Noam Shalit, father of kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, expressed concern Wednesday over the tense situation
in the Gaza Strip.
“We are tracking affairs in Gaza with grave concern. We always have a finger on the pulse. Reports of clashes there certainly don’t leave us indifferent,” Shalit said.
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Shalit spoke at a tree-planting ceremony for the Tu B'Shvat holiday at a grade school in the north, which honored soldiers fallen and kidnapped during the summer’s war in Lebanon.
Representing the families of the kidnapped soldiers at the ceremony, Shalit said that one of the most important commandments in Judaism is returning hostages. “It is an exalted mitzvah, which the government is also obliged to fulfill,” he remarked.
Shalit plants tree with school children (Photo: Doron Golan)
In a separate tree planting ceremony at the Birya forest in the north, members of bereaved families who lost their sons in the war in Lebanon gathered to commemorate their loved ones.
Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh addressed the assembly stressing the importance of national unity.
“Our aim today is to build our strength, so the results next time will be crushing and unambiguous. We will only succeed if the entire nation embraces the IDF,” he said.
“Money can buy new equipment and training; the nation’s love cannot be bought with money, but by personal example and education of all the our citizens,” Sneh noted.
Jewish National Fund Director Yitzhak Elyashiv discussed the group’s efforts to rebuild the northern forests which burned to the ground during the war in Lebanon.
“Some 12,000 dunams of forestlands burned. This is our land, the only land in the world that belongs to the Jewish people, and there is nothing like planting a tree to unite a person with his land.
“The Birya Forest is a symbol that we are holding onto the land. We are here to remember the fallen, and continue their path,” Elyashiv said.
Hagai Einav contributed to the report
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