(Jpost).Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday vowed that Israel would do all it could to secure the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.
Speaking during the annual Independence Day reception at the President's Residence for past and present IDF commanders, Netanyahu said that "we are committed to bringing Gilad Schalit home in one piece to his parents."
"Every combat soldier knows that we will do all within our power to bring him home alive and well," he stressed. "Israel has full faith in the armed forces of the General Staff."
Also in attendance at the ceremony were President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, as well as past and present IDF generals, former presidents and prime ministers, and heads of the intelligence and police communities.
Peres said that although Israel was a small country in size, it was powerful with respect to the challenges it had overcome.
"There is no other country in the world that has been attacked seven times in 60 years, and that is in addition to two intifadas and an incessant war on terror," he said. "Israel has faced existential threats, expulsion and wars, but when the history books judge us, we will be a proof that it's possible to surpass expectations and go beyond available resources."
Peres rejected the criticism leveled at Israel for Operation Cast Lead.
"They attack Israel from the inside and from the outside as if we invited this war and it wasn't forced upon us, as if it's possible to fight a war without victims," he said.
Peres went on to hail those who had fought for Israel's future.
"We asked you all to come here today in order to salute you," said the president. "We can safely say after 61 years that you have brought great victories both on the battlefield and with the young generation you have groomed. One can only be proud of your achievements."
During the ceremony, 120 soldiers received citations for excellence.
