Israel\’s Supreme Court gave the green light on Monday for a prisoner exchange with Hamas, rejecting petitions against the deal to swap hundreds of jailed Palestinians for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, officials said.
Israelis opposed to a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas sought Supreme Court intervention on Monday to block the release of hundreds of jailed Palestinians in return for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Noam Shalit faced a bevy of protesters opposing the release of his son Gilat as he arrived at the Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem to urge the court to allow the prisoner exchange.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote to family members of the victims of attacks perpetrated by some of the 1,027 prisoners to be released in return for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, the Israeli Consulate and the Israeli Leadership Council announced Sunday that they are jointly organizing a community program for Tuesday, Oct. 18, to allow the community to come together to watch and commemorate the release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been held captive by Hamas since 2006.
Israel\’s Supreme Court will consider petitions by terror victims\’ families to cancel the Shalit prisoner swap deal.
A man who lost five family members in a 2001 suicide attack defaced a memorial to assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on Friday in an apparent protest against an impending Palestinian prisoner swap, police said.
Two days after signing the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap deal, it seems the agreement may also have a positive effect on the strained relations between Israel and Egypt. On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Egypt\’s interim ruler, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, and thanked him for his country\’s assistance in negotiating the deal.
Three government ministers voted against the Gilad Shalit swap on Tuesday night – Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon and National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau.
There was a festive mood among the shoppers running around Emek Refaim Street in Jerusalem’s German Colony doing their last-minute shopping Wednesday before Sukkot, but the mood was about more than just the coming holiday.
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