Defense Minister Ehud Barak is furious over Prime Minister Ehud Olmert�s decision to suspend senior Defense Ministry employee Amos Gilad. Olmert announced Gilad will no longer serve as the cabinet�s agent in Egyptian mediated talks with Hamas.

Barak stated that Gilad is not even under Olmert�s authority, but that of the Defense Ministry, and the decision to dismiss him from his senior post compromises state security.

Barak�s condemned the prime minister�s �bully behavior� and rejected his �abuse of authority� to even the score with the senior civil servant. Defense Ministry officials add that despite statements to the contrary from Olmert, the dismissal of Amos Gilad will indeed have a negative impact on efforts to obtain the release of Gilad Shalit.

(Yechiel Spira � YWN Israel)