No Pre-Election Deal with Hizb’allah
Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh dismissed weekend reports of an imminent prisoner swap with Hizb’Allah as disinformation on Sunday, quashing rumors of an election eve surprise.
The report in the Lebanese AL-MUSTAQBAL newspaper quoted a Hizb’Allah official as saying Israel was “anxious” to secure a deal before tomorrow’s election, in order to recover three IDF soldiers and a civilian abducted by the organization in October. “This is all psychological warfare. They are experts at it,” Sneh said, adding that the negotiations for the release of the kidnapped Israelis should not be linked in any way to tomorrow’s election in Israel.
Sneh said mediators are constantly working on forging a deal to receive any information possible on the three soldiers’ condition, but have not yet received any. Haim Avraham, father of kidnapped St.-Sgt. Binyamin Avraham, confirmed yesterday that the families of the four Israelis held by Hizb’Allah had not received any new information. “From the moment our boys were kidnapped until today, we have not been informed of anything new,” said Avraham in an interview with ISRAEL RADIO.
Used with Permission from International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.