Comments on: Meanwhile, in Melbourne

By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:31:10 +0000

Ben, do you honestly believe that Gilad wanted to be interviewed by the Egyptian press? If you had been in captivity for over 5 years and you’d been led into an interview room with Hamas men (who have been responsible for your five years underground) and Egyptians, I highly doubt you’d have the balls to say no to an interview, especially while still not on home / familiar soil.

Daniel – we watched the live stream from Israel’s Channel 2. We didn’t feel like watching any of the English speaking coverage because on a day like that I was only interested in seeing Gilad come home to his family and not at all interested in seeing murderous thugs come home to a hero’s welcome on the other side.

By: Jack Chrapot

Jack Chrapot — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:06:46 +0000

There are some people in this world who cannot resist the opportunity to be obnoxious and when Ben decided to respond to this excellent piece on the release of Gilad Shalit, it was simply one of those times.

Another was the decision by Egyptian authorities to conduct an interview with the courageous Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and to use the disgusting and insensitive Ms. Amin to conduct the task.

Thankfully, the Israeli authorities declined the opportunity for revenge by sending their most incompetent news hacks to interview some of the mass murderers it had to release to secure Gilad’s freedom.

There is absolutely no evidence that Gilad, his family or the Government of Israel consented to this obscene treatment. Amin herself has stated that there were nine masked Hamas men in the room when the interview was conducted.

Finally, it’s far too late for Amin or Ben or any other apologists for the crime against humanity that became the story of Gilad’s capture and mistreatment.

The world knows and sees what the thuggish regimes that run the two broken parts of Palestinian politics and the disastrous effect their hatred and that of many of the brethren in the Arab world and those who support them has had on the lives of their own people, their neighbours and the cause of peace in the region.

By: ben

ben — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:18:30 +0000

Gian’s hasbara is untrue as usual. Amin is reported in haaretz. She spoke with Shalit and conducted the interview after he agreed to be interviewed. She even said she halted the interview when Sghalit looked tired and continued only when he said he was ready to speak.

By: Jenteel

Jenteel — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:35:39 +0000

Is this an opinion piece? It’s written in first person, but there is no name given for the author!

By: Daniel Meron (Miller)

Daniel Meron (Miller) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 07:42:57 +0000

Emily Gian wrote extremly well about Gilad Shalit receiving his freedom (“Meanwhile in Melbourne”, 17th. October, 2011). I was born in Melbourne and grew up and live in Jerusalem, where I work for the Israeli Government. Reading her article I felt as though Emily was here with us in Israel. Emily was right in her criticsm of world leaders and journalists who in their response to the release lacked any differentiation between the terrorists released and Gilad Shalit.