By David Smiley, Miami Herald
December 10, 2007

The world has not seen Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Gilad Schalit since they were abducted by fighters for Hezbollah and Hamas more than a year and a half ago.

But on Sunday the faces of the Israeli soldiers waved on banners above Biscayne Boulevard when hundreds gathered at Miami’s Torch of Freedom to remember the missing men and call for their return.

For hours, the crowd chanted, sang and prayed in Hebrew, and raised Israeli flags and banners bearing the soldiers’ faces while rabbis and politicians led the rally from the stage. Many wore white T-shirts reading “Miami will not let apathy kill them.”

“I am sure many have already given up hope,” said Adam Hasner, Republican leader of the Florida House of Representatives. “We must continue to have faith.”

Ehud “Udi” Goldwasser and fellow Israeli reservist Eldad Regev were kidnapped by Hezbollah guerrillas in northern Israel during the summer of 2006, an event that helped spark an armed conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

In a separate incident, Gilad Schalit was captured by Hamas forces that same summer.

The rally was organized to create greater awareness of their situation, said organizer and Hollywood businessman Jacky Heby.

Heby said he began planning the rally after he visited the Goldwasser family in Israel last summer and promised them he would do all he could to keep Ehud’s name from being forgotten. Heby said he went to Israel after seeing Goldwasser’s wife speak about her husband on television.

“It broke my heart to see her all by herself,” he said.

While the rally was held to create awareness for the soldiers, some couldn’t help but voice frustration about talk of creating two separate states for Israelis and Palestinians and of a recent Israeli decision to release more than 400 Palestinian prisoners.

“Why should Israel be expected to release murderers?” said Rabbi Hershel Becker of Young Israel of Kendall.

But overall, most said they couldn’t bear to stay home while the fate of the three soldiers, often referred to Sunday as sons of Israel, remains unknown.

That feeling was echoed in a letter written by Goldwasser’s mother, read to the audience by Ami Gilad, one of the rally organizers.

“The three kidnapped soldiers are no longer just the sons of private families, they are the sons of the Jewish people and beyond,” the letter said in part.

Copyright © 2007, Miami Herald Media Company