Army Reserve General Moshe Tal revealed Sunday that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed twice to conclude a prisoner swap deal with Hamas but then backed out.
However, he affirmed that PM Naftali Bennett has reviewed the file and figured that the deal includes releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, so he refused to proceed with the matter, hindering its implementation.
Tal, a former army official responsible for prisoners, resigned from his post on Tuesday. He left the army intelligence in 2019 and remained as the chief-of-staff’s representative for dealing with captives and missing soldiers at the Prime Minister’s Office.
In an interview with Army Radio, Tal said he resigned because he felt Israel doesn’t want to return the Israeli prisoners held by Hamas, especially the political leadership, which gets to decide in this matter.
The Israeli decision-makers do not have enough “will and motivation to carry on the process,” Tal said, noting that when the former leadership reached an agreement to release Gilad Shalit in exchange for Israel releasing 1,050 Palestinian prisoners it was due to a great public pressure.
“However, the situation is currently in favor of Hamas and pressure is being exerted on us (Israel).”
Tal further referred to several missed opportunities to release Israeli soldiers and citizens, even with military operations against the Gaza Strip to put pressure on Hamas.
He pointed out that the replacement of the US administration had eased pressure, and that the Egyptians are pushing for a deal.
When asked about Bennett, and whether he had changed his predecessor's approach to this issue, Tal said, “if he is a leader, he must make decisions.”
He underlined the obligations of previous governments that agreed to release many Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas is holding the bodies of soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who were killed in the 2014 Gaza War, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.
Israel has presented the return of the captives and missing soldiers as a condition for making any progress in negotiations over the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and the repair of infrastructure damaged during May’s hostilities with Hamas.
