NEW YORK - The World Jewish Congress on Thursday welcomed the brother of Israeli soldier Oron Shaul, who was captured during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 and whose body is still being held by Hamas, for a discussion with Jewish communal leaders on the efforts being made to secure his return. Aviram Shaul is on a speaking tour in the US, meeting with officials in both Washington and New York, urging them to work for the cause.
Shaul’s brother Oron is believed to have been killed in action when his tank was bombed by Hamas during the war with Gaza. His body and the body of his comrade, Hadar Goldin, were both seized by Hamas, which refuses to disclose their whereabouts and continues to inflict psychological warfare on their families. Shaul’s father passed away recently from cancer, and his mother is ill with cancer as well.
“I thought that I had made a mistake in coming now, and thought about going back home [to be with my mother], but the Jewish community has given us so much support,” Shaul told the gathering at the WJC headquarters. “There is only one way to look at this: this is a humanitarian issue, it is not political.”
Shaul urged the Jewish communal leaders to speak out as much as possible about the plight of his family and the Goldins, at every event, to campaign for the soldiers’ release. “For these two families, the war is not over. It is just beginning,” said Michal Hershkovitz, a member of the Israel Defense Forces’ Missing Person unit, who is accompanying Shaul on his visit to the United States.
Evelyn Sommer, Chair of World Jewish Congress North America, said: “The families of Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin deserve to know all the details of the fates of their sons and the international community is obligated to compel Hamas, which is in blatant violation of the Geneva Conventions, to return their sons to them without any further delay. The World Jewish Congress will continue to advocate strongly for this – our hearts are with these families.”
The World Jewish Congress in March launched a petition to the International Committee of the Red Cross, urging its immediate intervention on securing the return of the soldiers’ bodies as a humanitarian cause in line with international law and the Geneva Conventions. The petition has so far received about 7,500 signatures.
Click here to sign the petition:
