By Chaim M. Goldberg
THANK G-d it is no longer necessary to educate the public about Gilad Shalit. His plight has become common knowledge and his name pervades our prayers each and every day. Many great people have campaigned for his release and untold numbers of people have rallied in his support across the globe.
It is on this foundation that Stars for Israel is being launched.
The idea is to take all the support we have professed for Gilad and to turn it into concrete action. It is to demonstrate to G-d, as well as to ourselves, that our prayers are not just empty words. That we truly yearn to see an improvement in Gilad’s situation, that we desire to make a tangible difference.
Unquestionably, the suffering Gilad has endured is more than enough. In fact, his punishment is infinitely excessive, for he did not commit a crime for it to be weighed against. He deserves to be released immediately.
However, the continued efforts of many people, as of yet, have borne little success. This issue has been repeatedly discussed among the governments involved and remains a priority in their collective minds. Therefore, perhaps it is no longer in our hands as the common people to influence the speedy release of Gilad.
Nonetheless, there is another aspect of Gilad’s captivity which has been largely ignored. Or maybe it is well known and it is just that we have resigned ourselves to accept it as normal.
This, of course, is the inhumane condition in which Gilad is being kept, in addition to the general lack of civil treatment which he has been subject to, both by Hamas and the international community.
ALTHOUGH there is no need to educate, let us review the circumstances of Gilads life, if only to resensitize ourselves to his plight.
On June 25, 2006 he was abducted in an unprovoked cross-border raid. As such, there are no grounds whatsoever for the continual imprisonment of Gilad Shalit.
But even if he were a criminal, a prisoner is to be granted the right to regular correspondence with his family and unregulated access to visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
This last requirement is the focus of Stars for Israel.
The ICRC has committed itself to visit prisoners of war and civilian internees to verify whether they are being treated according to relevant international standards. Also, to negotiate with the authorities to obtain access to people deprived of their freedom wherever they may be held.
These and the many other directives of the ICRC are meant to enforce international law, as per the Geneva Convention. Needless to say, the failure to do all this is a direct violation of international law.
On the occasion of each anniversary of Gilad’s capture, and sporadically during the rest of the year, we have seen the ICRC take the initiative to request to visit Gilad. Their appeals have been continually rejected, and after that, the ICRC takes no further action to uphold the humanitarian standards and international law for which it stands. In doing so, it has signified its acquiescence to its fear of Hamas. Even groups whose positions do not generally align with Israels, such as BTselem and Human Rights Watch, have insisted that the prolonged captivity of Gilad Shalit is inexcusable.
THE mission of Stars for Israel is to continually draw attention to this collapse of international law, which has been violated each of the approximately 1,850 days of his captivity.
It is to clearly show the ICRC that there is a tremendous amount of people who are disappointed, each and every day, by its failure to ensure humane treatment for Gilad.
We hope to give the ICRC a tangible reminder of its failure in the form of snail mail. Or, even better, colorful snail mail. As Stephen Savitsky, president emeritus of the Orthodox Union, stated quite clearly with regard to email:
”It is no longer possible to meaningfully consider constructive criticism from the general public. It used to be that if someone sent me a letter expressing their dissatisfaction, I knew they had taken the time to sit down and write it, find an envelope and a stamp, and finally, to walk it over to a mailbox. That meant they had something thoughtful to say.
“Now, when all I can be assured of is that said person typed up some sentences and pressed the send button, there is no guarantee that any thought was put into that message.”
While keeping all of the above in mind, here is the project:
To create and send in to the ICRC a red Magen David, Star of David, along with any message you might wish to write.
While one star might not make a difference, with the efforts of hundreds of others across the country, thousands of stars can.
Throughout the year, every star you send in will help highlight the many other stars coming in, whether it is just one star, a star a week, or, for the extremely dedicated, a star per day.
Additionally, a contribution which will take considerably less time is to like the project’s Facebook page.
And the most important contribution of all is the one that takes the least effort: Tell your friends! Spread the word!
