As two rival protests continue outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem regarding kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, Shalit's grandfather reveals that his son - Gilad's uncle - was murdered by Syrian captors during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

One sit-in demands that the government give in to Hamas demands and release more than 1,000 Palestinian Authority terrorists in exchange for the young hostage. Shalit was abducted by Hamas terrorists in June 2006 – nearly 1,000 days ago – via a tunnel under the Gaza-Israel border; two soldiers were killed in the attack and a fourth was badly wounded.

Only a few meters away from the “Free Gilad Shalit” protest stands another group of concerned citizens: parents of victims of PA Arab terrorism who oppose the release of terrorists.

Gilad’s parents, Noam and Aviva, as well as Noam’s father Tzvi, joined the former protest on Sunday. They said they would remain until either the new government takes over or until Gilad returns home - whichever comes first.

Tzvi Shalit, 81, told a reporter, “I understand the pain of the bereaved parents [who oppose the release of terrorists]. I also lost a son, and so did my sister. But this boy [Gilad] is alive, and he must be brought home. We cannot let him become Ron Arad #2.”

The elder Shalit said that his son Yoel, a twin brother of Noam, was captured during the Yom Kippur War by Syrians who later murdered him.

'Gov't Must Try Other Ways'

The counter-protestors say there are other ways of returning the kidnapped soldier without caving in to the terrorists’ demands, and without placing so many civilians at the newly-released terrorists’ mercies. 

One of them is Yossi Mendlevitz, whose son Yuval was one of 17 people – mostly teenagers – murdered by a suicide terrorist on a bus in Haifa in March 2003. “Of course I am in favor of Gilad Shalit’s release," he said, "but at what price? At a price that means more murdered victims like my son Yuval? We say that there is an alternative. The government has not tried everything.

"Freeing terrorists is an easy way out for the government,” Mendlevitz said, “but in the end it will be hard for all of us – at a price of much bloodshed and more kidnappings.”

Bereaved wife and mother Devorah Applebaum also planned to join the “Don’t Release Terrorists” sit-in on Monday.  She lost her husband and daughter, who was to be married the next night, in September 2003 in an attack perpetrated by a terrorist who had been released from Israeli prison just two months before.

Hamas Wants the 'Cafe Moment' Mastermind

The Almagor Terror Victims Association noted that Monday was the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attack in the Moment Café, a block away from the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, where 11 teenagers were murdered. 

Arab sources say that the mastermind of that attack is one of those whose release Hamas demands. To counter the pressure, Almagor is continuing its campaign entitled, “Yes to Gilad Shalit’s Release, No to the Release of Terrorists.”