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Photo: Nimrod Glickman
Shalit and Shelly Yachimovitch
Photo: Nimrod Glickman

Noam Shalit’s ugly move

Op-ed: Former captive’s father cynically using media attention to run for parliament

In recent days, everyone around here spoke about the bill that would prevent journalists from entering politics immediately after resigning, but nobody imagined that what we need is such law for the parents of captives.

 

Noam Shalit’s quick shift from the release party in Mitzpe Hila to the press conference at Beit Berl is almost as stunning and embarrassing as the throwing of a glass of water in somebody’s face at the Knesset.

 

For five years, Shalit spoke on behalf of the consensus, until the consensus finally granted him his wish. Even staunch rightists could not resist his pleas to release his son at almost any price. His demanding persuasion campaign softened them up too. They were tempted to believe that the high release rate was something that is beyond the regular disputes between Left and Right. Some of them were virtually losing their religion when they took part in Shalit rallies.

 

Yet suddenly they woke up in the morning and heard Noam Shalit make political statements about the two-state solution. And by the way, with so many words written and uttered about Gilad’s father since June 2006, how come we didn’t know all this time that he has been a Labor Party member since 1996?

 

“A window of opportunity has been created here,” Shalit explained Tuesday. He referred to the state of affairs in the Labor Party, but one cannot avoid a broader interpretation of this statement.

 

Hurting bereaved families

Noam Shalit’s entry into politics constitutes blatant, cynical exploitation of the abduction and release affair. One of the heroes of the affair is trying to gain politically from it in retrospect. He is channeling the immense media interest in him in favor of boosting his chances to join the next Knesset.

 

Indeed, it’s hard to believe that the Labor Party would rush to take him in had he been just a regular Noam Shalit from some remote Galilee community.

 

When Shalit runs for the Knesset less than 100 days after his son’s release, he gravely hurts bereaved families who saw the murderers of their loved ones freed from prison for his son. Their terrible frustration is now compounded by the feeling that somebody exploited them for his own interests.

 

Yet on the other hand, why not? After all, the famous Shalit campaign shirts are still here, the Shalit lobby already announced that it is being revived, and the parties are already waiting anxiously.

 

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.11.12, 18:32
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