Minister: Unprecedented price if Gilad harmed
Hours before deadline set by kidnappers of IDF soldier runs out, Absorption Minister Boim says: 'We will work according to the Jabotinsky doctrine – respond to pressure with pressure.' Soldier’s father: 'I hope State doesn't retrieve deterrence on the back of my son'
Interior Minister Ronnie Bar-On has warned that the kidnappers of Gilad Shalit will pay "an unprecedented price if they harm the soldier."
Bar-On spoke with Ynet on Monday hours before the ultimatum set by Shalit's kidnappers expired.
"There's no connection between this incident and past incidents. This is a kidnapping of a soldier inside the State of Israel by a terror cell which set out from Gaza. This government's worldview is that it won't surrender to blackmail. We have done everything possible and appropriate under the circumstances. Despite the ongoing military and diplomatic pressure, the results are clear: There's no one to talk to," he said.
"We probably won't talk with them," Bar-On said. "We need to remember that we left Gaza and they set out from there to harm us and kidnap a soldier. It is unfathomable that we will hold negotiations under these circumstances."
Peretz, Olmert and Peres during Knesset session (Photo: Gil Yochanan)
Deputy Prime Minister and Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai told Ynet this evening that "if the kidnappers harm a hair on Gilad's head – they will be held responsible for his blood."
He said that at this stage silence was preferable on the expected operations of Israel in Gaza and that it was too early to talk about a chain of events. "The government has decisions and they should be carried out, and the first of those is the release of the kidnapped soldier,” he said.
Absorption Minister Ze'ev Boim said that Israel must respond to the kidnapping in accordance with the Jabotinsky doctrine: "Pressure should be met with pressure, so that we do not come under pressure," he said. Boim added that Israel should act with determination against terrorism coming from Gaza. With that, he added, new engagement with Gaza should be avoided. "There should be pinpoint operations and then an exit. We don't have anything to do there (permanently)," he said.
Father of Gilad: Not on my son's back
Noam Shalit, father of Gilad, was interviewed on Channel 10 on Monday afternoon, and said that "it seems strange to me to say that the State of Israel can retrieve its power of deterrence on the back of my son Gilad, it seems completely strange to me." The father made the comments in response to statements by Minister Meir Sheetrit.
"The minister said that Israel must retrieve its power of deterrence after the (Elchanan) Tenenbaum episode. So I want to say that the State of Israel won't be able to retrieve its power of deterrence to my sorrow on the back of Gilad Shalit because his back is not so wide, and if it wants to retrieve deterrence, it has to do so before the incident when there were all sorts of warnings on tunnels, and there was room to gain deterrence," he said.
