Gilad Shalit To Get Army Discharge
Image by Getty Images
The Israeli press has reported on former Hamas captive Gilad Shalit’s every move since his release and return to Israel last October.
First we were informed of the Gilad Shalit shirt craze, then of his first bike ride and his first visit to the beach. Next we saw him being visited by political VIPs like President Shimon Peres. Before long, he was shmoozing with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on a cold day in Paris and smiling broadly, though a bit awkwardly, as he met with Israeli basketball superstar Omri Casspi.
Now we are being treated to a more mundane newsflash: Shalit is scheduled to be discharged from the IDF by the end of March. (Recall that Shalit arrived in Israel wearing an army uniform, signifying that he was still an Israeli soldier.) He has technically continued to be one, although he has not been on active duty. Shalit has been promoted to the rank of Sergeant First Class.
Shalit is expected to be discharged soon, pending the approval of a medical panel. He has been medically treated under the auspices of the IDF since his return. He will likely continue to receive treatment through the Ministry of Defense’s rehabilitation program once he becomes a civilian.
Will news updates on Shalit, the unlikely celebrity, finally end after he turns in his uniform? The Shmooze highly doubts it.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Dive In
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 3
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
- 4
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Pennsylvania Jewish groups condemn ‘genocide’ slogan on Gisele Fetterman’s charity
-
Fast Forward A Republican senator called Chuck Schumer ‘Fuhrer’
-
Fast Forward The Ben of Ben & Jerry’s is asking Unilever to let his ice cream brand go
-
Fast Forward 80 years after Auschwitz, kosher food will be sold in its town of Oświęcim
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.