CNN reported this news tonight:
DAMASCUS, Syria (CNN) -- Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit -- captured by Hamas more than a year ago -- is alive and well, the exiled leader of Hamas told CNN Friday.Hat Tip Larwyn
Hamas has been negotiating for the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit through an Egyptian intermediary, Khaled Meshaal told CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson.
Hamas has also reached out to Shalit's father to tell him his son is well and that Hamas gave him eyeglasses when he requested them, Meshaal said in his first interview with Western television in two years.
Shalit, however, said in an audiotape message released in June that his health was getting worse.
"It's been a hard year in prison, and my health situation is deteriorating, and I am in need of long-term hospitalization," he said in the message, posted on a Hamas Web site and played on Israeli TV.
Hamas militants captured Shalit during a raid on an Israeli army post near the Israel-Gaza-Egypt border on June 25, 2006, according to Israel Defense Forces. Two other Israeli soldiers were killed in the assault.
Meshaal said Hamas has put forward a list of 350 Palestinians they want released from Israeli jails, but he blamed Israel for the breakdown of talks.
An Israeli envoy traveled to Egypt last month with a list of Hamas prisoners the Israelis would be willing to release, an Egyptian official said. While Israel has given up Palestinian prisoners in the past, Israel has also said it will not release certain prisoners accused of having carried out terrorist attacks.
To give you some idea how far the terrorists tunneled to kill and kidnap the Jewish soldiers, this picture was taken into Gaza from that same Israeli outpost:
Hamas dug a 3 kilometer long tunnel under the separation fence and behind the post that this photo was taken from. During the morning attack, two IDF soldiers were killed and three others wounded, aside from Shalit, who himself suffered a broken left hand and a light shoulder wound after his tank was hit with an RPG. Israeli forces believe that Gilad and his captors walked back over this field and disappeared inside this Gaza town. Gilad Shalit has not been seen since that morning. (Photo taken from near Sderot in early August)
Hamas needs to give Gilad Shalit back to Israel now!
Where's the international outrage??
I hope I'm wrong but I'm not so certain that poor kid is alive.
ReplyDeleteIf he is alive a picture of him would be an enormous propaganda tool.Hezbollah is very media savvy and I'm certain that they would know the value of some sort of image or photo of an Israeli soldier being humiliated by Hezbollah.
To show that image to the world would make them heroes in the Middle East.
I suspect you were being disingenuous in asking where the outrage is. There is never any outrage with regard to crimes and terrorism committed against Israel. Never.
ReplyDeleteI recall even Ariel Sharon thinking that a particularly gruesome suicide bombing would spark outrage among the civilized West and engender some sympathy, but he was met with silence. When it comes to the Jews and Israel, there will NEVER be any sympathy fortcoming except from believing Christians; that is the sad truth of this fallen world.
Another sad fact on this state of affairs is that the world has bought into the lie that the Palestinians have a more legitimate claim in the region.
ReplyDeleteThere were dozens of historical kings of the ancestors of Israel. The Jews have a long and documented history in the region. Yet the Palestinians can not name one king or kingdom that ever existed for their people. They have no extension history of ever ruling over anything there. I would think that the fact that the islamic mosques built on the foundation of the SECOND Jewish temple should be a clue to any thinking person as to which people has a legitimate ancestral claim.
The fact is that the rest of the Arab world can't stand them and have treated them like vermin throughout history. In every Arab country that has hosted them from one time to another has had to suffer their inate hostility and despised them. The West Bank is a result of Jordan wanting to get them out of their country. So the Arab world's solution is to dump them on the Jews while feigning concern and oneness with their repressed 'brothers'. Remember there is no 'thou shall not bear false witness' in islam.
There will only be peace in the region when this pond scum is scraped from the human gene pool.
Three soldies are still missing and still you hear repeated complaints about Israel's disproportionate response.
ReplyDeleteBut as expected the silence from the world and UN is deafening.
It sickens me to see how a seasoned journalist like Nic Robertson can kowtow to a gangster like Meshaal. He was visibly in awe of the meeting.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate CNN's quality of journalism but this is one interview the world could have done absolutely without.