Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed on Wednesday the state's commitment to the parents of captive Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit to do all in its power to win the corporal's release.

"Every combat soldier knows that we will use all our capabilities in order to bring him back home safe and sound," Netanyahu said before a special Independence Day ceremony to honor outstanding soldiers in the President's Residence.

"Judging by our size, we are a small state, and judging by the magnitude of the challenges before us, we are a superpower in and of itself," President Shimon Peres said at the ceremony.
"There is no country in the world that has been attacked seven times in 60 years of existence," Peres said. Israel stands before existential threats, ostracism, and wars but it will enter the history books as a miracle, as proof that it is possible to do beyond what is expected and beyond what is extant."

IDF chief Gabi Ashkenazi said Israel's finest soldiers should serve as an example to naysayers who believe that the next generation of youngsters will not be up to the task of carrying the country's defense burden.

"Sixty-one years after the establishment of the state, the values of brotherhood and sacrifice are still relevant among the youth," the chief of staff said. "It is impossible to subdue Israel through terrorism or in the battlefield, and it is possible to arrive at an agreement with it only through negotiation."