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Noam Schalit said Tuesday that Israel must be heavy handed in its approach to preventing future kidnappings, and should use "deterrence and not legislation." "The terror organizations need to know that kidnappings don't pay off for them," Schalit told a Knesset conference on the price for future kidnappings. Schalit said that terror organizations seeking to carry out the same kind of kidnapping operation that resulted in the capture of his son, Gilad, in 2006, and his captivity until 2011, will be punished. "These terror organizations need to know that kidnappings will result in strikes against the organizations and their leaders,"...

Warning Hamas it will be hit hard in a future conflict, a senior IDF commander said on Wednesday that motivation to kidnap Israeli soldiers has significantly increased since the prisoner swap for Gilad Schalit. According to Col. Tal Hermoni, commander of the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip are working to abduct Israeli soldiers and are digging tunnels that could be used in such an attack. “We believe that since there are additional Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails that these groups are working to kidnap soldiers,” Hermoni said during a briefing...

RIYADH - A Saudi royal offered a $900,000 reward to anyone who captures an Israeli soldier, on Saturday. Prince Khaled bin Talal, the brother of business tycoon and Fox News co-owner Walid bin Talal, told the Saudi-based broadcaster Al Daleel that the captive would then be released in exchange for Arabs held in Israeli prisons.

..... In essence, however, the obligations which the terms of those contracts impose on armed forces and the societies that they swear to defend have remained remarkably consistent and span religions and cultures. ..... On the other side of the coin, governments that raise and maintain armies (and with very minor exceptions, all governments have felt it necessary to do so) likewise enter into a set of parallel obligations vis-à-vis their soldiers. For one thing, they undertake not to place the soldier's life at unnecessary risk by embarking on military adventures that are avoidable and/or redundant. Second, they undertake not...

JERUSALEM, Israel, October 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Now that Hamas has freed Gilad Schalit, thousands of Israeli parents are asking the Ministry of Welfare to return their children being withheld from them by social workers. "The welfare system uses a 'divide-and-conquer' method to break up distressed families," says David Weisskopf, founder of the UnPromisedLand channel. (http://www.youtube.com/user/UnPromisedLand) The YouTube channel raises public awareness about ongoing corruption in the Israeli welfare system. One of the victims, a retired elite air force pilot, alleges that social workers kidnapped his infant son to put up for adoption. Such allegations are nothing new. The most...

Bassam Nasser’s op-ed in yesterday’s paper is a must read for every citizen of the world. Nothing could better illustrate the truth about the Palestinian society of Gaza. Nasser argues that it’s just not fair that we Israelis view the prisoners released in exchange for Gilad Schalit as terrorist murderers. After all, everyone in Gaza worships and idolizes them. We should understand that they are heroes, a source of pride and honor to their parents and families, the most eligible bachelors desired by every young Palestinian woman. Political and social organizations will seek out the released killers to advance their...

GAZA - A would-be Palestinian suicide bomber freed by Israel in the prisoner swap for soldier Gilad Schalit told cheering schoolchildren in the Gaza Strip the day after her release on Wednesday she hoped they would follow her example. "I hope you will walk the same path we took and God willing, we will see some of you as martyrs," Wafa al-Biss told dozens of children who came to her home in the northern Gaza Strip. Biss was traveling to Beersheba's Soroka hospital for medical treatment in 2005 when Israeli soldiers at the Erez border crossing noticed she was walking...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli officials harshly criticized an Egyptian television interview with soldier Gilad Schalit minutes after Hamas militants freed him in a prisoner swap Tuesday, saying the questioning was inappropriate and insensitive. In the interview aired on Egyptian state television, a gaunt, sallow and uncomfortable looking Schalit appeared to struggle to speak at times, and his breathing was noticeably labored as he awkwardly answered questions. The footage, along with earlier Egyptian TV video showing Schalit being transferred to Egypt, were the first images seen of the soldier after more than five years in Hamas captivity. Armed Hamas militants were...

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday hailed the release of 477 prisoners as part of the deal to release Gilad Schalit as a victory for the Palestinian people. During a rally in Ramallah, Abbas said that Palestinians around the world were watching as the prisoners we being released. "Dear brothers and sisters, your families in Palestinian territories and around the world are looking at you now and are happy that you are being released," Abbas said. "I ask Allah to forgive these martyrs." Thousands of Palestinians gathered in the West Bank on Tuesday morning to celebrate the impending release...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Looking dazed, a thin and pale Gilad Schalit emerged from a pickup truck Tuesday under the escort of his Hamas captors and the Egyptian mediators who helped arrange the Israeli tank crewman's release after more than five years in captivity.Click here for article

Sunday was the first day of Sgt. Gilad Schalit’s sixth year in captivity. Schalit was kidnapped on June 26, 2006 and has been held hostage by Palestinian terrorists affiliated with Hamas in Gaza ever since. For five years, Schalit has been held incognito. His terrorist captors have permitted him to send but one letter to his family and released but one video of Schalit over this entire period. He has been denied visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross. He was clearly emaciated in the video. Over the past five years, Hamas has engaged in periodic indirect negotiations...

A deal to free captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit has been finalized, and will be signed in the coming days, according to Hamas sources quoted by Arab media Sunday. Captured IDF soldier Gilad... Al-Arabiya also quoted the sources as saying that something could still go wrong with the deal at any point. The deal would entail 450 Palestinian prisoners being released by Israel, 70 of which were new to the previous list. Some of the Palestinians would be transferred to the Gaza Strip, while others would leave the country. After the Palestinians are released, Schalit would be transferred to Israel...

The International Committee of the Red Cross was "continuing its good faith efforts to seek access to and information about [captive IDF soldier] Gilad Schalit," William Daroff, the United Jewish Communities' vice president for public policy, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. Just hours after meeting with ICRC representatives in Geneva, "where the refusal of Hamas to allow access to the Red Cross was a major area of discussion," Daroff said he was satisfied that Schalit's 1,000-plus days in captivity without access to international humanitarian supervision was not the fault of the ICRC. According to Daroff, "the ICRC has discussed...

"IT'S NOT SO MUCH THAT THE HAMAS OFFICER WAS KILLED... ...it's that he was killed operating a mortar that his subordinates were not firing, because they refused to come out of hiding."

Palestinian militants who captured an Israeli soldier a year ago say he is in good health and being well treated. Cpl Gilad Shalit has not been heard from or seen since his capture on 25 June 2006 in a raid into Israel by Palestinian militants from Gaza. "Shalit is alive and in very good shape," said Abu Mujahid, a spokesman for one of three groups linked to the militant Hamas group that captured him. His father has blamed Israel's prime minister for not securing his release. Noam Shalit said the embattled Ehud Olmert should step down if he failed to...

Jun. 10, 2007 23:15 | Updated Jun. 11, 2007 0:55 Exclusive: PA pays benefits to Schalit captors' families By KHALED ABU TOAMEH Gilad Shalit with two friends. Photo: Courtesy photo Some of the Palestinian gunmen who participated in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit last year have long been on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian sources revealed Sunday. The sources named two of the suspected kidnappers as Muhammad Azmi Farawneh and Majdi Tayseer Hammad. The two were killed by Israel in separate attacks over the past year. Farawneh is believed to have played a key role...

It would be an extremely callous person indeed who did not share in the happiness radiating out of television screens as scenes were broadcast around the world Thursday of 15 captured British sailors returning safely home from Iran.How wonderful it must have been for the emotionally drained families and friends who waited in almost excruciating anticipation for the Sea King choppers bearing the uniformed boys and girl to touch down at RAF Chivenor Royal Marine Base in Cornwall.As I am sure happened to millions of viewers, I found myself smiling broadly, tears pricking at my eyes as the young Faye...