Betancourt hold's Shalit's picture in Paris rally (archives)
Photo: AFP
Betancourt: World must work for Shalit's release
Colombian-French politician, who was freed in July after being held captive by FARC for almost seven years, calls for global struggle to secure release of kidnapped Israeli soldier
Colombian-French politician Ingrid Betancourt, who was kidnapped and held captive for almost seven years, has launched a campaign for the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
"If people all over the world work for Gilad Shalit's release, he will be freed," she added.
"People all over the world should work for the release of Gilad Shalit. If we adopt globalization for financial goals, the struggle for the release of kidnapped people should also be global," Betancourt told Yedioth Ahronoth on Tuesday.
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Betancourt said she constantly thinks of Shalit's fate.
"Gilad's case affects us all. I understand what Gilad's family is going through. Many people express their sympathy but cannot really understand what a kidnapped person's family goes through. It should be a comprehensive global struggle," the famous captive said.
Betancourt was kidnapped seven years ago by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and was released in a military operation in July. Following her release, she became a symbol of freedom and the war on terror.
On Tuesday, she arrived at the United Nations headquarters in New York as the guest of a symposium on the victims of terrorism.
The event was also attended by Arnold Roth, who lost his daughter in the Jerusalem Sbarro bombing, and Daniel Carmon, the deputy head of Israel's UN delegation, who lost his wife during the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992.
