Israel Matzav

NOW they look for Gilad?

In January 2009, with Ehud Barak in charge as Defense Minister, the IDF was not ordered to try to find Gilad Shalit and rescue him. Now that it's nearly January 2010 and Ehud Barak is still in charge as Defense Minister, Hamas claims that the Israeli government is making a half-hearted effort to find Gilad Shalit. Do you believe it?

A senior Hamas official said that Israel had recruited a number of officers who used to serve in the Fatah-dominated security forces before the Islamist movement seized control of the entire Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007.

Abu Abdullah, who serves with Hamas's Internal Security Service, said that the officers had been entrusted with the mission of locating the place where Schalit was being held by his captors.

"The Shabak is very interested in obtaining any information about the whereabouts of Schalit through various methods," Abu Abdullah said, referring to Israel's Security Agency (Shin Bet). "One of these methods was the last war [Operation Cast Lead], whose goal was to break Hamas and obtain information about the location of Schalit to rescue him."

The Hamas security official revealed that his men arrested "a number of collaborators" who had rented an apartment and vehicles in the eastern area of the Gaza Strip.

He claimed that the "collaborators" were planning to kidnap a senior member of Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin al-Kassam, and hand him over to Israel for interrogation about the location of Schalit.

Abu Abdullah did not name the top operative who was supposed to be abducted. However, he told a Hamas-affiliated Web site that his men managed to foil the alleged scheme in the last minute.

Sorry, but Fatah 'collaborators' helping Israel is just too convenient for Hamas. I don't buy this story. I believe Israel knows where Shalit is anyway, but the family has convinced the IDF not to try to mount a rescue attempt.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:03 AM