Public Security Minister Omer Barlev (Labor) on Tuesday morning revealed on Kan Bet the name of the enemy country in which Staff Sergeant Barak Sharabi fell in 1984: Syria.
Military censors did not permit the name of the country to be revealed, and Barlev, who was Sharabi's commander in Sayeret Matkal, did not receive permission to reveal it prior to his slip of the tongue.
According to Channel 12 News, preparation for the strategic mission involved the participation of then-Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Major-General Ehud Barak, commander Barlev, and field commander Avi Dichter. For years, none of the details of the operation were allowed to be published, and until today, any interview involving the family includes the attendance of representatives from Sayeret Matkal, in order to prevent information from being leaked.
Barlev made another slip of the tongue when he was asked about statements by Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai (Labor), who claimed that, "we got through the month of Ramadan relatively peacefully," despite the fact that 15 Israelis were killed in terror attacks in that one month.
In his response, the Minister said, among other things, that, "during the past month, no one was murdered" - this despite the fact that on Friday, a security guard was murdered in a terror attack.
"We had 15 people murdered during the month of Ramadan, and we had hundreds of thousands murdered over the years, from the founding of the State until today," Barlev said. "In the past month, no one was killed, and during the previous month there were serious terror attacks. The police have found themselves blocking [attacks] with their bodies."