Exactly 15 years after being kidnapped by Hamas, Gilad Shalit — Israel’s “Son of the Nation” — married his longtime partner Nitzan Shabbat. Shalit is a former IDF soldier who, on June 25, 2006, was abducted by Hamas terrorists during a surprise attack near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip.
After 1,941 days — more than five years — Israel secured Shalit’s freedom by releasing over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, many of them terrorists.
As Shalit moves on, two Israeli civilians with special needs are being held hostage by Hamas. Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed have for over five years been in captivity in Gaza. Hamas has also refused to return to Israel the remains of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who were killed in Gaza during the 2014 war.
Related Video: His name is Avera Mengistu… and he’s a prisoner in Gaza
Throughout last month’s 11-day conflict between Israel and Gaza-based terror groups, media outlets turned a blind eye to this grave violation of international humanitarian law. An HonestReporting big data analysis found that none of the Israelis were mentioned even once by major English-language news outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN.
Like Gilad Shalit, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed must be freed from the grip of terrorists. And the Shaul and Goldin families deserve a modicum of closure.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
