Miki Goldwasser on Shalit talks: Government impotent
Mother of deceased IDF captive says funds transferred by Israel to Gaza used by Hamas to purchase more weapons, proposes closing Gaza crossings until Shalit released
"Do you really think the funds Israel is transferring to the Hamas regime in Gaza are allocated to the civilians there? The money is used to purchase more and more weapons that are later aimed at us. Our government is impotent," Miki Goldwasser, the mother of deceased IDF captive Ehud Goldwasser said Sunday.
Last week the parents of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit demanded that Israel stop funneling funds to Gaza and convene a cabinet meeting which would discuss their son's abduction. Should their demand be turned down, they threatened, they would petition the High Court of Justice.
The demand was made in a letter sent by the lawyers of Aviva and Noam Shalit to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
Speaking to national service volunteers in Ramat-Efal, Goldwasser cast harsh criticism over Olmert's handling of the Shalit affair. "Two fallen sons returned home (Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev), but Gilad has yet to return," she said. "I don’t want Aviva (Shalit) to experience what I went through."
Goldwasser proposed closing the goods crossings along the border with Gaza until Hamas agrees to release Shalit.
Education Minister Yuli Tamir, who also attended the Ramat Efal conference, said in response "the government is making every effort to bring Shalit home, but Miki, I am not certain the actions you suggested would bring results. The government is willing to carry out a painful prisoner exchange agreement."
Gilad Shalit was kidnapped on June 25, 2006 by during a cross-border raid on an IDF base near Gaza.
Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were captured by Hizbullah while patrolling the Israel-Lebanon border on July 12, 2006. Their bodies were returned to Israel on July 16, 2008 in the framework of a controversial prisoner exchange deal with the Shiite group.
