Former Palestinian national soccer team player Mahmoud Sarsak, a resident of Rafah, was among the terrorists who held Gilad Shalit captive, I24news revealed on Monday.
Sarsak was arrested by security forces on his way to training in 2009. When he arrived at the Erez Crossing, he was arrested and interrogated for a month, after which he was held in administrative detention for about three years. The Shin Bet refused to disclose the exact circumstances of his arrest, settling for a general statement that he was "an operative in the Islamic Jihad organization" and that he had military training.
After international pressure and a hunger strike launched by Sarsak, Israel agreed to release him in exchange for a commitment that he would move to Ireland.
His interrogations apparently resulted from the fact that he was one of Gilad Shalit’s captors, and even carried out attempted terrorist attacks. Due to problems in the admissibility of evidence, the Shin Bet could not file an indictment against him.
A year after Shalit's release from captivity, the prestigious Spanish team, Barcelona, invited Gilad Shalit to watch its game against Real Madrid, and had a creative idea: in addition to Shalit, they chose to invite Sarsak, who had been released from an Israeli prison.
At the last minute, and after Hamas threats, Sarsak rejected the invitation, claiming that Shalit was "a soldier of the Zionist enemy who fought against his people ... and I am not willing to meet with him. I am not willing to make a comparison between the victim and the executioner."
The Shin Bet preferred not to comment on the report.