Four years: a conversation with Gilad Shalit’s father

By Mayer Fertig

It was four years ago this week that 19- year-old IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and spirited away. His parents, Noam and Aviva Shalit, plan to leave their home on the Lebanese border on Sunday morning and walk to Jerusalem to call attention to their son’s plight. Once there they plan to inhabit a tent set up across from the Prime Minister’s home in Rechavia until their son is brought home.

“We are not going to mark any anniversaries. We are not going to mark any rallies,” Noam Shalit said in an exclusive phone interview with The Jewish Star. “Just Sunday morning we are going out of our home and starting a march to Jerusalem. We’ll reach Jerusalem and stay there in front of the prime minister’s residence until we have Gilad back with us.”

The Shalits last set up camp on Rechov Keren HaYesod, across from the prime minister’s home, about six months ago, and soon welcomed a virtual who’s who of Israeli society and visitors from around the world.

“Politicians, movie stars, actors... there were thousands of people who drove from all parts of Israel to stand with Noam and Aviva and tell them that they care,” said Yudi Zuller, a Shalit family friend who was also on the phone during the interview.

Gilad’s freedom “doesn’t seem close now,” Shalit acknowedged. He sounded exhausted as he spoke after returning from a long trip to attend a rally for Gilad. The next morning he hopped on a plane to a European capital where he was to meet with European Union leaders about his middle child’s plight.

The Shalits live in Mitzpe Hila, a tiny, moshav on the Lebanese border, three and a half hours from Jerusalem. The current “endless crisis,” in Noam’s words, is not his family’s first brush with captivity. Noam’s twin brother Yoel a”h was a tanker captured in the final week of the Yom Kippur war. Two weeks later, as a prisoner of war, he was murdered by his Egyptian captors. Gilad’s older brother is named for him. Yoel Shalit is preparing to graduate from the Technion in Haifa. Gilad’s younger sister, Hadas, 18, entered the IDF six months ago with no fanfare.

The Shalits haven’t heard from Gilad since Sukkot when Hamas released a videotape. “That is the last sign of life,” Noam said.

The Shalits feel Israel is not yet doing everything in its power to bring their son home.

“They should do a lot more because we have only one test. Only if Gilad is back home; this is the only way in terms of results,” the father said.

Shalit was reluctant to weigh in on the controversial question of freeing terrorists — a key Hamas demand — in order to win Gilad’s freedom: “The government should do whatever she has in her disposal to bring him back,” he said, then added, “If there are any alternatives I would welcome it, but it seems as though there are no other alternatives.”

Speaking to the Knesset the day after Israeli naval forces killed nine terrorists aboard the Turkish flotilla to Gaza, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said, “There are 1.5 million people living in Gaza and only one of them really needs humanitarian aid. Only one of them is locked in a tiny room and never sees the light of day, only one of them is not allowed visits and is in uncertain health — his name is Gilad Shalit.”

“That is the true crisis, the only crisis,” said Zuller. “It’s up to Jews throughout the world, in Israel or in America to bring pressure to bear on governments, on congressman, to bring this issue to the forefront of the political equation.”

“Bring Gilad back home,” Noam Shalit said. “After four years. It’s enough time. Four years, four long years — two governments, two prime ministers, two ministers of defense, and nobody has managed to conclude this,” he lamented.