Shalit reveals how he survived in first public interview since freedom
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to 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. “During the day, I played all kinds of games with them, like chess and dominos. I also played all kinds of odd games with myself, mainly games related to sports. I would form a ball out of socks or shirts and try to aim for the garbage bin. I would invent all kinds of activities and also write things at times. For example, I would play the geographical game known as ‘country-city,’” Shalit said.
Shalit said he didn’t maintain a consistent diary. “I wrote all kinds of random notes and followed sports events. I would draw a map of Israel, Mitzpe Hila [where he and his family reside] and all the homes there, just to remember the place and imagine it. I did that in the early days of captivity, so that I wouldn’t forget. Some [captors] didn’t like the fact that I was writing things down. They thought I was gathering information.”
Regarding the moment of his release, Shalit only remembers feeling tense. “During the ride (to Egypt), I felt very anxious. I didn’t know if something would happen, if they would try to hurt me, or something would go wrong at the last moment. When I got out of the vehicle and realized I was in Egypt, I felt relief. I saw dozens of people, hundreds of them, after being in contact with only a few people for all those years. There were so many people there. It was a strange feeling, a sense of shock. I also began to feel relieved.”
Biden touts Iran sanctions, Ryan notes admin tried to weaken them (JNS.org)
While U.S. Vice President Joe Biden used his Oct. 11 debate with Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) to tout the current administration’s Iran sanctions as “the most crippling sanctions in the history of sanctions,” Ryan noted the administration’s efforts to weaken those sanctions before they were passed.
“The Administration has been blocking sanctions for years,” said Ryan, presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s running mate. “When [President] Barack Obama was elected, [Iran] had enough fissile material—nuclear material to make one bomb. Now they have enough for five. They’re racing toward a nuclear weapon. They’re four years closer toward a nuclear weapons capability.” President Obama waited until New Year’s weekend to sign sanctions that were passed by the U.S. Senate 100-0 on Dec. 2, 2011, and at the time said he would treat them as “non-binding” if they interfere with his constitutional authority.
Biden posed the following in response to Ryan: “Imagine had we let the Republican Congress work out the sanctions. You think there’s any possibility the entire world would have joined us, Russia and China, all of our allies?” Intelligence and military officials in the U.S. and Israel “are absolutely in the same exact place in terms of how close the Iranians are to getting a nuclear weapon,” Biden said, noting that the Iranians “are a good ways away.”
Ryan, however, said the Iranians “see this administration trying to water down sanctions in Congress for over two years, see the U.S. wanting more space with our ally Israel.” “They see President Obama in New York City the same day Bibi Netanyahu is and he, instead of meeting with him, goes on a daily talk show… When they see us putting daylight between ourselves and our allies in Israel, that gives them encouragement,” Ryan said.
Hezbollah admits to airspace violation, calls for more (JNS.org)
Admitting to a move aimed at provoking Israel, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed responsibility for his group launching the drone aircraft that was recently shot down in Israeli airspace, the Associated Press reported. Hezbollah had been the leading suspect behind the drone, which was unarmed and brought down by an Israeli warplane jet in the Hebron Hills, not far from Israel’s nuclear reactor site at Dimona. “It is our natural right to send other reconnaissance flights inside occupied Palestine … This is not the first time and will not be the last. We can reach any place we want,” Nasrallah said in a televised address.
The drone incident has generated a war of words between Iran, its proxy Hezbollah and Israel. Earlier in the week, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corp claimed that the drone successfully photographed the Dimona reactor. Another report from the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth said that the Israeli F-16 missed the drone on its first missile attempt.
Israel to host International Space Conference (JNS.org)
Israel’s Science and Technology Ministry has announced that Jerusalem will host the 2015 International Space Conference. The conference held by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is the world’s largest gathering on space and is expected to include over 3,000 scientists from over 70 countries to discuss the latest innovations and space policies.
The Israeli leaders lobbied the IAF hard to host the conference. They see the conference as an opportunity to showcase Israel’s thriving technology industry. “Participants will become Israel’s ‘ambassadors’ to the world in the field of space by seeing our advances in the field,” said Israeli Science and Technology Minister Daniel Herschkowitz .
Number of anti-Semitic acts in France rose 45% in first half of 2012 (JNS.org)
Service de Protection de la Communauté Juive (CPCJ), the organization that works to protect French Jewish communities, has reported three violent anti-Semitic incidents in France since Oct. 5. Overall, the country has seen a 45 percent increase in anti-Semitic attacks in the first half of this year, according to CPCJ. The group counted 386 incidents from Jan. 1 to Aug. 31 this year, 100 of which were violent.
It released the report on the same day that French authorities discovered bomb-making materials and chemicals in a Paris garage while investigating an anti-Jewish Islamist network. This network may have been responsible for a September attack on a Jewish grocery in a Paris suburb, reported the Jerusalem Post.
Jewish votes in swing states will be crucial, analysts say (JNS.org)
CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider and Nate Silver, author of the New York Times “FiveThirtyEight” election forecasting blog, say Jews may be a decisive voting group in the upcoming presidential election, particularly in swing states such as Florida. While the analysts agree that most American Jews will likely vote for President Barack Obama—78 percent did so in 2008—they said in interviews with the Boston Globe that Mitt Romney still has the chance of making a dent in Obama’s Jewish advantage in swing states.
Regarding the role of Israel in the election, they noted that American Jews are not necessarily single-issue voters and could instead vote based on the economy as their core issue. Schneider believes that Jewish support for Obama in Florida could go down to around 60 percent before the election. A recent American Jewish Committee survey had Obama earning 69 percent of the Jewish vote in that state. According to Silver, Romney’s strong statements in support of Israel are not geared “to win the Jewish vote.”
“It’s actually more about winning over Christian conservatives,” he said.
*
Preceding provided by JNS.org and reprinted with permission