News Brief

The wife of a kidnapped Israeli soldier made her plea to Jewish student and advocacy groups around the world.

Karnit Goldwasser, whose husband, Udi, was abducted in July 2006, spoke via teleconference Tuesday from Jerusalem to students in the United States and abroad on World Solidarity Day for the release of the Kidnapped Soldiers.

The event was organized by the Jewish Agency for Israel to raise awareness of the plight of kidnapped soldiers Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Gilad Shalit.

Goldwasser insisted that the Red Cross gain access to her husband and the others. She said she isn’t even sure her husband is alive. The capture of Udi Goldwasser and Regev by Hezbollah was the impetus for the Lebanon war. She urged the students to send letters to the ambassadors of Lebanon, Syria and Iran asking for the release of the prisoners. Goldwasser expressed hope for negotiations between Hezbollah and the Israeli government, and that the families of Lebanese prisoners lobby their government for the return of their family members as well.

Goldwasser insisted that international pressure was vital to the movement for the return of the prisoners, adding that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice told her “‘you don’t need to ask me. It’s my obligation to be in this process. The free world won’t accept kidnapping as a way of getting things.”