In honor of Sha'ul Mofaz's appointment as Defense Minister, Nissan Slomiansky, a former MK of the National Religious Party and a former mayor of the large Shomron community of Elkanah, told Arutz-7 about some forgotten aspects of Mofaz's past:
"On May 1, 1977, less than three weeks before Menachem Begin came to power, we were a group of 17 families that settled in what was to become Elkanah - and one of our number was the young Mofaz couple, Sha'ul and Orit. Orit was my secretary when I served as head of the town secretariat. Sha'ul was a young army officer, and we quickly appointed him, appropriately, as our security officer. He was truly amazing, and seemed to be able to be in 20 places at once… After about two or three years, they moved out - to Kokhav Ya'ir, just west of the Green Line… Yes, we still keep in contact... As far as his opinions are concerned, you'll have to ask him - the fact that he was in Elkanah for two or three years says nothing about his outlook today, after he spent many years in the army - but I can say that the fact that he was one of the founding members of Elkanah shows that his is a Zionist, pioneering family."
"On May 1, 1977, less than three weeks before Menachem Begin came to power, we were a group of 17 families that settled in what was to become Elkanah - and one of our number was the young Mofaz couple, Sha'ul and Orit. Orit was my secretary when I served as head of the town secretariat. Sha'ul was a young army officer, and we quickly appointed him, appropriately, as our security officer. He was truly amazing, and seemed to be able to be in 20 places at once… After about two or three years, they moved out - to Kokhav Ya'ir, just west of the Green Line… Yes, we still keep in contact... As far as his opinions are concerned, you'll have to ask him - the fact that he was in Elkanah for two or three years says nothing about his outlook today, after he spent many years in the army - but I can say that the fact that he was one of the founding members of Elkanah shows that his is a Zionist, pioneering family."