| Wife of kidnapped soldier appeals for help from Blair
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Karnit Goldwasser, wife of kidnapped soldier
Photo: Adrian Korsner.
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LONDON (EJP)--- The wife of one of the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped on Israel’s northern border by Hezbollah last month, is visiting London and has appealed for the British prime minister to help secure her husband’s return.
Speaking at meeting with Jewish communal leaders in north west London on Tuesday, Karnit Goldwasser, wife of Ehud, asked to Tony Blair to assist in obtaining information on her husband’s condition.
She said: “I ask Tony Blair to bring a sign that he is still alive, because until now we don’t have any sign or any proof he’s still alive.”
While she called for an end the hostilities between Israel and Lebanon, Goldwasser also defended Israel’s attack on Lebanon.
“No one wants this situation,” she said. “I really, really want the killing to be stopped. We, as a family, want the killing to stop, no one in the whole world wants their neighbour or son or husband to be killed.
“No one wants a war but Hezbollah kidnapped the two soldiers by force, this, and the rocket attacks on civilians in northern Israel are what started this.”
Haifa students
Together for nearly 10 years, Karnit and Ehud are both Masters students at the Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa. The Institute has just reopened after closing for a week following the rocket attacks on Haifa.
Ehud Goldwasser was kidnapped, along with Eldad Regev, by Hizbollah the northern border with Lebanon on July 12. Ehud was on reserve duty, which all former combat soldiers are required to do one month a year, and was scheduled to finish the following day.
“The day he was taken, it was his last day,” said Karnit. “July 12 was the day my life changed.”
Karnit talked about her husband and what he would be thinking.
“Ehud is my soul mate, he is not a man of war, he loves music, he’s a student of environmental engineering and very intelligent, he loves reading books.”
“Right now he would be figuring what is the best way to stay alive and thinking about positive things that will happen.”
On the day of Ehud’s kidnap, Karnit was at home cooking in anticipation of her husband’s return when she heard on the news about an incident on the northern border. She sent Ehud a text message, knowing he always responds. When he didn’t reply, she called him knowing there must be something wrong. She got no answer.
At around 3.30pm army officers came to her house and broke the news that Ehud was either dead or had been kidnapped.
At 11pm that night Karnit learnt that he was not dead.
“If he was dead, there was nothing for me to do, when I learnt he was alive I decided I have the ability to change it, to bring him back home,” she said.
Invest in life
Ehud’s father, Shlomo, said that Hizbollah have been planning the attack for years, he said: “Instead of investing money into education, children and improving life, Hezbollah invested in missiles, training and planning for war.”
“To do what they did to my son, on the Israeli side of the border, it takes years to plan and under the umbrella of shelling Israel.”
He added: “We are not happy about all the deaths, we are not happy when we hear about casualties, about children, women and civilians dying, it touches our hearts – both for Israeli and Lebanese deaths.”
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