English Translation of Gilad’s Video

English translation:

“Hello, this is Gilad, son of Noam and Aviva Shalit, brother of Hadas and Yoel, who lives in Mitzpe Hila. My ID number is 397029.

“As you can see I am holding today’s Falasteen newspaper published in Gaza.

“I read the newspaper in order to find information about myself, and in hopes of reading about information of my return home and my imminent release.

“I hope the current government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t waste this opportunity to reach an agreement and as a result, allow me to fulfill my dream and be released.

“I wish to send my well-wishes to my family and tell them that I love them and miss them greatly, and hope for the day I’ll see them again. Dad, Yoel, and Hadas, do you remember the day you arrived at my base in the Golan Heights, on December 31, 2005? We toured around the base and you took a picture of me on a Merkava tank and on one of the old tanks at the entrance to the base. Later we went to a restaurant in one of the Druze villages and on the way we took pictures on the side of the road, against the backdrop of the snowy Hermon Mountain.

“I want to tell you that I feel well in medical terms, and that the Mujahidin from the al-Qassam Brigades are treating me excellently. Thank you very much and goodbye.”

7 Comments

  1. I think he looks stronger than I expected and even, I would say, healthier. This strengthens Israel’s position in that they cannot now harm him and say it was a result of the kidnapping or Cast Lead actions.

    I also think Israel must make it clear that just as they value Gilad at worth at least 450 Palestinian lives, Hamas should not be surprised if we don’t expect similar payment if God forbid something happens to Gilad.

    I think Israel must up the ante now. Hamas has set the terms. There should be no family visits for any prisoners until Gilad is free. Each family is entitled to a 2 minute video – say, Israel will produce one video per month – Hamas can even give us a list of who they want to see and pending our approval, we will allow that prisoner to read a prepared statement and show the day’s Hebrew newspaper.

    As for Gilad’s appearance…he didn’t seem frightened, though he was cautious. It seemed to me that he was concerned that if he didn’t do what they wanted, his family wouldn’t see the video and so he followed their rules, did what they wanted him to do physically…except for the eyes and the mouth…these were for his family.

    He’s good, I think and coming through this so much stronger than I expected. I hope his mother and father feel the same way, saw the same things I saw…I hope I wasn’t imagining it because it was what I wanted to see.

  2. “There should be no family visits for any prisoners until Gilad is free” ? Do you think that would help Shalit? What a silly logic.

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