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Gila Almagor in cell
Photo: Tomeriko

Celebrities 'jailed' for Gilad

Actress Gila Almagor first to go into 'solitary confinement' for an hour at TV studios in solidarity with captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit; Israeli artists, public figures to take part in 24-hour protest

Israeli artists, public figures and other celebrities will be spending an hour in "solitary confinement" set up at the Herzliya television studios to protest the ongoing incarceration of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

 

Over a period of 24 hours, each figure will be staying in solitary confinement for an hour to show solidarity with Shalit and his family.

 

 

The unusual project was initiated to mark the five-year anniversary of Shalit's abduction. Earlier Saturday, Gilad's relatives stormed the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem and chained themselves to each other to protest the government's inability to release the IDF captive.


We have no idea what Gilad feels - Gila Almagor

 

The first to enter the "jail cell" Saturday evening was actress and Israel Prize laureate Gila Almagor. After coming out of solitary confinement she told Ynet that she dedicated the hour inside the cell to thinking.

 

"When a person is alone, he has time to think. These are not the conditions Gilad is actually held under. I'm an actress, and that was just a set. We have no idea how Gilad is really behind held, we have no idea where he's hurting, what he feels, and where he is. But we know that for five years now he's been buried in some pit, under conditions that are much more difficult than we can imagine."

 

"This is the reason I agreed to take part in this project," Almagor said. "In order to make another voice heard, because this is what can and should be done now."

 

"Maybe it will succeed in changing something among decision-makers, because we have to make sure that the prime minister cannot sleep peacefully and that the defense minister and other government ministers cannot sleep peacefully," she said. "If it was my child, God forbid, I would not be silent for a moment, until he was released."

 

'Bibi harming Israel's security'  

Next in line after Almagor was former Shin Bet Director Ami Ayalon, who said that Israel's national security hinges on every Israeli soldier knowing that the state will do everything for him at a time of distressed.


Ayalon slams Bibi (Photo: Tomeriko)

 

"Once upon a time they called it mutual responsibility. Yet for five years now, every day, we are eroding this pact…with the very fact that we are arguing over the price we need to pay for the soldier," he said.

 

Ayalon said he was not expecting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to enter solitary confinement or invite the Shalit family to his home.

 

"I'm not expecting solidarity of him, but rather security, and what he is doing is gravely harming Israel's security," the former Shin Bet chief said.

 

Ayalon added that he does not agree with assessments that a prisoner swap for Shalit would result in a terror attacks to be perpetrated by released terrorists.

 

"It's clear to me these are murderers, but I dispute the claim that we can expect a terror wave," he said. "Hamas' terror policy is much more complex and does not hinge on their release, yet that's not the dilemma…Israel's security comes first, and as not to erode it we must bring Gilad back home."

 

Other figures to take part in the initiative include former POW Hezi Shai, singer Aviv Gefen, former Mossad chief Danny Yatom, singer Achinoam Nini, actors Yael Bar-Zohar and Moshe Ivgi, former Shin Bet chief Carmi Gillon and journalist Hanoch Daum.

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 06.25.11, 23:36
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