Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has suspended a senior envoy who criticised the government's handling of Egyptian-brokered truce talks with Hamas, Israel Radio today.
Amos Gilad has long been the Olmert government's point man in Egypt, which wants to consolidate a Jan. 18 ceasefire that ended a three-week Israeli offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip that was designed to end attacks on the Jewish state.
The radio said Mr Olmert had been offended by a newspaper article last week that quoted Gilad as saying the government had an inconsistent approach to the truce talks that was "insulting" to the Egyptians.
As well as suspending Mr Gilad, Mr Olmert had asked the Civil Service Commission to check if his published remarks amounted to insubordination, said the radio.
Mr Gilad's comments in the Maarivdaily newspaper appeared to focus on Mr Olmert's insistence that Hamas agree to release a captive Israeli soldier before Israel eases a blockade on the impoverished Gaza Strip, as demanded by the Islamist group.
Mr Olmert, head of a caretaker government since a February 10th election to choose his successor, has pledged to exert maximum effort to secure the return of Gilad Shalit, the soldier abducted by Palestinians to Gaza in 2006.
Reuters