Gilad Shalit release

Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan, a lawmaker in the ruling Likud party, said that Israel should free terrorists who have caused the deaths of Israelis to secure the release of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. "I have decided that it's fitting and necessary to release terrorists with blood on their hands for the release of Gilad Shalit," Erdan told the Knesset plenum. Egyptian-brokered negotiations for Shalit's release broke down at the end of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's term after Israel refused to accept Hamas' demands, which included the release of Palestinians convicted of orchestrating mass terror attacks.

Erdan, a rightist who called last year for Palestinian prisoners to be used as human shields against Qassam rockets, told the Knesset he had changed his opinion on the matter following Israel's 3-week offensive against Hamas in Gaza at the beginning of the year. "The last thing I want is to turn the subject into a political struggle," he said, adding that the matter was the government's top priority. Directing his comments to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his fellow ministers, Erdan said: "The tools are in our hands, and our job is to get up every day in the morning and bring back Gilad." Shalit was kidnapped by Gaza militants in a 2006 cross-border raid. Netanyahu announced that former senior Mossad operative Haggai Hadas would take over negotiations with Hamas for his release, replacing Ofer Dekel, who had done so under Olmert.