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Comments (0)Thousands of demonstrators marked Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit’s fifth birthday in captivity.
During a protest Saturday night across the street from the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem, the crowd marked Shalit’s 24th birthday.
His mother, Aviva Shalit, addressed the crowd and her son.
“Gilad my beloved son, today is your birthday,” she said. “Once again I did not buy you a present this year, I didn’t bake a cake, you won’t be able to blow out the candles. I miss you more every day. I will make one wish in your name: that your candle not be extinguished, that you remain healthy in your body and soul. Sorry for not freeing you yet.”
She called on the prime minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, to speak out publicly on behalf of her son as she has on the possible deportation of foreign workers’ children.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will invite the Shalit family for a meeting after he returns from peace talks in Washington later this week, his office said.
The Shalit family has been living in a protest tent across from the prime minister’s residence for the past six weeks.
Shalit was captured in a cross-border raid in June 2006 and reportedly is being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Aviva Shalit had invited the wives of lawmakers and government ministers to join the rally, though none reportedly participated.
Egypt Seizes Weapons Bound for Gaza
Egyptian police intercepted weapons intended to be smuggled into Gaza.
About 190 anti-aircraft missiles were discovered at three weapons depots in central Sinai, the Ma’an News Agency reported Saturday. About 1,500 bullets of various sizes also were discovered there.
Other stores of weapons, including anti-tank landmines, and a cache of machine guns were discovered in towns on the border with southern Gaza, according to the report.
Meanwhile, Egypt reportedly destroyed 12 smuggling tunnels into the Gaza Strip over the weekend.
Shas Rabbi Wishes for Demise of Abbas
On the eve of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the spiritual leader of the Shas Party wished for the demise of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
“Abu Mazen and all these evil people should perish from this world,” Rabbi Ovadia Yosef reportedly said during his weekly Saturday night sermon at a Jerusalem synagogue. “God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians.”
Yosef also called the Palestinians “evil, bitter enemies of Israel.”
The Palestinian Authority’s chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, responded to Yosef’s remarks in a statement issued Sunday.
“The spiritual leader of Shas is literally calling for a genocide against Palestinians, and there seems to be no response from the Israeli government,” the statement said.
“He is particularly calling for the assassination of President Abbas, who within a few days will be sitting face to face with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Is this how the Israeli government prepares its public for a peace agreement?”