Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hisministers held a special cabinet meeting at Kibbutz Degania Sunday, in honor of its centennial year.
Degania, set on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, was the first kibbutz ever formed; and the ministers honoring it held their meeting it the building once used as the kibbutz dairy.
Netanyahu spoke of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visitto Lebanon ,saying that, "We have recently heard new threats and blasphemies against Israel. Lebanon is soon becoming an Iranian satellite ,but we will know how to defend ourselves.
Aviva Shalit at Degania rally (Photo: Hagai Aharon)
The government session was met by a Shalit rally, featuring several hundred protestors led by the Shalit family. Noam Shalit, father of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit ,said that the family has not been given any new information regarding the German-brokered negotiations betweenIsrael and Hamas .
"We have no knowledge of any ongoing negotiations. Nothing new has since January," he said. "Clearly efforts are being made, but nothing real has happened."
Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan said that "Netanyahu was willing to pay the highest price ever paid for a captive soldier. I can only hope Hamas will finally show some willingness."