Rivlin dedicates Schalit exhibit in European Parliament

Knesset speaker: “It's a grave mistake to consider Schalit’s fate a matter of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, instead of basic human values.”

By LAHAV HARKOV
Rivlin Schalit Exhibit 311 (photo credit: Gabi Farkash)
Rivlin Schalit Exhibit 311
(photo credit: Gabi Farkash)
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin dedicated on Monday evening an exhibit in the European Parliament in Brussels consisting of drawings based on captive soldier Gilad Schalit’s book When the Shark and the Fish First Met, that he wrote at age 11.
“It is a grave mistake to consider Gilad Schalit’s fate as a matter of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, instead of basic human values,” Rivlin added. “The free world must react harshly to Hamas’s brutality.”
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“Political and diplomatic excuses in connection to Gilad are only providing an escape for terrorist organizations,” Rivlin told European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, adding that he hopes the exhibit will raise awareness of Schalit’s captivity.
Buzek said that Schalit, who holds French and Israeli citizenship, “is a citizen of the European Union,” and called for his immediate release.
MK Nachman Shai (Kadima), who joined Rivlin in Brussels, voiced “the firm and uncompromising demand to allow the Red Cross to visit Schalit and make sure that he is held in humane conditions, according to international law.”
“We demand, once again, that Gilad Schalit be released,” Shai said. “There is no reason for Hamas to continue holding him illegally.”
The exhibit, titled “Shark and Fish, Wolf and Lamb – Hope and Possibility,” was organized by Lee Rimon of “The Edge,” a gallery in Nahariya. Dozens of artists illustrated scenes from Schalit’s book. The works have previously been displayed in the Knesset.