"Only Btselem Notes One-Year Anniversary of Gilad Shalits Captivity"
The one-year anniversary (June 25, 2007) of the kidnapping by Hamas of Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit has largely gone unnoticed by NGOs. As of June 30, 2007, the only NGO to mark the anniversary is Israeli NGO B’tselem. B’tselem’s press release calls for Shalit’s immediate release by Hamas and states that holding Shalit as a hostage is a “war crime”. The organization also calls denial of access by the International Red Cross “a blatant violation of international law.” In response to the NGO silence, the Anti-Defamation League sent letters to “the directors of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Human Rights First” and “called on those groups to speak out and demand the release of the soldiers one year after their capture.”