Last update - 00:00 14/11/2006
Abducted soldiers' families urge PM to do more to ensure release
By Roni Singer-Heruti, Haaretz Correspondent
Relatives of the two Israel Defense Forces soldiers abducted by Hezbollah operatives called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday to do more to ensure the soldiers' release.
The families of IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were abducted last July in a cross-border raid, met Tuesday with Defense Minister Amir Peretz, IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and Major General (res.) Doron Almog.
Family members of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, two soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah on July 12th, said on Tuesday that PM Ehud Olmert most do more to ensure the soldiers' release.
The meeting followed Almog's presentation of the findings of the committee investigating the abduction, during which the military official said the soldiers' reconnaissance mission had set out the morning of the capture "almost like on a tour, not a military mission.
The families were taken aback by Almog's comments and requested the meeting to clarify what was meant by the statements.
Shlomo Goldwasser, Ehud's father, said that during the meeting Peretz, Halutz, and Almog assured him that on the day of the kidnapping Regev and Goldwasser behaved "just as they had been instructed by their commanders, just as the rest of the soldiers in their division had."
Goldwasser also added that the families did not receive new information on the status of their sons during the meeting.
The soldiers' families also announced plans to travel to Europe at the end of the month for a tour meant to drum up public support for the return of the soldiers.