Kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was to be named an honorary citizen of San Francisco in a Sept. 15 ceremony on the steps of City Hall. District 8 Supervisor Scott Weiner was to bestow the honor on Shalit, who was abducted from Israel by Hamas terrorists and has been held captive for more than five years.
San Francisco joins Miami, New Orleans, Rome and Paris as the latest world city to bestow honorary citizenship on Shalit. Other than a single short video of him, Shalit has not been seen or heard from since his abduction, with no visits from humanitarian organizations permitted.
Last week, Shalit’s father, Noam Shalit, met with American Jewish organizations to strategize on how to lobby the Obama administration to put more pressure on the Palestinian Authority, which he believes can influence Hamas. The elder Shalit dismisses the notion that the P.A. cannot pressure Hamas or does not share responsibility for his son’s captivity.
“How can they say they have no leverage on Hamas?” he said. “The Palestinian Authority is going to the U.N. to appeal for one Palestinian entity, not two. They want one state for the Palestinian people. The Palestinian Authority cannot absolve itself of responsibility; it holds responsibility for all the Palestinian people.”