National Union chairman MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) petitioned the High Court for Justice on Sunday, asking it to instruct the State to explain why it refuses to reveal the recommendations of the Shamgar Committee on the right way to handle abductions by the enemy, such as the case of Sgt. Gilad Shalit.
Katz explained in the petition that the committee, known as the “new Shamgar Committee” to differentiate it from previous committees headed up by Justice (ret.) Meir Shamgar, is apparently the “ultimate authority of legal, moral and security considerations that the Jewish people and the State of Israel can establish.” The committee's conclusions and recommendations are “a guiding ray of focused light” for the Israeli public and the decision makers in the matter of prisoner exchanges like the proposed swap for Sgt. Shalit, he said.
Now that the committee has apparently ended its work, Katz contended, it must publish its conclusions and recommendations. The committee owes a debt to the Israeli public, he added, “to place before it red lines if there are such; guiding lines for solving the moral dilemmas which the difficult situation poses before society.”
"The question of the proper balance between the values of saving the life of the abducted soldier vis-a-vis the danger posed to the public by releasing a large number of murderers... is decided these days by the personal instincts of decision makers who are influenced by pressure applied from different sides,” the petition said.
Attorney Naftali Wurtzberger, who filed the petition, told Arutz Sheva that while it is not known with certainty that the committee has finished its work, “rumors” and “leaks” say that it has. The committee was not charged with recommending action in the specific case of the Shalit abduction, but rather with formulating a general policy with regard to such events.
Wurtzberger said it appears that someone is trying to purposely put off the publication of the committee's findings so that they do not interfere with the controversial Shalit deal.