Talks on freeing kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit are switching into high gear as outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tries to complete a deal that would free hundreds of murderers and terrorists in return for Shalit before Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu replaces him.
In a special announcement at the end of the Sabbath, the lame duck Prime Minister said he is sending Yuval Diskin, head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), to Cairo along with chief negotiator Ofer Dekel. They will talk on Sunday night with Egyptian officials, who are mediating negotiations with Hamas.
Olmert will convene a special Cabinet meeting on Monday morning in order to brief the Cabinet on the contacts that have been held and to give a picture of the current situation.
Olmert’s wife Aliza, a former Peace Now activist, has been in close contact with the Shalit family, which last week began a media campaign to bring home their son.
Gilad Shalit was kidnapped on June 25, 2006 by terrorists from Hamas, Popular Resistance Committees and the Army of Islam. According to Hamas, Shalit is in good health, although he was wounded during the attack near a Gaza crossing, where he was abducted and two fellow soldiers were killed.
Hamas has not allowed anyone to visit Shalit, including representatives from the International Red Cross or other humanitarian groups.
Media Bias
The media, particularly the Hebrew daily Yediot Acharonot, has been promoting the Shalit family’s protest every day and reported on Friday there was a “giant” rally by supporters. Later in the report, the newspaper stated that “several hundred" people attended.
Yaron Dekel, commentator for Channel One television and host of the popular It’s All Talk program on Voice of Israel government radio, wrote on Friday that Israeli media have been irresponsible in promoting the proposed deal to release terrorists and murderers for Shalit.
Although Dekel’s views generally lean towards being dovish and secular, he stated his objections as a professional journalist. He questioned the media for not presenting on an equal scale the objections to Olmert’s proposals.
Counter protests by families of terror victims have been staged every day near the Shalit demonstrators, but coverage has been minimal.
Meir Indor, head of the Almagor terror victims association, has maintained that freeing terrorists who have been involved in killing Israelis will encourage further kidnappings.
His research has revealed that other terrorists who have been released in the past have killed more than 150 civilians and soldiers.