Gilad Schalit is about to spend yet another birthday in captivity. In honor of this occasion, several Jewish/Israel activists have called for Twitterers to tweet messages about Gilad with a specific tag, in the hope of making his name a Top-10 trending topic.
Let me be clear: I hope and pray for Gilad's safe and speedy return to his family just as much as the next guy; I cannot even begin to imagine what kind of suffering he and his family must be going through.
But I will not support this or any other "Free Gilad" campaigns. Not on Twitter, not on Facebook, not even as a bumper sticker.
Think about it: who is supposed to feel the heat from these campaigns? Hamas? You gotta be kidding! If Gilad Schalit became the top trending topic on Twitter for an entire year, it would not make one whit of difference to those bloodthirsty savages. Rather, it would have exactly the opposite of the intended effect: once Hamas sees that so many people care about Gilad, they will know that they can up their price for him.
The only party who is going to feel the pressure is the Israeli government, who will feel themselves pushed to make yet another obscenely lopsided deal to release more and more murderers, terrorists and common criminals in order to get back one Israeli soldier - who may C"V not even be alive any more. And these deals always result in more terrorism and murder.
I want Gilad home - but not at any price. I will not be party to any pressure campaign on the Israeli government in this regard, because there are 6 million other Jews in Israel who should not be made to pay for Gilad Schalit with their own blood.
8 comments:
I could not disagree more... it is the antithesis of the Torah's edict of "kol yisrael areivim zeh bazeh" - EVERY SINGLE JEW cares for one another... and one life is AS precious as the other one. If Hamas said, we'll give you back Gilad but we're killing 1000 Jews in return, then for sure you don't have to get him back - as their lives come first. But there's no CERTAINTY that there will be bloodshed - it is only assumed... I don't live in Israel so I cannot comment on the apparent dangers of being there - but leaving our brother to rot in the hands of these bloodthirsty savages, won't help! OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND ... we need to at ALL times be reminding ourselves that we are NOT whole... we are missing an essential part of our human body - Gilad is missing and we have to strive for as long as it takes to get him back...
Anon - please read my posting again. You're arguing against a point I didn't make (that we shouldn't care about Gilad Schalit), and failing to address the central point I did make, which is that hyping Gilad-consciousness is not only not going to help him, but it's likely to lead to more trouble for the rest of the Jews in Israel.
What do you think all the "Free Gilad Schalit" campaigns are going to achieve? Seriously? How is it going to help to set him free? Hishtadlus is good, but only if it has any chance of success. And IMO this hishtadlus is as good as doing a rain dance.
this is ridiculous it has nothing to do w/hamas it has to do 100 percent with putting more pressure on the israeli govt. to do something about the situation. i don't have twitter but i will definitely face book glad shalit's situation to the world at large!
"Never Again!" - what action are you wanting to pressure the Israeli govt to do? To release even more murderers and terrorists? Why should the rest of us pay with our blood? To carry out a commando raid to rescue him? And is it fair even to do that, to put soldiers' lives in direct mortal danger, just to save one man?
The only action I can see arguably fit to pressure the Israeli govt to do now is to increase the pressure on Gaza, allowing fewer and fewer supplies through until Schalit is released. But even that I don't think will work, because they will never cry for mercy. It works in their favor to have their own people suffering because it looks like we're the bad guys again.
I don't have a solution, but not having a solution doesn't mean you should just do what feels good in the hope that it might help, because IMO, this kind of hishtadlus does more harm than good.
Shaul, I share your sentiments, except the possibility of the govt deciding to go and get him back. If they do ir right, would they really be in that much danger?
I'm sick of Israel putting its most important interests aside our of fear of looking like the bad guy. The only time they look like the bad guy is when they do the opposite of what a normal person would do in that situation.
Why don't people understand that if Israel releases 1,500 bloody hands terrorists, it will encourage Hamas to do this again and again. By ransoming Shalit, it would cause many more boys to be taken.
Now you may be right about endangering other soldiers in a commando raid. Personally I think Israel should carpet bomb the area and that's that. But since this would make us look like the bad guy, why can't Israel reverse the ransom? Give us back Shalit or we'll shoot the 1,500 prisoners.
Deal or no deal?
Wanna Saab - your "shoot the prisoners" comment appeals to the Schwarzenegger in me, but realistically it's not really an option. I think the best test of the situation is to ask, what would the USA or France do if they had a captive solder in the same circumstances as Gilad?
1) No negotiations or ransom, you can bet.
2) Probably a full frontal assault to clean out the hornets' nest holding their soldier captive. Public opinion be damned.
3) No mercy, and no giving up until their man (or his body) was found.
We cripple ourselves with our non-Jewish military "ethics". If you want to know what the Torah says about dealing with hostages, see Bamidbar 21:1-3.
Read this - you might be rather gratified to hear that those in the media agree with you :)
http://destinationisrael.blogspot.com/2009/08/coming-up-against-censorship.html
Thanks for the link, Elan!
I have to admit, though, that this makes me just a bit uncomfortable.
OT1H, I (clearly) agree with the assessment of the JP editors in this case that adding pressure will make it more difficult for us to get Gilad back.
OTOH, media censorship of news items can go the other way, too, as when the media hounds forumlated their infamous "Etrog" policy for Ariel Sharon. They decided it would be best for the country's interest that Sharon should be shielded from any negative publicity, so that the disengagement would be able to pass smoothly.
All told, I'd rather have a free press than have political decisions made for me by newspaper editors as to what I should and should not know.
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