Israel Matzav

The government line on Shalit: Blame Olmert?

Is the government line of defense when the Shalit deal blows up in its face going to be to blame former Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert? Consider this:

Netanyahu's quest to persuade cabinet ministers to accept the deal to secure the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit continued behind closed doors on Tuesday. Once the television cameras left the conference room, Netanyahu opened with a fiery monologue, saying he had no choice but to go through with the deal.

For more than four hours on Tuesday night, Israel's government ministers sat to discuss the deal that would secure the release of Gilad Shalit - until it was finally approved by a large majority. During that dramatic meeting, all of Israel's security chiefs and almost all of the government ministers voiced their opinions.

"It is true that there are no promises that the prisoners released will not return to terror, but they are already leading terror activities from their prison cells," Netanyahu told the cabinet ministers.

"There are some countries that don't hold negotiations with kidnappers, and we can discuss this policy going forward, but in this particular case, this is something that we inherited from the previous government, and we do not have a choice," he said.

Netanyahu did not mention former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by name, but placed the blame on him in a roundabout way. "This is a reality that was forced upon us from the moment the former government engaged in negotiations with Hamas," Netanyahu said.

"We could not pay the price, but if we want Gilad to come home, there is no other choice," the prime minister said, adding "in any case the deal is not the same as the original one drafted by Hamas."

In his closing statement, just moments before the ministers voted, Netanyahu claimed that the draft of the deal that his government received was better than the deal that was brought before Olmert's government two-and-a-half years ago.

"At the beginning I wanted to change a lot of things on the original draft, and I tried to turn things around," Netanyahu said. "In the end, we arrived at a better result than we did two years ago."

Sorry, but this government has been in power for two and a half years. They could have walked away, or they could have dug in on not releasing terrorists with blood on their hands. Blaming Olmert is a cop out. Olmert didn't reach a deal because he had an opposition led by a guy named Netanyahu who wouldn't let him release terrorists with blood on their hands. Now, that barrier has been broken too.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Ehud K. Olmert, Gilad Shalit, terrorists for Gilad trade

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:21 AM