Jerusalem - Karnit Goldwasser, the widow of an Israeli
soldier who was abducted by Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and who rose
to prominence leading a global compaign for his release, is starting
a television career, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.
Goldwasser, 32, is to host a show dealing with environmental
issues on Israel's Educational Channel.
Until last July, Goldwasser had been campaigning for the release
of her husband for two years, travelling the globe and meeting with
world leaders.
Her husband Ehud was abducted along with a second Israeli soldier
in a July 2006 cross-border raid by Hezbollah, which sparked a
month-long war between Israel and the Islamist movement. The couple
had been married for several months prior to his capture.
Goldwasser's struggle for her husband's release came to an end
when Hezbollah returned his body and that of the second soldier,
Eldad Regev, to Israel in coffins in a July 16 prisoner swap.
But her handling of the struggle had aroused widespread sympathy
and respect among supporters in Israel and abroad.
Israelis were especially impressed when she managed to surprise
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a September 2007 news
conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
'My name is Karnit and I am the wife of Goldwasser that was
kidnapped by Hezbollah to Lebanon more than a year (ago) and you are
responsible for this by your support,' Goldwasser, who had entered
the room pretending to be a journalist, told a flustered-looking
Ahmadinejad in front of television cameras.
'I'm asking how come you are not allowing the Red Cross to go and
visit him. How come you are not sending us a sign of life (for) more
than a year,' she asked the Iranian leader, who declined to reply.
Israel accuses Iran of actively supporting Hezbollah, a Shiite
movement.
Commenting on her upcoming television show, Goldwasser, who has a
degree in civil and environmental engineering from Israel's renowned
Technion Institute of Technology, told the Israeli daily Ma'ariv that
after the support she had received from the Israeli public, she was
'happy to try and contribute' to an 'important' issue such as the
environment.
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