By Marney Blom
Israel Defense Force Staff-Sergeant Gilad Schalit is home after more than five years in captivity. He was held by Hamas terrorists, with whom a final deal was brokered in Egypt on October 11, 2011. The price? The release of 1027 Palestinian security prisoners for the single kidnapped 25-year-old Israeli – a striking example of the high value Israel places on a single life.
Schalit returned to a nation relieved, yet tinged with sadness. What will his return mean to the future security of the country?
In a speech at Tel Nof Air Force Base moments after Schalit touched down and reunited with his parents, a somber Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the nation: “Gilad has returned home, to his family, his people and his country. This is a very moving moment. A short time ago, I embraced him as he came off the helicopter and escorted him to his parents, Aviva and Noam, and I said, ‘I have brought your son back home.’”
Schalit’s return ended a painful five-year chapter of a lost soldier, a grieving nation and parents determined and relentless in their pursuit of the release of their son.
For two years of his captivity, there had been no proof that the imprisoned soldier was still alive. When the first photos of a lean, yet apparently healthy and coherent Gilad Schalit were released in Israel, there was a great sense of relief.
“Actually seeing these first pictures and seeing him walking and talking is something that is absolutely exciting,” said Ilana Stein, deputy spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “I think there have been many tears shed in many [homes], I think there [were] a lot of cries of joy all over the country, because in a sense people say that he is like everybody’s child.”
The prisoner swap, however, has reignited an emerging national debate: At what cost to the security of Israelis should the government return its’ captured? Rewarding Hamas with such a sizable release of terrorists could in fact encourage further kidnappings of soldiers as well as put all of Israel at risk. Yedidya Shanes, an 18-year-old from Beit Shemesh expressed the concern. “We’re very happy he’s back, but it’s very hard to hear that 1,000 Palestinian terrorists are going to be out. I’m going to be a soldier in next year, and you never know. Will they kidnap me, or hurt my family? …It’s very hard.”
Israeli authorities had felt pressured to act. Time appeared to be running out. They had been powerless to secure Schalit’s release and forge justice on the world stage despite Hamas’ blatant violation of the Geneva Convention through it’s refusal to allow the International Red Cross access to the incarcerated soldier. With evidence that Schalit was still alive, they decided to act before it was too late. To act – because of the precepts of their God who values life are woven deeply into the fabric of the nation.
In Prime Minister Netanyahu’s words, “Today, we all rejoice in Gilad Schalit’s return home to our free country, the State of Israel. This coming Sabbath, we will read in synagogues, as the weekly portion from the prophets, the words of the prophet Isaiah [42:7]: ‘To bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.’”
Despite the nagging fear of an empowered Hamas, there is cause for rejoicing. Coinciding with Simchat Torah, the celebration of the yearly cycle of the reading of the Bible that honours the sacred texts with men dancing in the streets clutching the Torah scroll, a lost son of Israel is finally home.
Marney Blom is the News Director of Acts News Network, Inc.
Copyright © Acts News Network, Inc.