Robin Padilla's trip to Timbuktu with Gadhafi

In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.  — Anne Frank

It is not only ex-First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos who considered the controversial Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi a friend. She visited him twice in the mid-1970s to successfully convince Gadhafi to stop supporting the Moro or Filipino Muslim rebels in Mindanao, and the 1976 Tripoli Agreement was signed, which provided for Muslim autonomy in 13 provinces and nine cities in southern Philippines. Imelda also built Quiapo’s Golden Mosque in 1976 for Gadhafi.

Another admirer of Gadhafi in the Philippines is actor Robin Padilla.

A few months ago, during a conversation in Quezon City with Robin, I casually asked the Muslim convert for his opinion on Gadhafi, since the US and its NATO allies in Europe were then militarily supporting rebels seeking to overthrow his regime in oil-rich Libya.

I was surprised at the passion of Robin Padilla’s reply that he disagreed with most negative Western views and that he admired Gadhafi. He said he had visited Libya a couple of times in recent years to attend Islamic peace conferences and had personally met Gadhafi.

The Libyan strongman was a complex and sometimes eccentric person, accused years ago of supporting Muslim rebels in places like the Philippines and aiding Palestinians accused of terror attacks versus Israeli civilians. He even helped Irish rebels fighting British rule in Northern Ireland. However, unlike other despots with extravagant lifestyles, Gadhafi seemed to have led a simple one and apparently advocated his style of socialism.

Though he was viewed as a madman in the West, not a few among Muslims and Third World nations worldwide looked up to him as a freedom fighter, a generous benefactor, a dreamer, a modern-day revolutionary like a Muslim version of Fidel Castro or Mao Zedong.

One anecdote about Gadhafi that Robin recounted was the Libyan leader inviting him to fly together with him to the southern edge of Africa’s Sahara desert, to visit the ancient Islamic university city of Timbuktu in Mali.

I was surprised to hear the actor actually flew to Timbuktu, because this is the Western metaphor for a faraway, godforsaken place. Robin Padilla added that the “beautiful oasis Timbuktu” was one of the many places in Africa where Gadhafi had for years generously donated huge amounts of money to for infrastructures, cultural and other projects.

Gadhafi’s abrupt bloody end reminds all of us that power, fame and material possessions are all temporary. Life itself is indeed short and fleeting. Let us lead more meaningful lives.

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria said when news of his demise broke out: “If Gadhafi is indeed dead, I would not be surprised. Gadhafi was never likely to surrender. Gadhafi was different from Hosni Mubarak, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali or even Bashar al-Assad. These other figures are bureacrats or sons of the founders of their respective states. Gadhafi, in contrast, was a founder himself. He initiated the coup that brought him into power. He was more a Fidel-Castro-type-figure — originally very charismatic and militarily skillful. He took risks. He was not a bureaucrat who would lay down the sword and go quietly into the night.”

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Gutsy, Quiet Courage Of A Nation That Values Human Life

Apart from the death of Gadhafi, another international news this past week that struck me as unforgettable and inspiring was the Israeli government’s gutsy swapping of the life of one hostaged young Jewish soldier for the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in its jails — scores of whom had been convicted for heinous crimes and even outright terrorism.

The Israel Defense Forces believes in the principle of “no soldier left behind.” There’s also the ancient Jewish tradition of the redemption of prisoners, leading to the idea that saving one soldier’s life is worth any price.

Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights group said: “Judaism places ultimate value on human life. Therefore in the Jewish tradition, in Jewish law, redeeming captives trumps just about everything else. It takes priority over anything else you can possibly do.”

“Jews across the world have been pining for Gilad Shalit’s release for over five years,” said William Daroff, a vice president of the Jewish Federations of North America told CNN. “Thousands of us have had an empty chair at our Passover seder tables reserved for Gilad,” he said, referring to the celebratory meal that marks the start of the annual Passover festival.

On the day the 25-year-old Gilad Shalit was freed by Hamas, I read on Twitter members of the Jewish diaspora expressing joy as if their brother or kin had just been freed. Supermodel Bar Refaeli tweeted: “Gilad Shalit is HOME after five and a half years!! A historical day. Exciting.” 

Of Moroccan Jewish roots, a citizen of Spain and a top soccer athlete with the British team Chelsea but now on loan to Arsenal team, Yossi Benayoun in London tweeted: “One of the happiest moments when I saw Gilad Shalit coming out from the car, amazing. On my way to training with the biggest smile.”

Some past examples of amazingly lopsided Israeli prisoner exchanges were:

• In 1983, the Yitzhak Shamir government freed 66 terrorists and 4,500 detainees captured during the 1982 war in Lebanon in exchange for the freedom of for six Israeli soldiers.

• In the 1985 Gibril deal, the Shimon Peres government freed 1,150 prisoners to swap with the lives of eight Israeli soldiers.

• In the 2004 Tannenbaum deal, the Ariel Sharon government freed 436 detainees to swap for the life of one Israeli military reserve officer kidnapped by Hezbollah after they had entrapped him via a business transaction.

• In 2008, Israel released scores of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

In Israel’s nine prisoner exchanges with their Arab foes, starting with the first such deal 54 years ago, the Jewish nation has already released 13,509 prisoners to win the freedom of 16 soldiers. This averages to well over 800 for each Jewish soldier, an incredibly high price.

I am in awe of how the heroic Jewish nation, Israel’s leaders led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Jewish diaspora worldwide value so much each human life.

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