Shalit slams PM, Barak over 'Galant document'

Father of kidnapped soldier harshly criticizes defense minister for fixation with affair involving army's top brass, says 'Barak has in top priority an 'existential' matter – who wrote a forged document. Did you notice you are missing a soldier?'

Reuters | Published: 08.20.10, 08:15

"Deal with Gilad, not Galant," says Noam Shalit, father of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, who will mark his 24th birthday in Hamas captivity next week.

Shalit on Thursday harshly criticized Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he called to resign, if he cannot make difficult decisions to secure the release of his son.

Speaking at a support rally near Ashkelon's municipality, Shalit said "Netanyahu, make the necessary decisions in order to remove the mark of disgrace from the State of Israel. If you aren't built to make difficult decisions, hand the responsibility over to people who can."

After slamming the prime minister, Shalit moved on to Defense Minister Barak, whom he criticized for the security establishment's intensive and continuous preoccupation with the "Galant document."

The police announced Thursday that Barak, IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and the army's brass were not involved in the forgery of a document promoting Major-General Yoav Galant for the role of army chief after the prosecution said earlier that it was indeed a fake.

"Barak heads an establishment that regrettably holds in top priority an 'existential' matter – who wrote a document, who forged it, is the logo original, who read it, and who knew about it. Did you by any chance notice that you are missing a soldier? Is that the priority of the establishment that you command?"

The Shalit family will mark Gilad's birthday on August 28 at their protest tent in front of the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem – where they have been staying for the past month and a half.

Ynet invites its readers to send videotaped birthday wishes up to one minute long, which will be screened at the tent on the eve of Gilad's birthday.