Yuval and Chen Arad, the daughter and brother of missing Israeli pilot Ron Arad, visited the Shalit family on Monday night. Noam and Aviva Shalit, whose son Gilad was kidnapped in 2006 near Gaza, have set up a protest tent in Jerusalem in an attempt to pressure the government into winning their son's release prior to leaving office.
Yuval Arad expressed support for the family and agreed with their goal of securing Shalit's release prior to the government's end of term. “I know from 23 years' experience that when there's a change of government it is problematic. The government that ruled when Gilad was taken captive needs to take responsibility and get him back,” she said.
Earlier in the day Karnit Goldwasser visited the protest tent. Karnit's husband, Ehud Goldwasser, was one of two soldiers kidnapped while patrolling the Lebanon border in 2006. His body was returned to Israel in July 2008 as part of a prisoner exchange deal.
The Shalit family was also visited by Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Barak held a 15-minute private conversation with Noam Shalit.
As he left, Barak was met by dozens of protesters yelling, “We want him home, we want him now!”
Barak's aides hinted earlier in the day that Barak supports the Shalit family's call to trade senior terrorists for Gilad's return if necessary. “The Shalit family knows that we're not causing the problem,” they said, referring to the government's failure to return Shalit.