Brigadier-General (res.) Chezi Mashita has decided to call it quits, stepping down as the head of the Free Gilad Shalit organization after eight months in the post. Shimshon Lieberman, one of the founders of the organization, will take his place. Mashita told the media that he will still do what he can to assist the family in their ongoing effort to obtain Gilad Shalit’s freedom.

Persons on the inside explain the resignation is prompted by differences of opinion between Mashita and Noam Shalit, Gilad’s father.

Mr. Noam Shalit is scheduled to return home from Europe today, Thursday. Gilad received an honorary citizenship from Rome’s mayor. On Monday, Mr. Shalit will give testimony before the International Criminal Court of Justice in The Hague, responding as a private citizen to allegations of war crimes against Israel, detailing the horror he and his family endures daily for over three years while Gilad’s Hamas captors refuse to permit anyone to see him.

During an interfaith conference in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger Shlita held up a picture of Gilad and discussed his plight, calling on the interfaith participants to issue a call for his release.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)