Families of captive Israeli soldiers met
with top U.S. officials and U.N. officials. The wife and mother of Ehud
Goldwasser and the father of Eldad Regev joined other family members in meetings
Tuesday and Wednesday with members of Congress from both parties,
including Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives; Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and
Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio; and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the only Muslim
in Congress. They also met with Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations.
The trip was organized by the United
Jewish Communities, the umbrella body for U.S. Jewish federations, and the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The tour was aimed in part at
raising awareness about www.freethesoldiers.org, an
initiative of UJC and other Jewish groups.
Hezbollah nabbed Goldwasser and Regev
in a July 12 cross-border raid that precipitated a war between Israel and the
Lebanese terrorist group. The families also advocated on behalf of Gilad Shalit,
who was captured by Hamas-allied gunmen and taken to the Gaza Strip on June
25.
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