Jerusalem – Dozens of family members and activists gathered at the Western Wall this evening to mark kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit’s 23rd birthday, against the backdrop of recent reports of progress in the talks on his release. Hundreds of people joined them at the place, including Justice Minister Yaakov Ne’eman.
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Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau recited a prayer for Shalit’s wellbeing and release. The soldier’s father, Noam, said before the rally: “We are not optimistic. Had we been optimistic, we wouldn’t have come here to pray.”
Rabbi Lau said: “Gilad Shalit is so close to us, and yet so far away. For three years he and his family have been living in darkness, but also with great hope.”
Head of the Shalit campaign headquarters Shimshon Libman stated: “We did not think we would mark another birthday of Gilad in captivity. We have been disappointed time and again, and I don’t rejoice over the rumors. It’s the outcome that matters.”
Libman said he hoped Rabbi Lau’s special prayer, which has also been printed on leaflets and distributed throughout the country, would encourage the prime minister “to make courageous decisions and bring Gilad home.”
The London-based Arabic-language al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaperreported today that “real progress” has been made in the negotiations aimed at securing the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, quoting Egyptian sources.
According to the sources, the progress made is not dramatic, but a change occurred due to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strong desire to resolve the matter.
“We have no reason to believe that the recent reports on a deal for the release of Gilad Shalit are true,” the headquarters for the Shalit campaign said in response.
Sadly, I believe that Gilad HY”D was murdered soon after he was captured. Hamas savages don’t have the discipline to keep him alive, and why would they bother, when they know they can get “a deal” for the return of his dead body.
The soldier’s father, Noam, said before the rally: “We are not optimistic. Had we been optimistic, we wouldn’t have come here to pray.”?
You have to pray in good times too.
Israel should have closed every single Gaza crossover, until Shalit was released….or the UN sent an army to force ISrael
now
Shalit’s friends and supporters should gather at the Gaza entrance and disrupt everything
lie down on the roads to prevent any humanitarian, traffic, ambulances, preganat women
every single arab from Gaza should not enter ISrael until Shalit is returned
as a gabbi in shul we make a me-shebarach for gilad all the time.
however my question is as follows without any disrespect for any one here. if the maram of rottenburg was alive today what would he say about this . is it wright to free hundreds if not thousands of terrorists who have jewish blood on there hands to free one person . we all know that for himself he forbade this and he sat in jail until he died , and he could not be buried until many years later , because the German king refused trying to get a big ransom from the jews .
with all do respect maybe when soldiers are kidnapped we change our policy and do not offer to release allot of there prisoners . we do a one on one swap , yes or no and that’s it . take it or leave it . because were do you draw the line in the sand and say enough is enough and lets get tough and play the same game . I’m leaving my name here because maybe someone could explain this to me in a proper manor so that i could learn something new here.
as the parek says , who is smart ,one that learns from everyone .
How sad that his father says he is not optomistic if he was then he wouldn’t be there saying tehillim is this man religious
We should feel sorry for the family but never again consider releasing tens, hundreds or thousands of arab terrorists in jail in exchange for one jewish prisoner…no one individual is worth the risk to klal yisroel
I believe Gilad is alive. Right after his capture Chabad put a huge mezuza up on his door and I believe that protects him. I somehow feel he is alive. but we have to pray for Moshiach. To release terrorists in exhange for him sounds suicidal. Hashem yirachem. We just have to pray for a ness but certainly he shoudl be freed very soon….Elul is coming and rachamim awakens.