Kidnapped soldier's wife appeals for Tony Blair's help

By JONNY PAUL
LONDON - Karnit Goldwasser, the wife of Ehud, one of the IDF soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah last month, appealed to British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday to help get information on her husband's condition. Speaking at a press conference in central London, she said: "I ask him [Blair] to bring a sign that he is still alive, because until now we don't have any sign or any proof he's alive." On July 12, Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were kidnapped. Ehud was on reserve duty and was scheduled to finish the following day. Karnit has travelled to London with her parents and father-in-law, Shlomo, to highlight her husband's plight and appeal for his return. "We came here to appeal for Ehud's and his colleague's release and we came to bring their story to the whole world," she said. While she also asked for help to end the hostilities between Israel and Hizbullah, she 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 neighbor or son or husband to be killed. No one wants a war, but Hizbullah cut the fence and kidnapped the two soldiers by force. This and the rocket attacks on civilians in northern Israel are the what started this." Karnit and Ehud have been together for nearly 10 years. They are both Masters students at the Technion in Haifa, which has just reopened after closing for a week following the rocket attacks. "Ehud is my soul mate," Karnit said. "He is not a man of war. He loves music; he's a student of environmental engineering; he's very intelligent and 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. Ehud is strong, he thinks before he does things." She said that she writes him a letter every night before she goes to bed and although they await proof, she has a feeling he's alive. "The day he was taken, it was his last day," she said. "July 12 was the day my life changed." Karnit was at home cooking in anticipation of her husband's return when she heard on the news about an incident at Zar'it on the northern border. Thinking Ehud was busy, she sent him a text message. She said he always responds, so when he didn't reply she knew there was a problem. She then called him but got no answer. At around 3:30 p.m. army officers came to her house and broke the news that Ehud was either dead or had been kidnapped. At 11 that night, Karnit learned that he was not dead. "If he was dead, there was nothing for me to do. When I learned he was alive, I decided I have the ability to change it, to bring him back home," she said. Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Ehud's father, Shlomo, said that Hizbullah has been planning the attack for years: "Instead of investing money in education, children and improving life, Hizbullah 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. "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." Shlomo and Karnit's farther, Omri Avni, spoke at an Israel solidarity rally held in Manchester on Sunday that was attended by more than 3,000 people.