Avigdor Liberman
Avigdor LibermanFlash 90

A senior official in the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), who serves as head of the Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria regions, is Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman's candidate for the position of coordinator of captive and missing persons, Channel 2 News reported Sunday.

Liberman is currently searching for a candidate to fill the position after Lior Lotan, who held it for three years on a voluntary basis, stepped down.

According to Sunday's report, the senior Shin Bet official will soon complete his service in the organization and will accept the new position.

The report said the official, who was only identified as A., is highly valued in the defense establishment, spent most of his career thwarting terrorist attacks, and is considered to be deeply familiar with the Palestinian arena and the Hamas organization.

Following Lotan's resignation, the family of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, whose body has been held by Hamas since 2014, accused Liberman and the government of abandoning them.

In addition to Goldin, Hamas has also been illegally holding the body of another IDF soldier, Oron Shaul.

Liberman has rejected the criticism against him, warning that Israel must not repeat the mistake of the Shalit deal.

“In that deal, 1,027 terrorists were released, including murderers and their facilitators, including Mahmoud Qawasmeh, who was released to Gaza and financed the abduction of the three youths, and Yahya Sinwar, who leads Hamas in Gaza. The same Sinwar who now poses refractory demands that make it impossible to advance to any deal," the Defense Minister said last week.