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Two years after mass
release of terrorists, Israeli leadership is doing it again
By FRIMET ROTH | Jerusalem Post | October 18, 2013
October 18th marks two
years since the Shalit Deal. On that day, our daughter Malki, was murdered a
second time.
That is how we felt when
Ahlam Tamimi was freed along with 1,023 other terrorists in the deal struck to
rescue kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit from Hamas. Twelve years earlier, Tamimi chose
the target, transported the bomb and led her accomplice by the arm to Jerusalem’s
Sbarro restaurant where she instructed him to detonate the 10 kg. of explosives
he carried on his back. Fifteen children, women and men, among them our
precious Malki, perished in the inferno. On this day in 2011, our prime minister
allowed Tamimi to return triumphantly to her home in Jordan.
A self-confessed,
convicted, unrepentant mass murderer, sentenced to 16 life terms, Tamimi was
included in the deal despite our pleas to Netanyahu that her name be removed
from the list. In our letters, we reminded him of an interview in which Tamimi
smiled broadly upon learning that she had murdered eight children, several more
than she had presumed.
Few Israelis are aware of
the letters that my husband and I and several other victims sent our prime minister
over the last three years imploring him to meet us. Not once has he, or his
office, responded.
Following the Shalit Deal,
Netanyahu announced that he had written to the families of the victims of
terror. His office insisted that “many” such letters were delivered to the post
office. Neither we nor any other such families – and we have asked dozens –
ever received such a letter.
Given the scant media
attention, not many know that last year our prime minister allowed Tamimi’s
fiancé, also a murderer released in the Shalit Deal, to leave the West Bank in
order to marry her and settle in Jordan.
This was contrary to an
explicit written condition of the fiance’s release prohibiting him from ever
exiting the West Bank. Once again, our pleas – both written and by phone - that
the permission be refused, were ignored.
In August 2013, it was announced that 104
prisoners would be released in three tranches to jump-start renewed
negotiations with the PA. The Shin Bet’s Yoram Cohen warned at the time: “Their
release will damage security, both in terms of immediate threat to public
safety and in terms of an erosion of deterrence.”
Then last month, Al Hayat reported that Israel had agreed to release a
further 250 convicts. Presumably, Netanyahu sees these as easy concessions to
make to Abbas and Obama. After all, no outrage has emanated from the 86% of
Israeli Jews who, according to a poll, strongly oppose their being set free.
The latest media buzz is
that a third intifada is brewing. There has been a
sharp jump in the number of terror attacks in the West Bank: from 68 in August to
104 in September.
This week we learned of the discovery of a
1.5 mile “abduction tunnel” constructed by Hamas. Fifty feet underground, the
Hamas construction penetrated a quarter of a mile into Israel. The news sent
shock waves throughout the country.
A survey published by the Palestinian Center
for Public Opinion last month found [according to this Jerusalem Post report] that 58% of Palestinians expect a third
intifada to erupt if an agreement is not reached with the Israelis during the
current negotiations. With 70% of Palestinians and 80% of Israelis certain the talks will fail, a new
intifada looks, at the very least, highly likely.
Yet our serial releaser-of-murderers, Mr.
Netanyahu, is immutable and
unchallenged. Even objections from seven right-wing cabinet ministers
fizzled out almost as soon as they were uttered. The “settlement candy” that Netanyahu is wont
to dole out after each release no doubt buys the right’s docility.
Potential killers are now flush with the
confidence that if caught they will be freed shortly afterward.
There is one aspect of the releases that has
been glossed over even by their opponents: Netanyahu’s usurpation of the judiciary.
He has discarded not only court sentences but, in certain cases – including our
Malki’s murderer – explicit judicial recommendations that the defendants never
be included in any deals.
The very foundations of our democracy are being
undermined.
Oddly, Netanyahu himself best expressed the
dangers that his releases pose. In a recent “open letter” posted on his website,
he addressed his constituents after announcing the release of the 104 prisoners.
"This is an incredibly difficult decision,” he wrote [source]. “It hurts the
bereaved families, it hurts all of the Israeli people and it hurts me very
much. It clashes with the most important principle, the principle of justice.”
Of course, those words only make his
decision to pursue these releases more confounding.
When the world’s democracies are unified in
battling Islamist terrorism, Israel – a prime target for terrorists – is
looking askance at its own terrorist enemies. Once an exemplar of counter-terrorism
strategy, Israel has, thanks to Netanyahu, become a terror-enabler.
We, the victims of terror who feel the pain
of releases of terrorists like a knife stab, have been left to battle this
alone. The
first tranche of the 104 prisoners were transported home in the dead of night. Obviously
our government is keen to hush and hide this outrage. We must not allow it to
slip under the radar any longer.
FRIMET ROTH is a freelance writer in
Jerusalem. Her daughter Malki was murdered at the age of 15 in the Sbarrorestaurant bombing (2001). With her husband Arnold. she founded the Malki Foundation. It provides concrete support for Israeli
families of all faiths who care at home for a special-needs child.
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