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Yossi Mendelevich and Yossi Zur
Photo: Sasson Tiram
Ron Kerman
Photo: Dudi Vaaknin

We're on your side

Bereaved parents opposed to Shalit deal write open letter to abducted soldier's family

Dear Noam and Aviva,

 

For two weeks, we sat across the street and watched you. We saw you sitting at your tent and receiving the hundreds of visitors. Even though our children are buried at cemeteries, we would not want to trade places with you today.

 

Perhaps soon, when Gilad returns, we shall watch the reports on television, see you hugging him, and then we would be overcome with jealousy. We are hoping to see this moment, which will mark everyone's victory and the triumph of good over evil.

 

We are writing you today to let you know that we are on your side in whatever you choose to do. As parents to children in Israel we understand you, we are hurting with you, and our heart goes out to your suffering. You are the only ones who are allowed to argue that Israel must bring Gilad back at any price, and do so now. You should not care about anything else; only about Gilad.

 

Even though we also want to see him back home, we have remained divided only on the way to achieve this, not on the goal itself.

 

To our regret, the government of Israel did not do enough to protect our children and did not do enough to bring Gilad back. Three years of inaction, excuses, and avoidance of an inevitable confrontation have passed since then.

 

We sat across from you on the sidewalk in order to present the people of Israel with a different stance, an unpopular one perhaps, an unpleasant one perhaps, but the right one in our view. Gilad needs to be released in a way that secures our future, that would ensure the cessation of abductions, and that would prevent terror. We must do it in a way that chooses the present and the future, for the sake of all citizens of the country, over Gilad's wellbeing.

 

We were scared to hurt you

Quietly, within us, we asked for your forgiveness a thousand times. We debated every day whether we are convinced that what we are doing is right. We tried to find excuses for why we should give up and go back home.

 

As you asked us many times, where were you for three years? We were at the same place where many of the country's citizens are found today. We were scared to hurt you. Yet every day, when we returned home, we saw our children who are still alive, the ones we promised to protect over the graves of our dead children, and we decided that we will do everything in our power to stop the terrorists.

 

You shall continue your struggle, because it is not over yet. It's uncertain whether our own struggle has ended. It is important that you don't let anyone tell you that you are guilty, or that you caused damage. This is your right as citizens and your duty as parents, and those who criticize you apparently fail to understand the meaning of being the parent of a child, a soldier, or an Israeli citizen who faces the daily dangers around here.

 

We hope to meet in the future, and not because of disagreements, but rather, in cooperation, in order to exert pressure and utilize any way available to the State of Israel to free Gilad at a high price for Hamas, while safeguarding our children.

 

Yossi Mendelevich, Yossi Zur, and Ron Kerman lost their children in terror attacks

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.20.09, 13:06
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