RALLY FOR GILAD SHALIT: JULY 16.

FREE THEM NOW!

One long year has passed since IDF soldiers Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev were kidnapped by Hamas and Hezbollah.

Show the world we have not forgotten and will not forget them.
Join us in demanding their immediate and unconditional release.

Monday, July 16th, 2007
12:00 noon / Rain or Shine
Dag Hammarskjold Plaza ( 1st Ave. and 47th St.)
New York City , NY

PLEASE JOIN US AND BRING EVERYONE YOU KNOW!

Sponsored by the:
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
And Jewish Community Relations Council of New York
In cooperation with the United Jewish Communities,
UJA-Federation of New York , and American Zionist Movement

For more information contact: Conference of Presidents at 212-318-6111 or info@conferenceofpresidents.org
JCRC at 212-983-4800 x 151 or info@jcrcny.org

Technorati Tag: Israel and Gilad Shalit and Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

MAY 14TH: Boker Tov, Boulder writes about that date, when Israelis will wear black to mark 10 months since the kidnapping during July 2006, Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Gilad Shalit and Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

HOW TO OBTAIN THE RELEASE OF REGEV AND GOLDWASSER: Apparently the White House discussed the return of Iranian officers captured in Iraq, possibly as a bargaining chip in the release of the kidnapped British sailors. Rice made the suggestion and she was turned down.

Well Ms. Rice, if the US was willing to consider helping one ally to retrieve their kidnapped people, why not help another ally--Israel.

Shouldn't the US be willing to help Israel obtain the release of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser--by making the return of the Irbil 5 to Iran contingent on the release of Regev and Goldwasser by Iran's proxy Hizbollah?

At the very least, shouldn't the US be willing to use the captured Iranians to apply pressure on Hizbollah--through Iran--to allow the Red Cross access to the kidnapped soldiers and determine their condition?

Crossposted at Israpundit

Technorati Tag: Israel and Iran and Hizbollah and Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.

HOUSE RESOLUTION DEMANDS RELEASE OF KIDNAPPED ISRAELI SOLDIERS. Boker Tov, Boulder writes about U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman's resolution passed on Tuesday.

Technorati Tag: Gilad Shalit and Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

Kidnapped Soldiers Suffered Critical Injuries

This is from an email I get from the Israeli Consulate in New York. I'm kind of surprised they included this article in their email, since there is some implied criticism of Olmert and I had the impression from previous emails they've sent out that they pretty much tow the government line.

Report: Kidnapped soldiers suffered critical injuries

According to an Israel Defense Forces report that was cleared for publication yesterday by the military censor, both Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev are thought to have been seriously injured during their abduction last July by Hezbollah forces. One of the soldiers is thought to have sustained critical injuries, while the other's injuries are thought to have been serious, ha'aretz.com reports today.

The IDF report was based on examinations of the site of the capture. The IDF Spokesman's Office confirmed that the report was submitted but refused to comment on the extent of Goldwasser's and Regev's injuries. The conclusions in the report were based on an examination of the blood at the site and weapons tests, among other things. Channel 2 television news yesterday quoted the report as stating, with regard to the condition of one of the captives, "If he wasn't brought to a trauma room within an hour after the injury, there is serious fear for his life."

The conclusions of the report were submitted to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Chief of Staff Dan Halutz. The head of the IDF's Human Resources Directorate, Elazar Stern, presented them to the families of the soldiers immediately afterward. The press release issued by the IDF Spokesman repeated that the army's working assumption was and remains that the soldiers are still alive and emphasized that the IDF is continuing its efforts to bring about their return.

Military officials told Haaretz yesterday that media reports in the past several days about the soldiers are based on old information and that there have been no recent developments.

Peretz yesterday called for less talk and more action on the kidnapped soldiers in an implicit criticism of Olmert. "His job is to bring the abductees home. That is the supreme goal. We shall spare no effort in achieving it," Peretz said.

Sources close to the Goldwasser and Regev families, meanwhile, expressed anger at Olmert's handling of the affair. "We don't understand the prime minister's actions, it looks as if he's trying to kill the soldiers' families while they're still alive," they said yesterday in response to the IDF report and recent news reports.

"The behavior of the Prime Minister's Bureau on the issue can be described as an 'ethical scandal,' it starts with the pitiful statements to schoolchildren, continues with the leaks from a closed meeting with the families and ends with the questionable unsealing [of the IDF report] by the censor," the sources said yesterday. "We don't understand what is behind it and what the families did to deserve such treatment. Ever since the abduction the families have not criticized the government or the prime minister and continued their public activities for the soldiers' return throughout the world, much of it in coordination with official bodies."

Yesterday afternoon, shortly before the gag on the report was lifted, the families held an emergency meeting with activists in the campaign to bring about the soldiers' return. Participants reported a very tense and angry atmosphere in the meeting, during which attempts were made to explain the recent reports and statements about the soldiers' condition.

"We want to believe that it is being done to pressure Hezbollah, but it doesn't look that way. Our concern is that it is a series of pitiful accidents," one participant said.

The Prime Minister's Office said in response that the prime minister is in constant contact with the families of the abducted soldiers and updates them frequently and discreetly on developments.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Olmert and Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

Human Rights Watch and Red Cross on Kidnapped Israeli Soldiers: zzzzzzzzzzzz...

Israel Matzav notes how the Red Cross has yet to be able to visit Israel's kidnapped soldiers--nor has it raised a stink over it either.

Arutz Sheva asked the ICRC some questions:

Asked what public pressure the ICRC is exerting in order to get to see the three, the spokesperson noted the issuance of several press statements expressing the organization's concern over the plight of the abducted soldiers.

The last such press announcement was issued on August 9, stating that ICRC president Jacob Kelenberger had arrived in Israel and would discuss with Israeli officials "the humanitarian situation in northern Israel and in Lebanon, access to those in need, and the fate of captured soldiers and other people detained in connection with the conflict." [emphasis added]

...In response to the claim that no announcement on the matter had been issued in a month, and that the captives' issue seemed always to be buried among other issues, Yechezkel-Oron said, "The official announcements do not reflect the extent of our activity on the matter. There are behind-the-scenes contacts being made all the time. We are not a military organization, and we cannot force them."

Arutz-7 then asked why the ICRC does not hold a special press conference to declare that Hamas and Hizbullah refuse to allow visits to the captives. "Would this not keep the matter in the public eye, be the subject of newspaper articles, and force the world community to take note?" she was asked. The spokesperson responded that the ICRC and its demands had been mentioned in recent media articles regarding the captives.

Here isw an example of an ICRC press release, with the issue of Shalit's kidnapping buried among other issues. Maybe part of the problem is the Red Cross' sense of priorities. Take a look at this press release they put out on July 13:

ICRC gravely concerned about humanitarian situation in Gaza
Geneva (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is alarmed about the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip.

The continuing escalation of violence, with military operations taking place in highly populated areas, has serious consequences for the civilian population.

Over the past two weeks, Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have led to the deaths of dozens of people and the wounding of many more, among them a large number of civilians. In one single incident on 12 July, nine family members – including children – were killed in their home by an air strike in Gaza City. In some cases, people living near operations have been unable to leave their homes for several days.

The ICRC has urged and continues to urge Israel to respect the rules of international humanitarian law. In particular, in the conduct of hostilities, Israel must take all precautions to spare civilian life and property. It must also ensure that the wounded have access to medical facilities.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is continuing to deteriorate. The strike on Gaza's only power plant on 28 June reduced the power supply in the Strip by half, with direct and indirect effects on the population. Hospitals and a large part of the water and wastewater systems now depend on generators that consume considerable amounts of fuel, which is also in short supply owing to recurrent closures of the Strip. Furthermore, the strict controls imposed on the passage of basic items into the Strip have exacerbated the difficulties faced by residents, who were already living in precarious conditions. Under international humanitarian law, Israel is responsible for meeting the basic needs of the population, which include food, medical supplies and means of shelter.

As a further consequence of the ongoing situation in the Gaza Strip, hundreds of Palestinians have been stranded on the Egyptian side of the Rafah terminal, two of whom have reportedly died. The material and psychological conditions in which these people live are deteriorating day by day and no solution to their plight has been found by the parties concerned. The ICRC has already offered its services to facilitate their passage into the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, together with the Egyptian Red Crescent, it is providing the affected people with assistance.

The ICRC is seriously concerned about the consequences of the repeated launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip against the civilian population in Israel. These attacks, which have wounded several people, are indiscriminate and thus prohibited by international humanitarian law.

Finally, the ICRC urges those detaining IDF corporal Gilad Shalit to treat him humanely and allow him to contact his family. It has informed all the parties that it stands ready to provide its services.

The Red Cross' 'humanitarian concern' places Shalit last as a priority. One wonders if ICRC's "behind the scenes" efforts are as buried as their casual reference to Shalit in their news release.

Arutz Sheva gives links for contacting the ICRC:

The ICRC can be emailed as follows:
The Washington office
The Geneva office
The Tel Aviv office

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has not exactly been banging the drums either about the kidnapped soldiers.

Part of the problem may be their contradictory message. On the one hand they have news releases that claim:

Since June 25, Palestinian armed groups have abducted and killed an Israeli settler in the West Bank and are currently holding Israeli soldier Corporal Gilad Shalit hostage, whom they have offered to release in exchange for some of the Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. A hostage is a person held in the power of an adversary in order to obtain specific actions, such as the release of prisoners, from the other party to the conflict. Holding persons as hostages and the summary execution of anyone held captive are war crimes. [emphasis added]

Clearing, the reference to the holding of hostages as a war crime is referring to Shalit.

But on July 26, in an open letter to Ahmadinejad, HRW helpfully writes:

On July 12, Hezbollah launched an attack on Israeli positions, killing three Israeli soldiers and capturing two. The targeting and capture of enemy soldiers is allowed under international humanitarian law. However captured combatants in all circumstances must be treated humanely.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nassrallah stated that Hezbollah will use the captured soldiers to negotiate the release of Palestinian, Lebanese and other Arab prisoners from Israel. The use of captives who are no longer involved in the conflict for this purpose constitutes hostage-taking. Hostage-taking as part of an armed conflict is strictly forbidden under international law, by both common Article 3 and customary international law, and is a war crime. [emphasis added]

So HRW wants Ahmadinejad to know that kidnapping the soldiers was OK, up to the point of demanding prisoners in return.

Questions:

So according to HRW, even though there was no state of war between Lebanon and Israel, it is OK for Hezbollah to attack Israel and create the conflict under which the soldier they set out to kidnap becomes an enemy soldier? How nice of them to send a letter to Ahmadinejad giving their seal of approval for the actions of his proxie.

But what about when the group doing the kidnapping is acting independently of the country which it inhabits? Or is HRW saying that Hezbollah attacked Israel on the authority of the Lebanese government? Is HRW claiming that Israel and Lebanon were enemies before the attack?

How about Human Rights Watch?

Note that like ICRC, HRW also never came out with an independent news release about the kidnapping of Goldwasser and Regev. Their first release addresses the issue of Israel's reaction to the kidnapping.

Likewise, the first HRW press release in response to the June 25 kidnapping of Shalit came on June 29, in response to Israel's destruction of the power station.

Where is the outcry?
Human Rights Watch can be contacted here.

Technorati Tag: Israel and HRW and Human Rights Watch and Red Cross and ICRC and Shalit and Goldwasser and Regev.

Terrorists for Israeli Soldiers: A Convergence On Appeasement

Now that Olmert's Convergence plan is off the table for the time being, the rumors persist that he is involved in other ways to deal with terrorism: trading for the lives of kidnapped soldiers with the release of prisoners.

Leaving aside just which and how many prisoners/terrorists would be released, the plan--rumor or not--is already having its effect.

According to World Net Daily:

Palestinian terror organizations are currently training in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to carry out operations aimed at kidnapping Israeli soldiers, said a terror leader whose group in June abducted Israeli Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

The leader thanked the international community for what he said was its recognition that kidnappings of Israeli soldiers are not considered terrorism but "military operations that bring very big results."

He told WorldNetDaily the "best way" to gain the freedom of thousands of Palestinians being held in Israeli jails, including convicted terrorists, is by more kidnappings of Israeli soldiers.

"We are now planning and training for the next kidnappings. Even if [Israel] releases hundreds of prisoners in exchange for Shalit, we still have thousands more to liberate. More Israeli soldiers must be abducted," said the terror leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity amid reports Israel is considering releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit.

Thanking the international community for recognizing that the kidnappings of Israeli soldiers are not considered terrorism but "military operations that bring very big results."

Nice touch.

Meanwhile, the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers seems to be so successful that it has attracted new groups:

A previously unknown group, which said it is based in the Golan Heights,
threatened Wednesday to abduct Israeli soldiers to swap them for Syrian
prisoners in Israel.

In a statement faxed to foreign news agencies in Damascus, a group calling itself the Men of the National Syrian Resistance threatened to "take the necessary measures" to secure the release of 16 Syrians jailed in Israel.

...Referring to Hezbollah, whose July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers sparked a 34-day war with Israel, the statement said: "The Lebanese model, the model of Hezbollah, is not so far from us concerning implementation and preparations to release our detainees."

The implications of all this for Israel's going into Gaza and Lebanon to force the release of the kidnapped soldiers is not good:

According to government spokesmen, Israel's harsh military response to the kidnappings in Lebanon and Gaza has taught our enemies that from now on, there will be a heavy price to pay for kidnappings.

However, this response has not persuaded the Lebanese and Gazans to release the soldiers without getting something in return. In exchange for Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, in Lebanon, and Gilad Shalit, in the Gaza Strip, Israel will have to release hundreds of prisoners to Lebanon and the territories.

On the issue of whether Hezbollah won the war in Lebanon, there is debate back and forth.

Does anyone doubt that if Olmert trades prisoners/terrorists for Shalit, it will be an unqualified victory for Hamas and Palestinian terrorists?

Technorati Tag: Israel and Hamas and Olmert and Goldwasser and Regev and Shalit.

What is Kofi Annan doing for the kidnapped Israeli soldiers?

From the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page

Hostage Crisis
What is Kofi Annan doing for the kidnapped Israeli soldiers?

BY JUDEA PEARL AND RUTH PEARL
Monday, August 28, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT

As the parents of Daniel Pearl, The Wall Street Journal's reporter who was kidnapped and brutally murdered in Pakistan in 2002, we share the anguish of the families of the kidnapped Israeli soldiers, and their frustration with the international community for failing to secure the release of their loved ones. For more than six weeks now, these soldiers and their families live each day tortured by unimaginable fears and shattered hopes, praying desperately for the nightmare to end; we relive this nightmare each time an innocent person falls victim to the inhumanity of terrorist abduction.

Whatever success the U.N. Security Council would presume to claim, it cannot be said that Resolution 1701 has effectively addressed the direct cause of the fighting--the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser, 31, and Eldad Regev, 26, by Hezbollah, and the earlier abduction of Gilad Shalit, 19, by Hamas. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for the unconditional release of these soldiers has been ignored. Moreover, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, the terrorists have not only seized the soldiers as hostages for political blackmail, they have not allowed the Red Cross to visit them. Their families do not know their physical condition; they have no proof they are even alive.

And so now these families of Ehud, Eldad and Gilad are asking to meet with Kofi Annan. They wish to plead with the secretary-general to use the full weight of his moral authority to mobilize and intensify the efforts of the international community he leads--an influential body that has managed to compel two fierce armies to cease hostilities--to address this flagrant violation of humanitarian law.

On that score, these families are correct: The time has come for Mr. Annan to personally and aggressively intervene, and to insist publicly that, at the minimum, the Red Cross, or his personal humanitarian representatives, be given immediate access to these soldiers.

Will he? It seems unlikely. Sadly, this is not the first time that concerned parents have turned to Mr. Annan in much the same circumstances. Six years ago, another delegation of distressed families came to the U.N. with a similar tragedy, following the abduction of three Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah from under the noses of Unifil and, by some accounts, with their help. The investigation that was subsequently conducted found that the U.N. had made "serious errors in judgment" by hiding information that "would have been helpful in an assessment of the condition of the three abducted soldiers." At that time, the U.N.'s interest in appearing "neutral" overshadowed its commitment to the preservation of human lives. The world cannot afford a repeat of such inaction and poor judgment.

Undoubtedly, the secretary-general will tell the families of Ehud, Eldad and Gilad that he has dispatched a high-level team to Beirut that will urge the release of their loved ones. But that team negotiates behind closed doors. And by not publicly demanding the unfettered access of humanitarian representatives to the kidnapped soldiers, Mr. Annan has deprived his team of the force of credibility and seriousness they need in those negotiations.

When our son Daniel was in captivity, millions of people around the world prayed for his safe return. In that prayer, they made a solemn pledge never to allow abductions of innocent people to become the norm of civilized society, no matter the political purpose, regardless of grievance or goal.

Kofi Annan's resolve against these acts of terrorism will determine to a great extent what norms will govern our society in generations to come, and whether organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas will gloat in unruly appetite or be reined in by moral principles. We urge Mr. Annan to make bold and brave efforts to ensure--as a legacy and gift--that we will not allow our children and our world be taken captive by terror. Mr. Secretary-General, this time, help bring the boys back home.

Mr. and Mrs. Pearl are co-founders of the Daniel Pearl Foundation (www.danielpearl.org), a U.N.-affiliated NGO.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Daniel Pearl and Kofi Annan and Gilad Shalit and Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev and Hezbollah and Hizbollah and Hamas and UNIFIL.