BRUSSELS -- Songs written about Gilad Shalit will be featured at this weekend ‘Jewish Eurovision song contest’ in Brussels.
Hosted by the Jewish communities of Brussels and Antwerp, the song contest is organized by the World Bnei Akiva youth movement in cooperation with the World Zionist Organization.
Around 500 youths and Jewish community members will participate in the event, which is the highlight of Bnei Akiva activities in Europe.
The performers, lyricists and composers, are all Jewish teenagers from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium and France.
Every year there is a theme for the contest. This year, the theme chosen was "80 years of Bnei Akiva and 60 years for Israel," but many participants felt the need "to do something in order to strengthen awareness about Gilad Shalit around the world and of course let Shalit family in Israel know that Jewish communities in the Diaspora are with them," said Zvika Klein, World Bnei Akiva spokesperson.
Therefore many of the songs this year are dedicated to Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped in June 2006 by Palestinians near the Gaza border and is still detained by Hamas.