Kadima chairwoman and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni refusedto revoke her statements on Corporal Gilad Shalit, during a Friday meeting with representatives of the Headquarters for the Release of Gilad Shalit.
Livni called representatives of the movement into her home in Tel Aviv, after dozens of protesters gathered there to object to her Thursday statement that "we cannot always bring all of (our soldiers) home."
The foreign minister told representatives that she would not take back her statement from the day before adding that, "there's a felling that Shalit's release depends on whether the government wants to secure it or not… That's a horrible question to ask."
"The question is not whether we want or don't want," Livni emphasized. "It's important to remind every soldier and new recruit that we're still fighting over the existence of Israel, that the government is responsible for all of its soldiers and that each one of us wants to help our soldiers return home, but that the question is not whether we want to but whether it's possible."
Guy Eliasaf, the spokesman for the movement told Ynet that: "The foreign minister refused to take back her words that we can't bring everyone back home."
Protesters in front of Livni's house (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
"We told her that such a statement is inconceivable and that's why we're outside, so that all of Israel will know that Tzipi Livni said such an irresponsible statement that can harm the motivation of soldiers and the morals that guide the state of Israel."
"Livni didn't say anything new," Eliasaf added. "The foot-dragging continues, nothing is being done and she's unwilling to say anything about any operative move that can be done in order to return Gilad home safe and sound."
"We are dozens of people who are proving that the Israeli public cared more than its leaders do," he said of the protest.
Simultaneously, some 150 protesters were lobbying in front of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert 'sJerusalem home, calling on him to secure Shalit's release before his tenure ends in February.