Downing Street vigil for kidnapped Gilad
Worldwide efforts to help secure the release of Gilad Shalit will reach Downing Street on Monday with the start of a week-long vigil to raise awareness of his plight and to urge the British government to help bring him home.
Members of various youth movements will take to the streets opposite the prime minister's residence to distribute leaflets about the kidnapped soldier's case and to highlight the fact he has so far been denied visits from the Red Cross.
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"We hope that we can educate people about the issue, apply a degree of pressure to the government and show solidarity with the Shalit family and the whole of Israel," said FZY national director Jamie Slavin, who came up with the vigil idea with Jewish Agency Shaliach Einav Ayalon.
"The longer that Gilad Shalit remains in captivity the quieter the voices calling for his freedom go. It should be the opposite of this. As a Zionist youth movement we feel that we have to do something to raise awareness of the fact that he is being denied basic human rights that anyone is entitled to. The world is very quick to criticise Israel but very slow to help her bring home a son who was kidnapped from within the borders of the state."
It is hoped that people of all ages will join the awareness drive, which is being supported by various youth movements, the Jewish Agency and UJS between 10am and 6pm every week day next week.
While the London action is aimed at the British public and government, the Shalit family were this week joined by thousands of people on a protest march designed to increase pressure on authorities to take decisive action to finally bring Gilad home. They are scheduled to reach the prime minister's Jerusalem residence next Wednesday where a protest tent will be established.
Meanwhile, more than one thousand people have signed a letter to United Nations Secretary general Ban Ki-Moon as part of a campaign by the Jewish News and Australian Jewish News.
The letter, republished this week for readers to cut out and send in, details the despair felt at the Israeli's continued captivity. It concludes:
"I implore you to use all your influence as Secretary-General of the United Nations to bring this young man home. The United Nations must demand his immediate release and, pending that outcome, it must exert all necessary pressure to ensure that Hamas affords him his basic human rights in accordance with international law." All the letters we receive will be forwarded to the Secretary General.
Contact FZY at mazkir@fzy.org.uk
Read the latest copy of The Jewish News Online by clicking here.
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