Halutz says Israel must free Kuntar
Former IDF chief of staff backs prisoner swap deal with Hizbullah in interview with Yedioth Ahronoth. 'In returning the soldiers we must act from the Jewish place by redeeming prisoners,' he says. Halutz clarifies, however, that 'the two kidnapped soldiers are no longer alive'
"I believe unequivocally that we must carry out the deal, including the release of Samir Kuntar," Halutz said in an interview with Nahum Barnea published Friday in Yedioth Ahronoth.
The prisoner swap deal will be discussed by the government during Sunday's cabinet meeting, and may be voted on.
Addressing the deal, Halutz noted that "when Samir Kuntar is presented as a bargaining chip in the Ron Arad affair, I believe there is a mix-up between what we want to achieve and what we can receive."
The former IDF chief added that he believes the two kidnapped soldiers are dead. "Make no mistake – the two are not alive. The price Hizbullah is asking for is in exchange for bodies," he said.
"Kuntar has been sitting in jail for 30 years. Even if he sits there for five years more, we won't receive any additional benefit from him. I would naturally prefer to see him end his life in a locked cell, but if the result would be having the Regev and Goldwasser families hanging in the air, we must release him."
And isn't the price too high? According to Halutz, "Our nation is not like all other nations. Let's face it, we have different sets of values, which I believe are the right values. In returning the soldiers we must act from the same place we acted at the time – from the Jewish place. Redemption of prisoners, mutual guarantee.
"Sometimes the sentiment must dictate a decision… And the main thing is that the soldier and his family should know that we will do everything for them – because we have been sentenced to many more years of hostility."
'Look at internal price as well'
Addressing the issue of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, Halutz said, "We must reach an agreement with Hamas."As for the heavy price such a deal would entail, the former chief of staff said that "it is not enough to look at the external price. We must also look at the internal price – what captivity does to the Israeli mother. The value of the soldiers' parents increases over the years. We can like it, we can dislike it, but we can't ignore it."
Former IDF Chief of Staff Yaalon sparked a row Monday when he said that security prisoners should not be released as part of prisoner exchange deals in which the demanded "price" is too high.
"When it comes to the question of a deal, I am one of those who call for the minimum, and in some cases we must even say we are ready to sacrifice in the face of what we are required to pay, because the payment price is much heavier than the price of losing the hostage," he said.
Gilad Shalit's father told Ynet in response to Yaalon's comments that “no politician or public activist has the right to determine the fate of an IDF POW, except a commander during battle”.
“Yaalon was an army commander but today he is mainly a politician and a public activist. He and anyone else can determine a POW’s fate only if it concerns their own son,” Noam Shalit said.
Shlomo Goldwasser, father of kidnapped IDF soldier Ehud Goldwasser, also slammed Yaalon's statement, saying "such words can only be spoken by a man whose son is not held captive by the enemy. He would have spoken differently had the matter been a personal concern of his."
