(JTA) — A massive billboard calling attention to the plight of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is going up in Los Angeles.
The billboard, which is expected to go up Monday on La Cienega Boulevard, will feature a large photograph of Shalit and read, “I was kidnapped by Hamas on June 25, 2006. I have been held hostage. … This summer I will turn 25 years old. Where did you spend your birthday this year? Free Gilad Shalit.”
Gal Sitty, a 28-year-old Los Angeles resident, raised $7,000 to erect the billboard. He helped lead an effort that put up a similar billboard in New York earlier this summer.
Sitty became interested in Shalit’s plight after chaperoning a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip and witnessing a rally for the soldier’s release.
According to the company that owns the billboard, about 200,000 people see the La Cienega Boulevard site each week. The billboard is scheduled to remain up until the first week of September.
Shalit has been held in Gaza since his capture in a cross-border raid.
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