The "new," post-revolutionary Egypt, fresh from the "Arab Spring," is complicit in Hamas' mistreatment of Gilad Shalit through its appalling state television interview with him while he was still in custody. Hamas gunmen were still in the room when the interviewer asked him if he would work for the release of the rest of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, among other ridiculous and abusive questions.
The full video, beginning with the "you look fine" remark, can be found in this BBC report, which also notes that the interviewer "also appeared to seek credit for Egypt, stating that Egyptian authorities had mediated the release and asking Sgt Shalit why he thought the mediation had worked." The Egyptians had to hold up Shalit's release for a moment of national preening and self-congratulation.
Regardless of Gilad Shalit's official legal status as a Hamas hostage, the Geneva Convention concerning the treatment of prisoners remains the international standard. Hamas violated that document right and left in its treatment of Shalit, and Egypt piled on its own violation of Article 13, which calls for prisoners to be protected from "public curiosity." The director of Egyptian state TV said himself it was too good a scoop to pass up -- Shalit's well-being be damned.
Following the massacre of over 20 Christian protesters, the violation of the Geneva Convention is but another strike against the "new" Egypt's ability and willingness to abide by international standards for human rights.
Other points of contrast between the treatment of Shalit and the prisoners for whom he was exchanged follow below, and the contrasting images of their conditions upon their release prove the difference. "The prisoner comparison," from YNet News, October 19:
In the days before Gilad Shalit was returned to Israel, various Hamas spokesmen boasted that he was treated well by his captors, "in line with the tenants of Islam." Meanwhile, other Palestinians slammed the imprisonment terms in Israeli jails as exceptionally harsh and cruel.
Following the completion of the Shalit swap, Ynetnews presents a comparison between the jail terms of Palestinian security detainees held in Israel and the treatment accorded to Gilad Shalit by Hamas.
Leisure and entertainment: Based on initial statements, Shalit was able to watch Arabic-language television and listen to Arabic-language radio. Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoners are given books and have access to 10 television channels.
Physical activity: Gilad Shalit's pale skin and his apparent difficulty in handling sunlight in the early moments of his release indicate that he was deprived of sunlight, a fact reinforced by statements from his father, Noam. Moreover, Gilad was held in solitary confinement. Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoners are allowed to exercise and walk outside in the sun every day. In addition, inmates can attend prayer sessions and religious classes.
Visits: Nobody visited Gilad Shalit in captivity, including Red Cross representatives. In Israel, close relatives of Palestinian inmates are allowed to visit every two weeks. In addition, Palestinian detainees are allowed to hug children aged up to 8.
The interviewer asks Shalit why he only gave one interview in all these years.
Communication with the world: Gilad only sent one videotape, one audiotape, and three letters (largely dictated by his captors.) Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoners are entitled to meet lawyers and Red Cross representatives and can mail up to four letters each month.
Medical treatment: Gilad, who requires eyeglasses, arrived in Israel following his captivity without his glasses. Some experts said his vision may have been hampered had he been without glasses for years. Shalit's father, Noam, added that his son is suffering from shrapnel wounds that were not treated by Hamas. Meanwhile, Palestinian inmates are entitled to regular medical treatments, including dental work and eye exams.
Food: At this time, the quantity and quality of Gilad's food in captivity is unknown. However, he returned to Israel visibly slimmer and weaker. Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoners are given three full meals a day. They also receive some NIS 1,200 (roughly $350) per month from various organizations and use it to shop at the prison's canteen.
this is awful. bunch of Dbags.
m
"Gilad Shalit, you look fine"
.............................
Translation: "Hey, you're not dead".
More:
Food: At this time, the quantity and quality of Gilad's food in captivity is unknown. However, he returned to Israel visibly slimmer and weaker.
.............................
That's putting it mildly. Here's what Gilad Shalit looked like before his kidnapping:
http://oriforisrael.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/gilad-shalit-2.jpg
And then, compare how he looks today—malnourished—with the healthy condition of the Jihadists released by Israel. There is no comparison.
Egyptian TV interview with Gilad Shalit was beamed through the Muslim world via satellite. It was the first impression for the Muslims saw so this "interview" will become their version of the truth. With Gilad, this is really the last time the Mulsim will get to abuse and toy with this poor boy . A pox on the house of the fake, phoney, false prophet!
I am glad Gilad was traded for 1000 Muslims. Israel gets to close this chapter. This reinforces the Israeli military to know that all Israeli fighting men will return home. This gives Israel's psyche a boost. Israel will deal with those released Jihadis later if they start making trouble again.
Treatment of prisoners according to Ayatollah Yazdi, the spiritual guide of Ahmedinejad:
"…If the prisoner is female, it is permissible to rape through the vagina or anus. It is better not to have a witness present…"
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2010/04/rape-and-torture-viol-et-torture.html
Salah wrote:
Treatment of prisoners according to Ayatollah Yazdi, the spiritual guide of Ahmedinejad:
"…If the prisoner is female, it is permissible to rape through the vagina or anus. It is better not to have a witness present…"
..........................
Yes—Muslims not only condone rape—appalling enough—they *sacralize it*.
I have no doubt that this poor young man was raped, probably repetedly.
God, I hate Islam.
That would be "repeatedly". Sometimes when I'm this outraged I forget to proofread.
"Meanwhile, Palestinian inmates are entitled to regular medical treatments, including dental work and eye exams."
Told ya so. ; - )
... he was deprived of sunlight.
Who, the kid soldier or the Holy Prophet Mohammed's very first Companion? I hear tell Arabia is a very sunny place, which gave all the more reason to make a habit of pulling closed thick curtains.
Two reflections upon Gilad Shalit, by an Israeli Jewish mother who has three sons.
http://israelisoldiersmother.blogspot.com/2011/10/last-reflections-before-simchat-torah.html
"I can only say that as I prepare, I will think of Gilad and hope his home is full of the smells of the holiday to come [Simchat Torah].
"I hope he will walk into his mother's kitchen (and yes, that is sexist - perhaps Noam is the great cook in the family).
"And I hope he will do what Elie and Yaakov and Chaim and Shmulik have done so often. Just nibble on everything in no particular order. From the brownies cooling in the corner, to the meat still simmering on the stove.
"Eat, Gilad - gain your strength.
"Your greatest answer to all you have suffered is to be free, to live, to smile. May you never know loneliness again. Personally, I can't stand Shimon Peres' politics, but he said something beautiful yesterday - Gilad, you were lonely, but you were never alone."
And her earlier posting, in which she responds to that sadistic display on Egyptian television.
http://israelisoldiersmother.blogspot.com/2011/10/hours-of-watching.html
"Gilad isn't used to having a lot of people around - they kept him alone for so much of the time.
" He is badly deficient in Vitamin D - a sign that he was kept in darkness, as we all thought.
"He has other injuries and has been badly neglected over these past few years.
"But what Gilad managed to make clear to all of us is that what he needs most is food and love - both of which he will get in abundance, now that he is home."
And I am sure that right now his mother - under the direction of the army's medical adviser, since people who have been starved have to be careful when they begin eating more again - is cooking, cooking, cooking.
PS - This blog, 'A Soldier's Mother', is one of my favourite Israeli English-language blogs to visit and read. The other ones I read regularly are 'This Ongoing War' - by a couple whose teenage daughter Malki was murdered by a Muslim murder-'martyr' whose female handler and co-plotter is among those released in exchange for Gilad Shalit - and 'Life in Israel':
http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.com/
http://olehgirl.com/
Offtopic - shoutout to 'gravenimage' - do please visit olehgirl's blog, she is a devoted Jewish 'cat lady' who rescues and medicates stray cats (a task as daunting as that posed to King Canute with the tide) and I think she needs to be hooked up with as many enthusiastic animal rescue folks in the USA and beyond it, as possible - point your Islamosavvy Californian Jewish animal rescue guy in her direction, please, I think they'd get on like a house on fire.
like the contrast between japanese prisoners and allied prisoners in wwII.
us aussies had the right idea in wwI though. no prisoners.
And the root cause of this travesty, of this farce, is Islam. Anyone doubt what I just asserted? Go ahead then, refute me. I dare anyone to do so. And please give details respecting why my assertion that Islam is the root cause here, as it is of so much unhappiness and tragedy in the Middle East and now across the world, is erroneous. Yep, dare anyone.
dear wellington,
"Islam is the root cause here, as it is of so much unhappiness and tragedy in the Middle East and now across the world"
no argument there !
the only question is how do we destroy it to a 'nonexistance' level, and how soon could that be accomplished.
i have said it here often. it is IRRELEVANT what the musloids' agenda is (spread islam, kill kuffar, what else ?...)
what really matters is what are *WE* going to do about it...
the sooner we get a political leader who is WILLING to risk his career (life?)to be principled, and draw an unmistaken line in the sand which clearly says severe punishment awaits tresspassing this line, the more peacefull and less violent the inevitable clash with the musloids will be.
to continue on this current path, it will only lead to violent and unnecessary bloodshed as armed individuals will seek to correct the situation as they do not see any other way to stop this mass suicide.
Sickening.
His breathing is laboured; he is ghastly pale; Gilad looks like he has been to hell and back.
"One Israeli is worth more than one thousand murdering, Islamo-nazi dirt bags" about says it all.
dear mike,
"sickening" does not even begin to describe the rage and fury towards these subhuman pos.
as i have posted yesterday in my reply to you, israel is too humane for its own good, and it must stop this nonesense called 'taking the high road' as far as musloids go.
Your post, phoenix, points to the key to it all---knowledge is power. Once Islam is identified as yet another mortal enemy of Western Civilization at its best, the West will then move to contain and eventually defeat this decrepit religion (the current elites in politics, academia and the media are almost all clueless and uesless here and will have to be followed by far more informed elites where Islam is concerned).
Geert Wilders, Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller, Hirsi Ali, Ibn Warraq et al. are only the first generation of brave souls who point the way to what future generations will have to do. This will take some time and much tragedy is still in the offing, but eventually Islam will become so detested and so marginalized that it will no longer pose a major threat to liberty. I expect that it will take at least many decades for this to happen and perhaps even a century. But two hundred years or so from now Islam will be looked upon as one of the most egregious and disgusting of all of man's errors, right up there with slavery, Nazism and Marxism. Of this I am as certain as I can be of anything which the future holds for mankind.
A brave and gallant young man. God knows how he managed to hang in there, when just looking at him makes it clear how he was treated. And then the contrast with the well nourished, grinning pos's that were released by Israel. You would think even the wicked fools at the bbc%£p would be able to see, and would at least make *some* comment, but no - nothing.
I'm coming to believe more and more that the *real* danger to us and our civilisation isn't the foul cult in itself; those of us who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and brains to think, *know* what islam and its adherents are all about - we *know* what they want, and what they are prepared to do to get it. It's our pusillanimous governments and the wickedly complicit left, and the pathetic fools who refuse to recognise what's in front of their noses that are our fatal Achilles Heel. And what's to be done about it ? I wish I knew.
Dumbledore's Army quoted:
"I can only say that as I prepare, I will think of Gilad and hope his home is full of the smells of the holiday to come [Simchat Torah].
"I hope he will walk into his mother's kitchen...
....................................
We think alike, DDA. I was making a big pan of paella last night, and was hoping that Gilad Shalit had a nice Jewish mother—or grandmother, or aunt, or sister, or—not to be sexist, as you note—father, uncle, brother, friends of the family, loved ones...—plying him with is favorite dishes and urging, "Ess! Ess!" as much as is safe for him.
More:
Offtopic - shoutout to 'gravenimage' - do please visit olehgirl's blog, she is a devoted Jewish 'cat lady' who rescues and medicates stray cats (a task as daunting as that posed to King Canute with the tide) and I think she needs to be hooked up with as many enthusiastic animal rescue folks in the USA and beyond it, as possible - point your Islamosavvy Californian Jewish animal rescue guy in her direction, please, I think they'd get on like a house on fire.
....................................
Thanks—I checked out olehgirl's site—it looks great—and I'll pass it on to my friend "Matt".
It also reminds me that you find animal rescue and humane groups throughout the West—Australia and New Zealand, Israel, Western Europe, Britain, the United States and Canada—even though only these last are in "the West" in the geographical sense.
Australia's "neighbors" Indonesia and Malaysia have a great deal of animal cruelty, as, of course, do all of Israel's "neighbors" as well.
A concern for kindness to animals tends to go hand in hand with kindness and decency to children, to women, to minorities, to the disabled, to the ill, to prisoners, to any vulnerable groups.
And Islam is—consistently—one of the cruelest and most vicious creeds, which ruthlessly exploits and abuses the weak and vulnerable.