Karnit Goldwasser, the widow of IDF soldier Ehud Goldwasser who was killed while in Hizbullah captivityand returned to Israel aspart of its 2008 prisoner exchange deal withthe Shiite group, visited the Shalit family's protest tent outside Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Jerusalemhome Monday.
Noam and Aviva Shalit, whose son Gilad was abducted by Hamas in2006, set up a protest tent acrossfrom the premier's residence on Sunday, after Olmert was quoted as saying thatthe public demonstrations calling for their son's release were "unhelpful."
"His name may be Gilad Shalit ,but he represents every soldier in the military. What are we fighting for – a single soldier or our values? This is an IDF soldier who was abducted and (the politicians) would rather we forget that," she said.
Goldwasser said she came to show her support: "I've heard many say they are afraid to serve in the reserve forces now; families that say they don't want their sons to join the army, so that they may never find themselves in a situation like this. They want to know who will stand beside them if the worst happens.
Goldwasser with Noam Shalit (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
"As someone intimately familiar with this kind of struggle I came to offer my support. I hope to lend them strength and that this case will end soon," she said.
Goldwasser further said that the government has lost sight of what is really important in Shalit's case: "Government officials tend to see everything on a private level instead of on a national one. This could have happened to anyone."
Gilad Shalit has been in Hamas captivity for 988 days.