Israeli websites to mark year since soldiers abducted

by ryan | July 11, 2007 at 10:04 am

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It will be a year ago tomorrow that IDF soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were abducted by Hezbollah militants. It was this event which triggered last summers war with the militant group and resulted in significant casulties amongst Lebanese civilians and Israeli soldiers in addition to major damage to both Israeli and Lebanese infrastructure.

Karnit Goldwasser, the wife of Ehud Goldwasser, has organized an online event to mark the anniversary.

Israel's major Web sites are planning to shut down for five minutes Thursday morning, to mark the exact hour at which two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were kidnapped in 2006.

The homepage of each site will be replaced with a message reading "The soldier can not be found," a play on the standard Internet error message, which reads "The page cannot be found."

Support for the initiative is wide reaching.

Among the participating Websites are Ynet, Wallah, Tapuz, NRG, Globes, NANA, MSN and Haaretz. The organizers predict that smaller Web sites will also spontaneously join the initiative.

However Google, Israel's largest website, has yet to agree to participate.

The only major Web site that has not expressed its willingness to take part in the initiative is Google Israel - Israel's largest Internet site. The site is likely waiting for authorization from its international parent company.

An email sent to Web site managers by the initiative's organizers reads: "On the day of the kidnapping, at 09:05 in the morning, Israel's Internet sites will come to a standstill.

"Instead of their homepages, they will display messages calling for the return of the abductees. This important topic will be brought to the attention of surfers, and they will be able to express their opinions and respond.

"Anyone who enters the Israeli Internet world during those minutes will participate in the tribute to the abductees and will help communicate the most important message: Do not let apathy kill them!"