a share of the overwhelming pain that the family is no going through, finding out this terrible outcome. There is no comfort in that. I don't believe that closure in knowing the fate of your loved on, or the fate of these brave men who endangered themselves for the good of others, for the good of Israel, provides any consolation at all. How can there ever be closure when they never got to say goodbye? When their deaths were untimely and unnecessary?
I feel it is a very bleak day today. And it serves as another spine-tingling reminder of the kind of evil we are faced with. To face people so cruel, so ruthless that they make no attempt to spare the lives of those held captive. And feel no guilt in withholding the fate of their captives from the world, including the red cross. They hold no value for human life, a kidnapped soldier can just as well be dead or alive, as long as they are in their hands. As long as they can serve as pawns, like a game of chess, to satisfy their demands from the enemy, Israel. Their life, their intellect, their loved ones, their contribution to the world has no meaning whatsoever, they are just chess pieces, dead or alive, it's all the same.
And to those who may say that Israel is foolish for agreeing to "play the game" to negotiate the return of soldiers, whether alive or dead in exchange of terrorists, to those who say Israel therefore gives the incentive and the drive for more kidnappings, think again. I am extremely proud that Israel can set itself a part in such a way. No soldier will ever be left behind, ever. To Israel, a soldier is not just an instrument of war, that plays his/her part whatever that may entail. Sure, you swear to devote yourself to your country, in life or in death as duty requires. But in doing so, you can trust that in Israel, your actions will not go unrecognised. A soldier is a living, breathing human being, with a support system, a hunger for life, potential to realise, thoughts, plans, desires. And when a soldier is killed in duty, we owe it to them to let them rest in peace, on Israeli soil, where we can thank them , cherish them, and honour them for their courage and willingness to give in belief of their contribution for the good of the rest. And in agreement as well as disagreement in the rights or wrongs of the objectives they set out to achieve in their duty, paying the ultimate price is deserving of honour. A soldier is not less valuable and important in death than in life. For what they have given, we owe them in return, for following through what they believed to be right for the greater good of everyone. A hefty price is a worthwhile price to pay for the honour of a fallen soldier. It is an enlightened nation, that which values life by honouring death, that will do what it takes to bring their soldiers home, dead or alive to receive the honour and respect that they deserve. Because we do care, all of us.
I am proud to be a citizen of a country that fights for their people to the end. Through life and death, no human will ever be faceless again, no one is left behind, every human is important, whether deceased or living.
My thoughts are with the families of the fallen soldiers today, may they rest in peace and may their families find comfort in us all to try and achieve the unthinkable and somehow, some day, pull through this devastating atrocity.
יהי זכרם ברוך.
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