Congressman meets with families of kidnapped soldiers
Congressman meets with families of abducted Israeli soldiers. Representative Gary Ackerman: 'We cannot compel such parties to release Gilad, Ehud and Eldad any more than we can force them to understand the difference between right and wrong'
Families of Israel's kidnapped and MIA soldiers were presented on Wednesday with the US Congressional Resolution demanding the release of their sons.
The families of Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser as well as families of other Israeli MIA soldiers met in Tel Aviv with the author of the resolution, Representative Gary Ackerman, who serves as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia
Ackerman is in Israel following a visit to Egypt. He presented the families with the non-binding resolution and expressed his hopes that their sons would be able to celebrate next year's Passover Seder at home.
Before presenting the resolution Ackerman said: "Their captors have sought to turn these three men into something they are not: bargaining chips, pawns, a kind of political chattel, things that can be swapped for favors, or sacrificed on a whim. These three men are not things. They are human beings. They have names, and they have families. They have rights as captured soldiers, and they have rights as individuals. They also have rights under international law," said Ackerman before presenting the resolution.
Ackerman with the families of Israel's captive soldiers (Photo: Niv Calderon)
"The organizations that have taken these men captive have shown their true character. Withholding doctors and medicine, withholding Red Cross or Red Crescent visits, withholding basic communication with their families, even just the information that they are still alive, these choices and these acts show what kind of men run Hamas and Hizbullah: They're religious but they're deeply immoral. They're self-righteous but they're profoundly cruel. They're blustery and proud but they're sneaky and manipulative. Decent human beings don't behave this way.
'You cannot disgrace someone incapable of shame'
"This kind of brutality and malice is, unfortunately, typical of these organizations, and of their state-sponsors, Syria and Iran. Syria is a thuggish dictatorship which believes its appetite for the Golan Heights legitimizes any crime, or any cruelty. We can not compel such parties to release Gilad, Ehud and Eldad any more than we can force them to understand the difference between right and wrong.
“You can not disgrace someone incapable of shame. But we can, and we must stand by our ally, the State of Israel. America has had painfully similar experiences at the hands of the same culprits. Out of our own bitter experience, we can express our sympathy and our concern for the captives, and for their families. We can let the perpetrators of this barbarism know that we have not forgotten what they have done, and what they are continuing to do. We can bear witness. And we can add our voices to all those saying enough. Enough. Let these men go home."
Ackerman said that the unanimous resolution is testament to Congress' concern for the soldiers and their support of them.
The families of the kidnapped soldiers said they hoped similar resolutions would be passed in other parliaments around the world. Ehud Goldwasser's wife Karnit said that proposals for resolutions on the matter were currently being championed in France, Italy, Slovakia and the US Senate. The intent, said Goldwasser, was to pressure the Lebanese parliament, of which Hizbullah is member.
