Shas's ministers will reportedly vote in favor of a deal for releasing abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, and MK Nissim Ze'ev of Shas told Arutz Sheva 's Hebrew news magazine he would do so, too.
“I am sorry to say that fifty percent of Gazans are terrorists,” he said. “This is a terror state with tens of thousands of terrorists and [releasing Shalit] is a matter of redemption of prisoners. If the government of Israel has reached a well thought out and balanced decision then it is important to give the message that the State of Israel will do everything to release Shalit. This will also add to the morale of our soldiers, who will know that we will do everything we can to release them.”
In the future, he said, the IDF should not leave murderous terrorists alive. “The policy should be that a murderous terrorist must not stay alive. He must be eliminated during the [military] operation and we should not try to catch him alive. The fact that there are 1,000 terrorists in the Israeli jails is what makes these kinds of deals possible,” he contended.
Asked why Shalit cannot be released through pressure on Hamas, Ze'ev said this was not a realistic option. “Shutting off their electricity and water is not an option because even in situations when they were firing missiles at us it was not done. It appears that the policy is not to hurt the general population.”
Asked if he was not concerned that the terrorists released would go back to terror, Ze'ev replied that “today we see that there is a calm on the ground and this is not because of a lack of motivation but because of their interests. They know that for every terror act they will be hit hard and the IDF will not remain silent.”