“We are obligated to return (kidnapped IDF soldier) Gilad Shalit to his parents alive and well,” Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu said today during the annual Independence Day ceremony in honor of past and present IDF commanders at the President’s Residence in Yerushalayim. The PM said, “Every combat soldier knows that we will use all our capabilities in order to bring him back home safe and sound,” adding “we have full confidence in the security forces and the General Staff.”Shalit was captured by Palestinian terrorists during a cross-border raid on an IDF base near Gaza on June 25, 2006.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi were also on hand for the ceremony, as were several former presidents and prime ministers.
Addressing the IDF commanders, President Shimon Peres said “We asked everyone to come and salute you; after 61 years, we can say with certainty that you have brought us a great victory.”
“Judging by our size, we are a small state, and judging by the magnitude of the challenges before us, we are a superpower in and of itself,” the president added.
“There is no country in the world that has been attacked seven times in 60 years of existence. Israel stands before existential threats, ostracism and wars, but it will enter the history books as a miracle, as proof that it is possible to do beyond what is expected.”
{Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}
