Eye on the Enemy- Livni on Shalit’s Deal: We Crossed Redlines, “Israel” is Weakened
Source: "Israel's" Channel 2 website
11 days after the Gilad Shalit swap deal, opposition leader Tzipi Livni breaks her silence over the prisoner-exchange deal. "We have crossed some redlines here, the prisoner's swap had strengthened Hamas and weakened "Israel", and Netanyahu must launch a dramatic political initiative," Livni said.
As for the price "Israel" paid for the release, leader of "Israel's" Kadima party states that possible strategic damage might occur, and Likud slams her remarks, "Livni is a coward, she better remain silent."
5 days ago, Gilad Shalit has arrived home after being released through a swap deal with Hamas. Livni who chose not to voice her concerns until after the deal was completed, has broke ranks over the swap during several media interviews, by saying that that the Israeli public "coerced" the government into deciding in favor of the exchange.
"The swap deal has cost Israel to lose its power of deterrence which has dangerous security significance: Hamas is stronger," Livni cautioned. Livni has sharply criticized Netanyahu's government by describing it as "an extreme right wing [Israeli] government that instead of coordinating the deal with moderate parties, it provided legitimacy for Hamas and belittled Abbas."
Likud: Livni is a Coward, She'd Better Remain Silent
Responding to Livni's comments, Likud officials published a much more harsh statement saying: "It is regrettable that Livni is addressing Gilad Shalit like a reality show outcast. It is no less regrettable that she chose to be on vacation abroad when the entire nation shared in the excitement of his return. She must have forgotten that Shalit fell captive while she was serving as a senior minister in the government. She must have also forgotten that she failed to bring him home," the officials claimed."Livni is a cowardly politician who didn't speak when she was supposed to. Livni does not know what responsibility is and acts out of political interests that are not even acceptable to members of her own party. Livni woke up too late as usual and it would be better had she kept silent."
Barak on Shalit's Deal: In Need to Other Rules
Ms Livni's outspoken remarks came as Defense Minister Ehud Barak indicated in an exclusive interview with "Israel" Hayom, "I'm happy about the deal on the exchange for Gilad Shalit, We need to adopt different rules, more in line with the policies of other Western countries, like the U.S., Britain, and Australia." Opposing Livni, Barak insisted that the exchange did not itself affect "Israel's" deterrence, yet "We cannot ignore the fact that a single abduction resulted in the release of 1,000 terrorists," Barak continued. "We cannot ignore the accomplishments of Hamas in this deal as well. Hamas believes that if "Israel" freed 1,000, "Israel" would also free 8,000 in exchange for other captives," he noted. Barak explained that Netanyahu did not cave in to public pressure, but it's clear that the decision was the product of a short window of opportunity.
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For years "Israel" knew Shalit's Hideout, Why is it Bluffing?
Source: Debka.co.il
Several days after releasing Sergeant Gilad Shalit, on October 18th, some facts are coming to the surface. Facts that have been branded from the beginning, but blocked by a sophisticated PR machine that turned the people's battle for Gilad's release into a battle that deliberately concealed the real situation Gilad had experienced. So for five years, not only was "Israel" misled by the ongoing flawed situation, but the world's public opinion too. Here are five basic points:
1- All along the 5 years of captivity, Shalit's location was known. Colonel Ronen Cohen, director of the terror desk in the Directorate of Military Intelligence, while filled with anger, has cautiously and decisively stated that the IDF had "partial intelligence" about Shalit.
2- Gilad wasn't inside a dark underground hole, but as Debkafiles intelligence sources said, he stayed at a multi-storey building downtown Gaza. Noam Shalit and his family posed an argumentative standpoint before the "Israeli" population, "why the powerful and fearless army was incapable of freeing one soldier? Why the "Israeli" intelligence failed to locate him? 6 recruitment trainings taught the soldiers to give in to the doubts they had; the "Israeli" army and intelligence are a failure when it comes to rescuing one sole soldier, and the government shows no willingness to return its frontline soldiers.
But reality was something else ... a high national price was paid by "Israel" in exchange of Shalit. All of the army's estimations showed that the attacking forces won't success in rescuing Shalit before he gets killed by one of his captors. Keeping this fact secret from the population enabled Shalit's family and the headquarters of the struggle for Gilad's liberation to launch a permanent propaganda that links Gilad Shalit to Ron Arad, via the PR office headed by Dany Cohen and Roni Ramon in Tel Aviv. In reality, this link makes no sense. Gilad Shalit was never like Ron Arab, not even close. It has been a firm successful misleading propaganda, which violated, trampled and insulted the memorial and personal sacrifice of Ron Arad - God bless him.
3- On Thursday evening, October 20, Noam Shalit declared that Gilad has gone through tough conditions in the first 5 or 6 months of his captivation, and afterwards, things got better. In other words, 5 months or less, of five years and four months Gilad spent in captivity, he was living in reasonable conditions, during which he could listen to the radio, watch TV and use the computer. Of course abducting someone and putting him into jail for even one week is out of question! But it's more about these trembling descriptions of a guy languishing in the darkness and has no clue of what's happening to him, to his government, his family and the world. In addition to the harsh words said by PM Netanyahu who sounded like lamenting the death of Gilad ... this whole depressing situation brought national sympathy to Gilad, but in fact, it was based on intentional disinformation that had no base at all!
4- Shalit's family wasn't the only one to use misleading information. What was said by PM Natenyahu on Thursday, 13 October, during the cabinet meeting which ratified Shalit's deal, and in the press conference afterwards was misleading too. It was like a cheap political soap opera when he indicated that within one month (November) Shalit won't have the chance to be released, he'll be drowning in darkness and no one will ever know his fate, just like Ron Arad. Since July 14, i.e. 4 months ago, it was clear in both Jerusalem and Gaza that Gilad will definitely return to "Israel" even if negotiations with Hamas took one week, a month or more. For Benyamin Netanyahu, at that time, received an official document from Hamas with the number 147-2011, that included the final offer from Hamas to release Shalit, after "Israel" has rejected two other previous documents from Hamas as well.
5- All the headlines publicized by the "Israeli" press regarding who and how the negotiations were managed, are false. The mechanism, which eventually led to the release of Shalit worked like this: In Al-Arish, northern Sinai, during the month of July, an "Israeli" - Egyptian organization was formed to release Shalit, after Gershon Baskin transferred the final document of Hamas. At the headquarters of the organization there was the prime minister's emissary David Maidan on one side, and on the other there were three Egyptian generals: General Nader Ela'sar, an Egyptian intelligence expert on "Israeli" affairs, General Refa'at Shehata, Deputy Chief of Egyptian intelligence, and Brigadier General Ahmed Abdel Khalek.
This organization had nothing to do with mediators, or any Turkish, German, and Qatari secret agencies were formerly involved in the case. All the mediators were delinked from the negotiations that moved to another stage. Details agreed upon in Al-Arish were transmitted to the North to PM Natenyahu in Jerusalem, and to the South to the head of Egyptian intelligence, General Murad Mowafi in Cairo.
Whereas the PM's bureau in Jerusalem was supposed to be the last destination of this info, it was transmitted to Cairo as well. Two parties were handed the info there: Leader of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Mohammad Badee', and the American delegation fixed in Cairo, which acts as a liaison between Washington and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Our intelligence sources note that this mechanism worked in two directions. It was more likely to pressure "Israel" and Hamas to reach the needed compromise to release Shalit on one hand, and to strike confidential agreements, on the other hand, between the Egyptian military council and the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood who received the American green light to transfer of Hamas' leadership (military one too) from Damascus to Cairo.
Put differently, Shalit's swap deal took place only because of the unrest against Bashar el Assad in Syria, and the Syrian Muslim brotherhood played the major role in achieving it, in addition to Hamas' desire to escape Damascus in order not to fight against their main leadership. Neither "Israel" nor Hamas are claimed as leaders in this situation, but it's a responsible way to handle politics, though it's inconsistent with the American - "Israeli" interests, and the interests of Egyptian military intelligence and Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
This is why on Thursday, 13 October, the day the cabinet meeting was held in Jerusalem for the ratification of the Shalit deal, Debkafile stated that the real high price paid by "Israel" in exchange for Shalit, is not the release of the 1027 terrorists, but "Israel's" silence implying consent on the cooperation between the Egyptian military council, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Washington. So the deal just put - regardless the latent threat of terrorism it holds - another cornerstone in the Islamic extremist zone being built around "Israel". A zone that's no less dangerous than the Iranian threat, and maybe more.
Source: Hebrew newspapers, Translated by moqawama.org
