Gilad Shalit married his longtime girlfriend, Nitzan Shabbat, today at a wedding hall in central Israel. It's hard to contextualize the many feelings I have right now and to adequately put them into words. But I will simply say that seeing the photos from today has made me very emotional, and of course, extremely happy.
They also bring back a lot of memories from Fall 2011. From the moment when a weak and emaciated looking Gilad Shalit stepped off an IAF helicopter and saluted then Ramatkal Benny Gantz and was received with a hug, to the next immediate embrace of his father who he hadn't seen in over six years, the same feelings are all still there. I have many thoughts on the overall prisoner release deal, but bringing Gilad Shalit home was plainly the right thing to do. It was also Benjamin Netanyahu's highest moment in office as Prime Minister.
I had just finished Miluim around the same time back then. Scott was visiting from London and I had just met Karina only a few weeks earlier in a local cafe near my small Florentine flat on Rehov HaMashbir off Shuk Levinsky. I was working mostly nights and hadn't yet left for Berlin. There's a lot more to write and I'll try and tackle some of it in due time, ideally soon, but for now I'm simply overjoyed.
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