On Tuesday morning, October 18, several hundred Los Angeles Jews, Israelis and friends of Israel gathered at the Wilshire Hilton to celebrate the return of Gilad Shalit after five years and four months—1941 days—of Hamas captivity in Gaza. The event was sponsored by the Israeli Consulate, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, and the Israeli Leadership Council.
Attendees watched an Israeli TV newscast of Shalit—looking pale and thin—landing at Ben Gurion airport from Egypt, being greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and driving in a motorcade to his home, the road lined with men, women and children waving Israeli flags and dancing as though at a wedding.
The recurring theme of the day was that the joy of Gilad’s freedom was shadowed and chilled by Israel’s release of over one thousand Palestinian terrorists. As Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs, remarked: “It’s not a clean deal—but at least he’s alive.” Despite the near-certainty that many of the released Arab prisoners will resume their terrorist activities, and Israelis will be maimed and killed as a result, Israelis overwhelmingly support the deal. Yediot Achranot reports a poll showing 79% of Israelis support the exchange; another poll revealed that 69% backed the deal, while at the same time an almost equal number—62 %—expect that it will make Israel’s security situation worse.
That Israelis can hold these two seemingly contrary ideas simultaneously shows how deeply embedded in the Jewish soul is the value of redeeming captives.
The rabbis, politicians and others who spoke to the LA crowd spoke to the duality of the day. Israeli Consul General David Siegel said that this was a “gut-wrenching decision for us,” because “the price is almost unbearable.” Rabbi David Wolpe, comparing Gilad release to the upcoming holiday of Shmini Atseret, explained that just as God says to the Jews on the last day of holiday, “Don’t leave Me,” the Jewish people doesn’t leave anyone behind. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky pointed out that while all Israel is celebrating the freedom of a kidnapped soldier, in Gaza “thousands of people are celebrating the return of cold-blooded murderers.” Rabbi Marvin Hier marveled, is there another country in the world that would release over one thousand terrorists to get back one soldier?
Again, a note to moral equivalencers: Shalit was kidnapped by terrorists who tunneled from Gaza into Israel with the intention of capturing an Israeli soldier. He was kept in solitary confinement and forbidden access to the Red Cross, in violation of international law. The Palestinian prisoners to be released are terrorists imprisoned after trial and conviction of murder and other crimes.
Considered coldly, the price for Shalit was too high, but such calculations were swept aside by the fundamental principle that Israel does not abandon her soldiers; she brings them home.
But the future is grim. In Gaza and in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria, Palestinians chanted, “The people want a new Shalit.” Israel’s willingness to pay unbelievably high prices for the return of her soldiers creates enormous incentive for her enemies to kidnap them.
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