Selective Compassion:

Modernity Blog has a very pithy post about world indifference to the torments of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

When "Alan Johnston, the journalist, was held in Gaza for some 114 days..

Western media were full of stories about him, delegates of worthy citizens pleaded for his safe return, so many column inches were expended on his plight.

Compare that with Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped from Israel’s territory during an attack in June 2006, pulled down a tunnel back into Gaza.

Held as a POW by Hamas, but afforded none of the rights, no visits, no Red Cross, etc.

Gilad Shalit’s family, until now, had no confirmation if he was alive or dead. No information was forth coming from Hamas, nothing, nada, zip.

After a brokered agreement by the Egyptians and Germans a video of Gilad Shalit and some letters were exchanged for 20 female prisoners in Israel’s jails.

Gilad’s captors, Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas, even made him state how wonderful their treatment of him was, here’s a cached copy of their web site.

If you followed the Western media you’d hardly see anything about the Israeli solider, kidnapped, deny the basics under the Geneva convention, held in incommunicado for three and a half years.

Hardly a sausage in the media about Gilad Shalit’s treatment, yet plenty about Gitmo or even Abu Ghraib."

To steal a phrase from Bibi Netanyahu's UN speech: Have you no shame? Have you no decency?

In Canada, gallons of ink have been poured over the fate of Omar Khadr, this young Gitmo prisoner, a bit older than Gilad.

When Khadr was fifteen years old, he provided support to terrorism and allegedly threw a grenade that killed a US soldier.

When Gilad was 11 years old, he wrote a short story about an impossible friendship between a shark and fish who become friends and stay playmates even as their parents pressure them to remain enemies. In the end, the characters' friendship leads to peace between their species.

Canadian "Progressives" have been lobbying relentlessly to bring Khadr home, to restore him to his family, a family that actively supported BinLaden's efforts.

About Gilad, it was mainly silence and indifference.

Compare and contrast. Have they no shame? Have they no decency?