‘I Am Just a Wife’

Hostilities between Israel and Lebanon have ended, but Karnit Goldwasser isn’t celebrating yet. She is the wife of kidnapped Israeli soldier Ehud (Udi) Goldwasser, whose abduction (along with fellow soldier Eldad Regev) is what sparked last month’s war. The couple had been married 11 months before Ehud shipped off for reserve duty in July, and celebrated Karnit’s 30th birthday the week before his departure. On the heels of commitments from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to personally work for the soldiers’ release, Karnit arrived in the United States on Monday to help “keep Udi on the agenda.” Zvika Krieger sat down with Karnit this week in Los Angeles to discuss her efforts to secure Ehud’s release. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: Were you worried when your husband was called up for reserve duty?

Karnit Goldwasser: Everyone has to serve one month per year, so it was routine. When he heard that this time they were going to be placed in the north, we were very happy. He said it would be like a vacation, because nothing happens in the north—the action is in the south. When I heard about the soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped in Gaza three weeks before, I called him right away. I was very worried because I knew that when something bad happens in the south, Hizbullah sees it as a sign to fan the flames up north. He said I shouldn’t be worried, nothing was happening up there.

When did you find out about the kidnapping?

The day he was kidnapped was supposed to his last day of reserve duty, the day he was supposed to come home. I was preparing the house for him, starting to cook for him what he asked me to cook. He knows I was very busy with my master’s thesis, so he didn’t want me to work in the kitchen, but I forced him to tell me something to cook for him, so I made him meat bourekas [pastries]. I heard the news on the radio that something bad happened in the north, near Zarit, which is the base where he was stationed. I sent him a text [message], and he didn’t answer. Until the moment the soldiers walked inside the house, I was sure that he was going to call me and say that he was very busy and didn’t have a chance to give me a call.

They sent a soldier with a doctor to tell me the news. They usually only send them when somebody is dead. When they entered, I didn’t see them, only my friends saw them, and they all started to cry, knowing that something really bad must have happened. They told me that after the Hizbullah attack on his convoy, he was missing, they didn’t know what happened to him. Six of the bodies were identified, but one was still not. When I understood that he might be dead, I went to my closet and tried to find some black clothing. My heart was telling me that he was alive and my brain was saying that he was not.