Jerusalem – Former Shin Bet security service head Carmi Gillon accused ex-Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi of responsibility for the failure to secure the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.
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Speaking at a rally near the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem to mark 1,700 days since Shalit was captured, Gillon said July’s march to Jerusalem to free Shalit had ended at the prime minister’s residence because “we mistakenly thought that inside lives a man who is supposed to be leading and enforcing decisions. The prime minister is not the address. The address is the IDF General Staff and [new] Chief of Staff Benny Gantz.”
Gillon told the crowd of about 1,000 that according to the media, Ashkenazi’s links with ex-officer Boaz Harpaz, who faces criminal charges, had cast a pall over his tenure as chief of staff.
But in fact, “the pall was cast by his failure to bring Shalit back,” Gillon said, citing reports that though Ashkenazi supported a prisoner swap with Hamas, he gave in to pressure by the heads of the Mossad and the Shin Bet.