Noam and Aviva Shalit
Photo: Gil Yohanan
MKs to declare support for Shalit deal?
Captive soldier's family aims to collect MKs' signatures in favor of prisoner exchange; bereaved parents negate any deal that will see terrorists freed
Noam and Aviva Shalit, the parents of captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit,
have been conferring with MKs Shaul Mofaz (Kadima), Miri Regev (Likud) and Eitan Cabel (Labor) in recent days about an initiative that aims to restore the release of their son to the Knesset's agenda.
The letter's authors wrote that while the MKs know that the prime minister is working towards finding a way to free the soldier, they believe that the prisoner exchange deal should be accepted for a lack of a better option.
The soldier's family has decided to write a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and circulate it among Knesset members, requesting them to support a prisoner swap deal. In order to gather the maximum number of signatures, the authors decided to exclude from the letter the exact details of the deal, such as the number of Hamas prisoners to be released in exchange for Shalit, and their names.
- Receive Ynetnews updates
directly to your desktop
Harsh Critic
Carmi Gilon spends hour at special cell in TV studios to protest captive soldier's ongoing incarceration; lashes out at prime minister, security officials. 'Where were you all this time?' he says
"For five years, Gilad Shalit has been held captive by Hamas in Gaza," the letter read. "(…) Considering that all possible alternatives have been exhausted, and the long period of time that has passed, we hereby declare our support for the prisoner exchange deal."
The authors plead with the prime minister to "preserve our values, our moral and Jewish strength, our commitment to the soldiers of the IDF," and conclude with a declaration made on behalf of the signatory MKs: "Mr. prime minister, I am committed to support you in the brave decision that will bring to the release of the soldier Shalit. Honor the commitment, carry out the deal. It is in your power to bring him back before it is too late."
The Shalit family is expected to launch the initiative officially in the coming days.
'One terrorist in exchange for Shalit'
Meanwhile, a group of bereaved parents has written its own letter to Netanyahu, demanding him to publish information about the terrorists who are to be released as part of the Shalit deal. The parents wrote on Sunday that revealing the particulars of the prisoner swap is appropriate in light of the fact that several former defense establishment officials have spoken in support of the deal recently.
"Among the candidates for release there are quite a few terrorists who have been freed in the past as part of deals and gestures made to the Palestinian Authority," the letter read. "This fact is known, and it shows that the prisoners who will be freed in the Shalit deal will go back to terrorism."
The parents addressed in the letter an initiative promoted by former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, former Mossad head Danny Yatom and former Shin Bet heads Danny Ayalon, Yaakov Peri and Carmi Gillon, who claimed that Israel can withstand the prisoner swap proposed by Hamas.
The parents claim in the letter that the government must "inform the public, which will pay the price of the deal with its blood, what and who are the hazards it is facing."
The authors demand the government to publish the number of prisoners, the number of Israelis who were murdered by each terrorist, and the total number of Israelis murdered by all the terrorists that are to be released, among other details. As per a High Court of Justice ruling, they do not demand the names of the prisoners to be made public.
The bereaved parents threaten to petition the High Court if their request is
denied.
Ron Karman, whose daughter was killed in a terrorist attack in 2003, heads the parent group. "Israel must make it clear that just one terrorist will be released in exchanged for Gilad Shalit," Karman said on Saturday. "With a heavy heart, I am prepared for the (terrorist) to be the evil person who planned my daughter's murder in the attack in Haifa."
- Follow Ynetnews on Facebook
