Soldiers' friends hold protest Seder

Friends of Schalit, Goldwasser, Regev prepare special haggada to be read outside PM's residence.

hatufim seder 224 88 (photo credit: Channel 10)
hatufim seder 224 88
(photo credit: Channel 10)
Friends of kidnapped IDF soldiers Gilad Schalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev held a Pessah Seder outside Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's official residence in Jerusalem on Saturday evening. The event was intended to call attention to what the organizers call the government's failure to secure the soldiers' release. "We're protesting the fact that [the country's] decision makers are spending the holiday with their family and friends, while on this night we're left without our friends," Army Radio quoted the organizers of the Seder saying. Regev's brother, Eyal, was also expected to join the Seder. "It's a horrible feeling," participant Tomer Weinberg told the press Saturday evening. "[Pessah] is the holiday of freedom, but [they] are stuck somewhere in the dark… We can't celebrate." The soldiers' friends prepared a special version of the haggada, calling for the captives' release. Schalit has been held captive by Hamas for 664 days, ever since he was kidnapped by Hamas-affiliated terrorists in raid near Kerem Shalom in June 2006. Reservists Regev and Goldwasser - whose capture by Hizbullah in July 2006 sparked the Second Lebanon War - have been held hostage for 647 days.