Kidnapped soldiers' families: Progress too slow

Almog, Halutz sorry for pain over report that Goldwasser ordered patrol.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
goldwasser ehud 88 (photo credit: )
goldwasser ehud 88
(photo credit: )
"The progress in securing the release of our sons is too slow," said family representatives of kidnapped IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev on Tuesday. The relatives were speaking at a press conference after accepting the explanations of Maj.-Gen. (res.) Doron Almog regarding media reports that Almog had said Goldwasser was the one who had ordered the patrol on which the kidnapping occurred. "The inquiry will turn the IDF into a better IDF and I hope that this kidnapping will prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future," said Shlomo Goldwasser, Ehud's father. "However, four months have passed, which is a lot of time, for us an eternity," he continued. "We know that the state is working to secure the release of our sons but we feel that the progress is too slow." Other family representatives expressed similar sentiments. "The war is over but our sons have not returned. The last soldier has withdrawn from Lebanon but our sons have not returned. The embargo over Beirut has been lifted but yet still, our sons have not returned," they said. "They say everything is being done. In our opinion not everything is being done and we demand that more is done," said a statement read by a family member. At a meeting with the soldiers' families, both Almog and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz expressed their regret for any pain they may have experienced as a result of the reports. Goldwasser's mother, Miki Goldwasser told Army Radio after the meeting that she had accepted the generals' explanations that "it was actually an issue of incorrect expression as far as the Hebrew [was concerned]." Almog, who was charged with investigating the July 14 abductions that led to the summer's war in Lebanon, supposedly made the statements while revealing his findings at a press conference on Sunday evening. "The way the soldiers went out on patrol was almost like [they were taking] a walk," Almog was reported to have said. In response, Israel Radio reported, Halutz emphasized on Tuesday that the soldiers had embarked on a military operation on the orders of their commanding officers, and that there was no basis for any interpretation that they had gone for a "walk."