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Michael Oren, Israel鈥檚 Ambassador to the United States, strongly defends last week鈥檚 swap of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who had been held five years by the Hamas movement.

If young people in Israel, especially those serving in the Army, were asked 鈥渨hether the Gilad Shalit issue weakened or strengthened the state of Israel, they would say strengthened it," Mr. Oren said Tuesday at a Monitor-hosted breakfast for reporters.

Oren served in the Israel Army, as did all of his three grown children. He argued that the trade which secured Shalit鈥檚 release 鈥済oes to the heart of Israeli society, the relationship between the state of Israel and the army of Israel.鈥�

In Oren鈥檚 view, there is an unwritten social contract between the two. He summarized it by saying, 鈥淲e the people of Israel go out and fight the battles that you the government send us to, with the understanding that should anything, God forbid, happen to us, if we fall captive or worse, the state will do everything in its power to secure our release. It is on that basis that we go to battle that we send our kids out to defend us.鈥�

As Monitor staff writer Ariel Zirulnick reported Monday, the euphoria accompanying Shalit鈥檚 release has given way to concern in some quarters in Israel. One issue is whether the deal makes huge prisoner exchanges for a single Israeli soldier the norm rather than the exception. A second concern is that the deal, made through an intermediary with the militant Hamas organization, had the effect of weakening the more moderate Palestinian Authority.

Oren acknowledged the dangers of such swaps. 鈥淣ow you can鈥檛 say it is without risk,鈥� he said. One concern is that 鈥淗amas is going to redouble its efforts to try and kidnap Israeli soldiers,鈥� Oren said. He noted that was something the group that controls Gaza has tried 鈥減ractically on a weekly basis.鈥�

In a related matter, on Tuesday, Israel's Security Cabinet approved a plan to exchange 25 Egyptian prisoners for Ilan Grapel who holds dual US and Israeli citizenship and was arrested in Egypt June 12 on suspicion of espionage. Mr. Grapel, a law student from Atlanta was in Egypt volunteering with a legal aid group. Oren strongly denied that Grapel was a spy. He said the effort to secure Mr. Grapel鈥檚 release involved 鈥渁 different dynamic entirely鈥� than the Shalit matter.

鈥淓gypt is a friendly state,鈥� Oren said, noting that there was been a peace treaty between the two nations for 35 years.

鈥淲e were able to talk directly to the Egyptians. We never talked directly with Hamas, it was mediated. We are confident that we will move on to with our relationship with Egypt," he said.

Material from the Associated Press was used in compiling this report.