The Two Exploitations of Gilad Shalit

Tomorrow, according to The Jewish Week, a flotilla will pass down the Hudson and East rivers, ending at the United Nations. Unlike the ‘Free Gaza’ flotilla that serves as it’s inspiration, it will not be carrying any humanitarian aid, no mid-afternoon nosh for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Rather, this flotilla’s mission is to draw attention to the plight of Israeli soldier Gil Shalit, who has been held prisoner by Hamas since 2006, to teach delegates that Gaza is not “a besieged utopia of wine and roses”.

Meanwhile, a pro-Hamas news outlet reports that Shalit is intently following the World Cup to allegedly take his mind off the fact that the Israeli government has thus far refused to accept Hamas’ offer of a prisoner swap.

Like in soccer, Israel’s supporters and Hamas are embroiled in an aggressive game of kicking Shalit’s plight back and forth, trying to score the most symbolic points. One can’t help but feel for Shalit, as propaganda wars rarely actually care about their human ammunition.

Another Jewish Week writer, Jonathan Mark, contends that Israel’s easing of the blockade was a mistake since they didn’t get Shalit released in return. It is unclear what connection prisoners of war have with withholding toys from all of Gaza’s children, but it does put Jonathan Mark conspicuously in league with the Grinch.

But of course, shifting the attention away from the humanitarian crisis (of which toy shortages are sadly the least of Gaza’s woes) by bringing up Shalit is all part of the game, which is why the reactionary ‘Free Gilad’ flotilla is embarking now, in the aftermath of renewed international interest. The last time I remember hearing so much about Shalit was around the time of the widely condemned 2008 siege. How convenient.


This diversionary tactic is most blatant in popular ultra-nationalist Israeli rapper SHI 360′s recent Youtube video “United”, where he raps “Wanna talk about aid‪?‬ What about Gilad‪?‬” The statement contains no actual rhyme, even less reason. One man’s strife has thus been elevated not only to the level of the suffering of 1.5 million people in terms of importance, but above and beyond.

Certainly, there are some reasoned and reputable human rights advocates who have spoken out on Shalit’s behalf, among them Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, and Richard Goldstone. But these advocates also speak out against Israel’s abuses and mistreatment of prisoners, something that Israel’s apologists never do.

Last year, in fact, some of Shalit’s ‘supporters’ protested by physically preventing visiting Palestinian families from seeing their loved ones at Israel’s Megiddo prison (a few weeks earlier, they had used Shalit’s name as an excuse to block aid shipments to Gaza). In response to these actions, Israeli journalist Gideon Levy wrote a powerful piece in Haaretz informing these protesters of the dire situation of prisoners in their own backyard:

About 7,700 Palestinians are imprisoned in Israel, including about 450 without the benefit of a trial. Most of them are not murderers, although they are all automatically labeled as such here. The demonstrators at Megiddo would do well to realize this. Some of the prisoners are political detainees in the full sense of the word, from members of the Palestinian parliament imprisoned without trial, which is a scandal in and of itself, to those behind bars because of their “affiliation.” Innocent people are among them as well as political activists and nonviolent protesters.

Some prisoners received disproportionate sentences from the military justice system, treatment that in no way resembles a fair trial. At the Megiddo prison, at whose entrance the Shalit campaign’s leaders demonstrated, minors are also imprisoned, and not in a separate facility as required. They were sometimes sentenced to a year in prison for every stone they threw, even if they didn’t hit anyone and caused no damage. There are also wretched Palestinians who were caught staying in Israel illegally and were willing to risk everything for one day of work. Some also were falsely accused by soldiers or collaborators and were powerless to defend themselves in the military judicial system, which views every Palestinian as suspicious.

There’s extra irony in the fact that Shalit’s supposed supporters would block Palestinians from meeting with their imprisoned relatives, as that’s one of the grievances they make against Hamas. Additionally, as Levy writes:

Some of the prisoners from Gaza have not had family visits or a single telephone call for at least three years. That’s not Hamas. That’s us. Not all prisoners from the West Bank are allowed visitors, and many of their families are “forbidden.” The Israeli propaganda machine, which portrays prison as if it were a rest home, is also deceptive. It should be remembered that most of the Palestinian prisoners decided to take the fate of their people into their hands to fight a criminal occupation, even if they sometimes used methods that were even more criminal. According to the Palestinians, they are serving their people precisely as Shalit, a soldier, served his.

Hamas’ current struggle to have the prisoners released began after all other avenues to secure their freedom proved fruitless. Israel should have moved to release most of the prisoners a long time ago as a confidence-building measure and goodwill demonstration, not as a subject for cruel bargaining and haggling, which sends the depressing message that we can only be dealt with by force. Israel chose to cut off other avenues, leaving only kidnappings and bargaining as an option.

Another grievance, made in Jonathan Mark’s Jewish Week piece and elsewhere, is that Hamas has prevented the Red Cross from seeing Shalit. Perhaps while they’re at it, the Red Cross could also inspect Israel’s inaccessible, but well-known ‘secret prisons’. Unfortunately, even Knesset members aren’t allowed to inspect those.

As tomorrow’s flotilla shmoozes through the posh enclave of the Hudson valley, I too will hope that Gilad Shalit is freed, along with the thousands of prisoners in Israel and the 1.5 million Gazans living in what has been called a giant ‘open-air prison‘. Only Gilad Shalit the man can ever be freed though; ‘Gilad Shalit’ the political symbol is only useful perpetually imprisoned, a bizarro guard stationed at Gaza’s gates. Is ‘Shalit’ Hebrew for ‘Schiavo’?