Mr. Noam Shalit, the father of captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, lamented the announcement of the prime minister’s planned December 12th good-will prisoner release, at which time he plans to set an additional 250 terrorists free.

Mr. Shalit explained that none of the prisoner releases to date have done a thing to advance efforts towards obtaining the release of Gilad, and there is no logical reason to believe the release of additional terrorists will accomplish that which previous good-will gestures failed to achieve.

He adds that quite the contrary, that with each prisoner release by Israel, Hamas continues to raise its demands, doubling and tripling the number of terrorists it wishes released in exchange for his son.

“They have decided to sacrifice Gilad and just throw up their hands.,, There are a thousand and one ways to gain his release. We just have to move in the right direction. The question is if his release stands atop the national agenda and the answer is no.”

Nuaf Nivani, a member of the Druse community and resident of Julius, the father of Sayeret Matkal soldier Tomer, who was killed in a training accident, expressed outrage over the announcement, stating there can be no release of prisoners, not a single one without obtaining something in return. He added that no one on the other side has any appreciation for the release since they have given nothing in return.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)