Thursday, October 20, 2011

The forgotten Soldiers CHANAN BARAK and PAVEL SLUTZKER

B”H 

Gilad Shalit – This is all what we hear. In particular from the media and Gilad Shalit's parents Avivah and Noam. For five years, Noam Shalit has made it very clear to us that we, as Israelis, have the duty to care about Gilad. At any cost.

And this “At any cost” has been causing plenty of criticism. First of all from the bereaved families of terror victims and, secondly, from the bereaved families of the two soldiers who died in the Palestinian attack on 25 June 2006. Four soldiers from Gilad Shalit's unit were injured, two got killed and Shalit himself was kidnapped and imprisoned in Gaza. The Shalit family has neither mentioned nor referred to the two dead companions of their son. In Noam and Avivah Shalit's mind, only Gilad exists. 


 
 Photo right : Pavel Slutzker z"l


Gilad Shalit was serving in a tank and the media falsely refers to the tank as  "the tank of Gilad". However, the officer of the tank was not Shalit himself but Lieutnant Chanan Barak (20) from the Negev town Arad. He was killed by the attacking Palestinian terrorists as well as the driver of the tank,  Sergeant  Pavel Slutzker (20). 


The mother of Chanan Barak would like to talk to Gilad Shalit as soon as possible in order to find out about the last minutes her son was alive. I doubt whether Noam Shalit would agree to such a meeting. 


Photo left: Chanan Barak z"l


Yesterday, Israel's daily “Israel Hayom” chose the gigantic headline "HERO" for its front page. Together with a photo of Gilad Shalit. With all respect to Gilad, I don't see him as a hero but as person who deserves honour because he suffered through a Hamas prison for five years. However, I very much doubt whether Gilad Shalit wants to be seen as a hero but just live his life in peace. 

The Israeli newspaper HAARETZ published a great article about the campaign of Noam and Avivah Shalit regarding the forgotten victims of the tank attack: Pavel Slutzker and Chanan Barak. 

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