IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz referred to the recent deal to secure the freedom of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit while addressing graduates of a Ground Forces officers training course on Monday, saying "every soldier matters."
"The changes in the Middle East are redrawing the features of the threats Israel faces, in addition to the persistent efforts by terrorist organizations to attack Israel and its citizens," Gantz said at the ceremony. "Together, these form an ensemble of threats against which Israel and the IDF must maintain readiness and capabilities and with which you will have to deal with as new IDF field commanders."
"We wish SFC Gilad Shalit and his family a successful unification process and we wish for them happiness and normality," Gantz said of Shalit's return.
"In the IDF, every soldier matters, every commander is influential and everyone is committed," Lt. Gen. Gantz continued. "This is the strength of the bond between the state of Israel and its defenders, of our commitment to our mission and our people."
The deal to free Shalit, which saw the release of 1,027 security prisoners, including some 450 terrorist murderers, has been widely critized as having undermined Israel's deterrence. In the wake of the deal, Hamas promised more kidnappings and terror - which they have made good on by allowing an upsurge of rocket and mortar fire into Israel from Gaza by allied terror factions there.
It has also led to consternation among Israel's combat soldiers, with many in the combat reserves and active elite units taking issue with the Shalit deal and calling for the officials not to make such deals in the future. Members of commando units who risk their lives to apprehend terrorists wondered aloud whether it was worthwhile.
The 386 graduates of the course will return as officers to the assorted corps that sent them - artillery, armor, engineering, field intelligence, infantry and paratroopers.
The ceremony was also attended by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Commander of the Ground Forces, Major General Sami Turgeman, as well as other IDF officers, families, friends and guests.