Gilad Shalit

Freed Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit joined the call on President Obama to release spy-for-Israel Jonathan Pollard.

Shalit on Monday signed an online petition asking Obama to commute Pollard's life sentence to time served.

The head of Hamas' military wing in the Gaza Strip, Ahmed Jabri, was killed at 7:30 a.m. New York time Wednesday by an Israeli missile at the start of a major Israeli military Gaza offensive called Pillar of Defense, a retired Israeli general said on a conference call organized by The Israel Project, a pro-Israel education organization.

(JNS.org) -- One year after his release, Israeli Channel 10 News aired parts of an interview with former Hamas captive Gilad Shalit on Oct. 11, during which Schalit revealed details of how he survived his ordeal and spent his days in captivity.

Gilad Shalit in his first interview in Israel since his release spoke of how he passed the time in captivity and his sense of great "relief" upon being set free.

Israel's Channel 10 played excerpts from the interview, undertaken near the first anniversary of Shalit's release by Hamas in a prisoner exchange from his more than five-year captivity in the Gaza Strip. The full interview will be broadcast in coming days, according to Channel 10.

Gilad Shalit, the 25-year-old Israeli soldier freed by Hamas terrorists in a prisoner exchange in October, thanked the Jewish community here last week for its support during his more than five years of captivity.

“I want to thank everybody for their efforts — here in the U.S. and all over the world,” he said in Hebrew at a special meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

As the President of the Rabbinical Assembly, I was privileged to participate in a small lunchtime reception welcoming the recently liberated Israeli prisoner of war Gilad Shalit to New York. The reception was sponsored by the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, the umbrella organization whose constituent members had played an integral part in the international campaign to gain Shalit’s release.
 

Gilad Shalit, the 25-year-old Israeli soldier freed by Hamas terrorists in a prisoner exchange in October, thanked the Jewish community here today for their support during his more than five years of captivity.

“I want to thank everybody for their efforts – here in the U.S. and all over the world,” he said in Hebrew at a special meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Gilad Shalit met New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at City Hall for a brief ceremony on the sixth anniversary of the day Shalit was captured by Hamas.
During Tuesday’s ceremony, which also featured City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Bloomberg showed Shalit an iPad photo of himself with Shalit’s parents, Aviva and Noam, and presented the former Israeli soldier with a crystal apple donated by Tiffany’s, according to The New York Times.

PARIS (JTA) -- Former captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and his parents met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the presidential palace in Paris.

“We are very happy to be here at the Elysee Palace,” said Noam Shalit, speaking to journalists Wednesday morning.  “We are very touched.”

Hours later, Shalit's parents attended the annual gala hosted by the French Jewish umbrella group CRIF.

 A member of Saudi Arabia's royal family has offered a $900,000 reward for the capture of an Israeli soldier.

The offer, made Saturday by Prince Khaled bin Talal on a national television channel, comes days after prominent Saudi cleric Sheik Awadh al-Qarani floated a $100,000 offer for capturing an Israeli soldier.

The prince said the captured Israeli soldier would be traded for Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails, according to news service reports.