23-Nov-23: Not war in the conventional sense

Source: YouTube

Like all wars, this war, the one in which the savages of Hamas launched an all-out slaughter of innocents, and the armed forces of Israel struck back in unusually powerful fashion, has public dimensions - mostly arguing with or trying to understand the politicians and the media. 

And private ones: looking after family members, worrying about loved ones who are serving in the standing army and in the reserves; keeping children and grandchildren calm. 

To state the obvious, a time of immense stress. Our apologies for being silent for much longer than usual. 

We continu to be active on our three Twitter  channels (it's hard to the point of offensive to call it X): Frimet's, Arnold's and the one we work on jointly, This Ongoing War.

But sitting down to write something longer continues to call for juggling skills and balancing capabilities that are beyond us most of the time right now. 

And stress being what it is, we're both battling colds or something like it.

Negatives notwithstanding, it's been a time when we have wanted to be heard. The dramatic events that started October 7 raise issues - Hamas, terrorism, war, idiotic media among others - on which we have first-hand experience and things we want people to know.

On October 10, just three days after the horrific events of Black Shabbat, Arnold Roth was interviewed on NEWSX, an Indian TV news platform ("India's leading English News Channel and the #1 choice of the young, aspiring and urbane") and a brief intro on its Twitter stream). 

He emphasized that this was not war in the conventional sense, a war waged overwhelmingly against civilians. And that Israel was experiencing the calm before the storm, after the first storm.

We have more to share. Just not yet.

06-Apr-15: Just a day in the life

Nothing obvious has happened to make the past 24 hours especially dangerous in terms of terrorist attacks. So let's assume that what we are seeing via the snippets below is a work in progress: simply a day in the life of a world falling victim to unthinkable violence of a kind most societies are ill-equipped to challenge, let alone thwart. A day among many not-so-different days.

New York

NY Daily News, April 3, 2015

NY Terror Case: Women Wanted an Active Military Role in ISIS 
Stassa Edwards | Jezebel.com | April 5, 2015

When Noelle Velentzas and Asia Siddiqui were arrested early Thursday morning at their Queens home, officers found pressure cookers, gas tanks, hand-written instructions for bomb making and jihadist pamphlets. According to the AP, Velentzas’ and Siddiqui’s arrest indicates a shift in women’s participation in “militant Islamic jihad.” Unlike women that have previously sought to join terrorist groups, Velentzas and Siddiqui had no interest in the roles traditionally reserved for women: marrying an ISIS fighter or nursing. Rather, the government alleges that the two women wanted to take active an military role by building a bomb and attacking a domestic target.

Accused bomb plotter’s husband says propane tanks were for barbecues
Beckie Strum | New York Post | April 6, 2015

The husband of accused ISIS-savage wannabe Noelle Velentzas insists she really loves America — and says building bombs made out of gas tanks, fertilizer and a pressure cooker was the very furthest thing from her mind. The 51-year-old man, who uses the admitted alias Abu Bakr, was sure the propane tanks authorities found at the home of his wife’s alleged accomplice would never have been used for explosives. “You can’t convince me that those propane tanks were going to be used for that because I know they were going to be used for barbecues,” he claimed... Velentzas did have an image of bin Laden on her phone, Abu Bakr conceded. And he admitted her political views might even “raise a few eyebrows.” But he had an explanation for all of that, too. Her admiration for the man who attacked New York City is based only on the fact that he helped the Afghans to drive out the Russians. “She doesn’t support 9/11,” the husband said... “They took two knives, which I had for more than 15 years,” he said. “They were in a box packed up. They also took two machetes I occasionally use... to clear yards and do gardening.”
...Abu Bakr said he’d never believe the accusations against his wife. “She couldn’t even hit the baby,” he said, referring to their 5-year-old daughter. “I just want people to know that’s not her . . . She never had any intentions of hurting anybody. This is her country, these are her people,” he said. "She’s a role model for women who really, really want to live as God-fearing women," Abu Bakr said proudly. "She’s passionate about her religion."

Malaysia

Malaysia detains 17 people suspected of plotting terror acts

Associated Press | April 6, 2015

Malaysian police have detained 17 suspected militants who authorities said Monday had planned to attack police stations and army camps to acquire weapons and carry out terrorist acts in Kuala Lumpur. Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said they were detained Sunday. Khalid tweeted that two of them had just returned from Syria. This brought the number of suspected supporters of the Islamic State group arrested since last year to 92, a police official said. Home Minister Zahid Hamidi said the 17, aged between 14 and 44, were planning to attack police stations and army camps to acquire weapons... Authorities also believe the suspects were trying to make bombs as police found notes on bomb-making written by Imam Samudra, an Indonesian who was convicted and executed for his role in carrying out the 2002 Bali bombings, Zahid said. The suspects included two army personnel and two students, and some of them had received militant training in Afghanistan and Indonesia's Sulawesi province... "This is a real threat and prevention measures are needed," Zahid said.

United Kingdom
Boy, 14, and girl, 16, arrested by anti-terror police
The Telegraph UK, April 5, 2015

A 14-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl have been arrested on suspicion of preparing a terror act. Counter-terrorism police detained the boy in Blackburn, Lancashire, before arresting the girl in Manchester the following day. Officers refused to say whether the case was Syria-related... The investigation is being run by the North West Counter-Terrorism Unit and the two youngsters have been bailed to May 28. The boy was arrested on Thursday after police had examined a number of electronic items, a spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said. The next day, police raided a home in Longsight, Manchester, and detained a 16-year-old girl.
Both are suspected of "engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism". The teenage girl lives with her parents and brothers in a semi detached house in Longsight. A green Nissan Micra was in the driveway of the house yesterday but no one answered the door. A next door neighbour said:" I know the girl very well and she is very nice - she goes to the school where I work. But I do not want to say anything other than they are a very nice family." Another neighbour, who also did not wish to be named, added: "There were police outside and inside the house on Friday and we did not have a clue what was going on. "The girl who was arrested has always been very pleasant to me - we have never had any problems with the family at all. "I used to see her chatting to her brothers outside in the street - they seemed just like normal kids to me." 

Kenya

Kenya Defence forces soldiers at Garissa University after the
terrorist massacre [Image Source]

Shame of slow response in 15-hour campus terror

The Nation, Kenya | April 4, 2015

The alarm... was sounded at 6 a.m. on Thursday last week. As they gathered, officers of the elite paramilitary unit were informed that a possible terrorist attack had been launched on Garissa University College... They quickly assembled their gear and got ready for deployment... But seven hours later the officers were still in Nairobi. [Our comment: Garissa is 370 km from Nairobi; driving time is about 5 hours at a normal civilized non-emergency rate.] After the long wait, the team would finally leave Wilson Airport after midday and finally enter Elgon hostel on the campus, the terrorists’ last stand, nearly 11 hours later. This was long after the killing had started and a majority of the 142 young Kenyans had been slaughtered by the extremists... On arrival in Garissa, the GSU [Wikipedia defines it as "a paramilitary wing of the Kenya Defence Forces and Kenyan Police, consisting of highly trained police officers and special forces soldiers"] team was briefed on the situation for two hours and when the ones that had travelled by road arrived, they launched the final assault on the terrorists at about 5 p.m., who they are reported to have subdued within half an hour... The Sunday Nation established that prior to the attack, local police had received intelligence of an impending attack... Four police officers were deployed at the university to provide security... Judging by security actions that preceded the attack, it was clear the government was aware of the threat, particularly targeting institutions of higher learning... On Friday, Maj-Gen (rtd) Nkaissery said: “This incident which happened today is one of those incidents which can surprise any country.” 

India

Security agencies warn of possible terror attack in Delhi

Times of India | April 5, 2015

Security agencies have alerted the Delhi Police about the possibility of [Pakistan-based] terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) carrying out a 'fidayeen' attack in the city... Asking the Delhi Police to remain on alert, the advisory said senior police officers, particularly Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCPs), should take all necessary preventive and precautionary measures in their area of jurisdiction in order to avoid any untoward incident, official sources said.

25-Sep-13: Adjusting to post-Nairobi realities

Westgate Mall, Nairobi, this week

We can probably consider this report from India as a harbinger of how things are likely to be in other places too, now that the dust is settling in Nairobi after the horror of the last several days.

India warns Jewish groups to tighten security |  JTA September 25, 2013 | Amid a terror threat, Jewish establishments in India have been instructed by police to tighten security in and around their businesses. The call came following the interrogation of Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal by the National Investigation Agency in New Delhi, as well as in the wake of the Islamist attack on an upscale mall in Nairobi, Kenya.
According to New Delhi Television  (NDTV), Bhatkal told investigators that Jewish establishments in Mumbai have been surveyed by Indian Mujahideen members for possible terrorist strikes.  The Islamist militant group reportedly was trying to seize Jewish hostages to trade them for terrorists, the Hindustan Times reported.
Indian police called on Jewish establishments to hire security guards, install security cameras and issue ID cards for admittance to the businesses, according to NDTV. They also have been instructed to not allow parking around their buildings.

Thinking about the kind of terrorism about which the Indian authorities are warning as a Jewish or Israeli issue only would be a serious mistake. There are sixty lost Kenyan lives that testify to the stark reality of how highly-armed, highly-motivated hatred-driven terrorism works.

It ought to be clear, as well, that trying to figure out what the hatred is about is of limited help in preventing the terrorist outrages from happening again and again.

18-Jun-12: Who would have thought it? The Iranians are behind a terror attack? And The Guardian reports it?

 Ayatollah Khomeini and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The little man in the middle: Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

speaking at the Khomeini mausoleum, near Tehran, Iran,

June 2, 2012 [Image Source]

In February 2012, there were two widely-reported terrorist attacks on Israeli diplomats, one in India, the other in Georgia. 

In New Delhi, the wife of an Israeli diplomat and her driver were injured when their car was bombed. And a bomb was defused outside Israel's embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia. 

Media reports generally followed the traditional safe pattern of "he said/but he said"; claim and counterclaim from two parties who, let's face it, are morally on about the same rung as each other. That's the sad state of today's conventional reportorial logic.

Far too many analysts, journalists and their editors see things that way despite the clear evidence in front of them of barbarism and Islamicist messianism as constants in the ongoing war of the terrorists. The Washington Post's headline at the time, typical of the mindset: 

Binyamin Netanyahu accuses Iran over bombs targeting Israeli diplomats

As if there were no objective way to draw an inference without pinning it on the political head of Israel.

Britain's Guardian is a master at this kind of headline-by-sneer. It posted the following across the top of its February 13, 2012 website edition:

Tehran's ambassador to India denounces Israeli claim as 'sheer lies' after blast in New Delhi and discovery of device in Tbilisi

But inevitably, as the facts come out, certain conclusions become (almost) unavoidable even if they coincide with "Israeli claims". And The Guardian's editors, at least sometimes, do pay attention. From this Sunday's headlines:

Iran was behind bomb plot against Israeli diplomats, investigators find / Western intelligence fears price of failure for Moscow talks on Tehran's nuclear programme could be high

Uncharacteristically straight talk. But in the case of yesterday's admission, the more interesting part is in a small revelation buried half way down The Guardian's page:

European intelligence officials told the Guardian they now found it difficult to judge Tehran's "risk calculus". "Until recently it was possible to see why they were doing what they have been doing," one intelligence official said. "Now it has become very unpredictable. It's very hard to see the logic behind [the February bombings], other than perhaps demonstrate an ability to cause problems in the event of war or a desire for revenge of some kind."

Imagine that. Years of pounding out the conventional liberal line that Iran's ayatollah-driven government is, at the end of the day, as rational as you and me, and there's now finally a small speck of light at the end of the tunnel. The crazy recklessness of the regime in Teheran might not, after all, be a figment of Netanyahu's imagination. Sometimes those lunatics over there turn out to be truly capable of the craziest things.

In Moscow, representatives of Iran's regime sat down to talks this morning with the US, Britain, China, Russia, France and Germany. The BBC says the two days of conferring comes after what it calls "inconclusive sessions in Istanbul and Baghdad over the last two months". The Western side wants Iran to voluntarily stop its nuclear program in the light of the International Atomic Energy Agency's delicately diplomatic findings last November that Iran had "carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear device". And what does the Iranian side want? For its "non-negotiable" right to enrich uranium to be recognised.

As high as the stakes in this standoff are, sometimes when the other side is acting "unpredictably", you need to factor that into your strategic thinking and not go on pretending they are as sane as you and me.

29-Dec-10: Five questions prompted by a cartoon, several riots and a thwarted massacre

Moslems react to Danish cartoons - London, 2006 (Daily Mail UK)

Quoted in today's New York Times, the prime minister of Denmark says today's events "must not lead us to change our open society and our values, especially democracy and free speech.”

Today's events, you ask? We think they show how the tentacles extend deep into the Scandinavian heartland:

• Five men were arrested today in the suburbs of Copenhagen and in Stockholm on suspicion of plotting an attack on the offices of a newspaper in the Danish capital. 
• Their plan, simply stated, was to "kill as many people as possible". This, according to the head of the Danish security service.
• There's little doubt they had the means. Found in their apartment were "at least one machine gun with a silencer, live ammunition and plastic strips that can be used as handcuffs" according to the Danish authorities.
• The plan was to replicate the Mumbai massacre of 2008 that resulted in the murders of 163 people, acording to th police.
• The Copenhagen massacre was to happen on or before New Year’s Day - this coming weekend. 
• This would be yet another act of revenge for the publishing of certain cartoons in the Danish newspaper in 2005... and by far not the first such act. Two Danish diplomatic missions were torched, a boycott of Danish goods was carried out in several countries, and a large number of violent protests took places in cities around the world among other reactions at the time. Then in 2009, two men from Chicago were arrested in a plot to attack employees of the newspaper. In January 2010, a Somalian man equipped with an ax and a knife was apprehended before he was able to enter the home of a cartoonist in the Danish town of Aarhus. And in September this year, Danish police arrested a man following the explosion at a Copenhagen hotel of a letter bomb that officials said was most likely intended for the same newspaper.
• Security forces had been tracking this group for months and say there may still be further arrests.
• Three of the men arrested hold Swedish citizenship.
• A fourth, aged 26 and living in Copenhagen on a residency permit had been admitted to Denmark in 2000 as an asylum seeker from Iraq when (by our calculation) he must have been 16.
• All five are Moslems, which is by no means incidental to the story. To think otherwise is to be impossibly politically correct. (Nearly 4% of Danes are Moslems. No one suggests that all, most or many are terrorists.) They were part of “a militant Islamist group with links to international terrorist networks”, the chief of Danish security is quoted as saying.
• "A serious terror crime in Denmark has been thwarted through an efficient and close cooperation" between the security forces says this report.

In light of the above, we have some questions.

1. If this was an act of terror, as everyone - including the headline writers and the police - is saying, why are these Moslem men, all of them members of a so-called militant Islamist group acting in the name of their religion, not called terrorists in today's newspaper reports? [It happens that we blogged about this question just yesterday: 28-Dec-10: How the militants, fighters, insurgents and freedom fighters turn into terrorists] Terrorists is precisely what they are, assuming the charges prove to be true.
2. As the plot here involved religiously inspired acts of violent hatred, is the religious leadership of the institutions to which the five men were connected being asked to explain itself?
3. Should it bother us that one of the plotters (at least) was there because he had gotten political asylum ten years ago? And should we be troubled that, having imbibed the best that Scandinavia can offer, he responded by preparing to massacre his neighbours?
4. Is the essence of this frightening story really the struggle to defend free speech and liberal values, as the Danish prime minister said today? Or (which we believe) is it actually about the enormous life-and-death risks of hosting a militant minority within a democracy-minded, mild-mannered and liberal majority society while growing to understand (slowly, ever so slowly) that the hate-based values being incubated in their midst are not growing more moderate but rather are becoming sharper, more brazen, more toxic and more deadly with time?
5. Reuters reported today that Syria was actively involved four years ago (when the cartoons story was still fresh) in encouraging attacks on European embassies in Damascus, according to a senior U.S. diplomat quoted in leaked cables. The embassies of Denmark and Norway were both burned down in those Syrian "protests". Reuters reports that the instructions for the riots came directly from Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Otari, who directed mosque preachers to deliver "hard-hitting" sermons at weekly prayers. In the face of unrelenting violence, is anyone looking into what Scandinavian imams are preaching to their flocks? Or does it not matter?

2-Dec-08: Mumbai questions

How are we going to effectively confront terrorists when we can't even identify them as such?

It's the question of all questions. And it's asked very effectively by Tom Gross who used to be the Middle East correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph and now produces incisive columns on a freelance basis. He has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, entitled "If this Isn't Terrorism, What Is?"

Please read the whole thing. A few more of Tom Gross' questions about Mumbai and the media's coverage follow:

Why are so many prominent Western media reluctant to call the perpetrators terrorists?
Why did Jon Snow, one of Britain's most respected TV journalists, use the word "practitioners" when referring to the Mumbai terrorists? Was he perhaps confusing them with doctors?
Why did Britain's highly regarded Channel 4 News state that the "militants" showed a "wanton disregard for race or creed" when exactly the opposite was true: targets and victims were very carefully selected.
Why did the "experts" invited to discuss the Mumbai attacks in one show on the state-funded Radio France Internationale, the voice of France around the world, harp on about Baruch Goldstein (who carried out the Hebron shootings in 1994), virtually the sole case of a Jewish terrorist in living memory?
What is the motivation of journalists in trying to mangle language - such as going out of their way to refer to terrorists as "militants," as one Mumbai story on yesterday's Times of London Web site seemed to do? Do they somehow wish to express sympathy for these murderers, or perhaps make their crimes seem almost acceptable?
How are we going to effectively confront terrorists when we can't even identify them as such?

Additional painfully sharp questions are posed by Dennis Prager, another incisive observer, in an article he calls "The Rabbi and the Terrorist".

Why would a terrorist group of Islamists from Pakistan whose primary goal is to have Pakistan gain control of the third of Kashmir that belongs to India and therefore aimed to destabilize India’s major city devote so much of its efforts -- 20 percent of its force of 10 gunmen whose stated goal was to kill 5,000 - to killing a rabbi and any Jews with him?
The question echoes one from World War II: Why did Hitler devote so much time, money, and manpower in order to murder every Jewish man, woman, and child in every country the Nazis occupied?
Why did Hitler - as documented by the late historian Lucy Dawidowicz in her aptly named book “The War against the Jews” - weaken the Nazi war effort by diverting money, troops, and military vehicles from fighting the Allies to rounding up Jews and shipping them to death camps?

Prager's article, which is certainly worth reading through in its entirety, ends with these two final points:

One is that it is exquisitely fitting that the same week the murders in Mumbai were taking place, the United Nations General Assembly passed six more anti-Israel resolutions. As it has for decades, the U.N. has again sanctioned hatred for a good and decent country as small on the map of the world as the Chabad House is on the map of Mumbai.
Two: Statements from Chabad in reaction to the torture-murders of a 28-year-old Chabad rabbi and his wife called on humanity to react to this evil “with random acts of kindness.” Evil hates goodness. That’s why the terrorists targeted a Chabad Rabbi and his wife.

At almost every opportunity, we (the authors of this blog) personally try to explain to whoever will listen that the war against the terrorists is going badly, and it's going to get much worse. Most people don't really understand how dangerous terrorism is to every last one of us. Nor are they likely to understand how on-the-ball the questions we have mentioned here are.

Failing to understand these things, whether you are a journalist or a politician or the person in charge of security for a major railway station, is a life-and-death matter, and mostly the understanding is just not happening.

1-Dec-08: A dangerous obsession

The op-ed article below, written by one of this blog's two authors, appears today on the YNet website and is also published by Front Page Magazine.

Olmert's Obsession
By Frimet Roth
FrontPageMagazine.com | 12/1/2008

The world is reeling from the Islamist terror attacks that struck India last week. But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will not let that interfere with his plans to beef up the ranks of Palestinian terrorists with another of his prisoner releases.

Trying to fathom Olmert's conduct – in particular, his preference for freeing jailed Palestinian terrorists with a track record of returning to their bloody business – has become a favorite pastime of pundits. Some say he is drafting his page in future history books. Others suggest that, having lost favor on the Right, he is simply wooing the Left. Still others swear that he aims to be the next Israeli come-back kid and is preparing for a future term as prime minister.

Whatever the merit of such conjecture, no theory fully explicates his irrational obsession with Palestinian prisoner releases. Consider that in August, Olmert granted a prisoner release just in time for Ramadan as a gift to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Now he will hand Abbas 250 more prisoners ahead of the Eid al-Adha festival on December 8.

Olmert is apparently unfazed by the thankless reaction to his last release.

"We will not rest until all the prisoners are freed and the jails are empty, "Abbas told a cheering crowd in August on the day those 198 prisoners were welcomed home.

The day before Olmert announced the upcoming release, Abbas said of his "partner for peace:” "I would like to draw the attention of the international community to the tragedy that our people are enduring in Gaza and I call on them to intervene to end the unfair siege... which constitutes a war crime."

At the same time, Abbas found no time to explain the reasons behind the Israeli siege: Hamas' renewed and intensive Qassam attacks that week on Israeli civilians.

Nor is the Palestinian leader gracious in the face of concessions. Abbas responded to the announcement of a fresh release with fresh demands. He instructed Olmert to include convicted murderer Marwan Barghouti along with Popular Front Secretary General Ahmad Sadat and Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker and Hamas member Aziz al-Dweik.

Such demands are in keeping with the Palestinian leadership’s rhetoric, which has never softened towards Israel. In September, for instance, during a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Abbas was still adamant that "Palestinian refugees must have the right to return to their homeland," calling it one of the "inalienable Palestinian rights."

This demand for the return of the tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees is a thinly-veiled call for the destruction of the Jewish state. Yet Olmert's office recently dubbed Abbas' party "the pragmatist Palestinian camp."

Equally immaterial to Olmert is that Abbas is politically crippled. Indeed, he is unlikely to survive as President past January 9, 2009, the date of the upcoming PA elections. As such, he would be unable to aid Israel even if he had any desire to do so.

Nor does it matter to Olmert that Hamas, against whom Olmert claims to be propping up the PA, is never weakened by these releases of its Fatah rivals. As recently as November, Haaretz warned: "Gaza is a stockpile of weapons, explosives and, particularly, of motivation to carry out attacks against Israel."

Israeli victims of terror are always incensed by these releases. After all, we, the bereaved live with the dread that one day our own child's murderer will return home to a hero's welcome. A terror victims’ organization, Almagor, has reminded Israelis that no less than one third of released terrorists return to terrorism and that they have murdered 180 Israelis, directly contradicting an Israeli spokesman’s recent assurance that "the prisoners slated for release would not be aligned with Islamist movements." Once the new list of prisoners is published, Almagor can be expected to appeal to the Israel’s High Court – and to lose its case, as it has consistently.

Even so, there is considerable evidence of recidivism among the released. This August, for instance, Israel freed Mohammed Abu Ali, a lawmaker from Abbas' Fatah party. Abu Ali was jailed in 1980 for murdering a 20 year old Israeli. He was later convicted of killing a jailed Palestinian whom he accused of collaborating with Israel. So much for the claim that these prisoners have all been rehabilitated.

What about the Palestinian man-on-the-street? Surely he appreciates Olmert's largess. Not quite. In August, prior to the Ramadan release, the Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh reported: "It's hard these days to find one Palestinian who regards Israel's decision to release some 200 Palestinian prisoners as a ‘goodwill gesture.’” Of the hundreds of prisoners released after the Oslo Accord, Abu Toameh wrote, many soon became involved "in various criminal activities ranging from armed robberies, extortion, theft and arms trafficking…Others later joined Hamas and other radical groups and became actively involved in armed attacks on Israel during the second intifada." He added: "The argument that [releases] strengthen the 'moderates' has never proven to be correct."

Orit Adato is another prominent skeptic of the wisdom behind prisoner releases. A former head of the Israel Prisons Service and the first international vice president of the International Correction and Prison Association, Adato has issued clear and reasoned recommendations regarding prisoner releases. Adato believes that they can bolster Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority. However, she maintains that such releases should be made only after specific preparatory steps have been carried out by Israelis, Palestinians and the international community. She condemns capricious releases, of the kind favored by Olmert, which are made in the context of stalled and aimless negotiations between Israel and the PA.

But even if they could be otherwise condoned, Olmert's prisoner releases are objectionable in his circumstances. As he contends with a looming indictment and strident calls for his resignation and with general elections scheduled for February, Olmert is no longer an empowered leader.

Nevertheless, a passive cabinet has voted to give Olmert the green light. True, several ministers were opposed. Minister Jacob Edery of Kadimah decried the move, saying that Israel "has made enough gestures to the Palestinians without having received anything in return. You don't have to free terrorists so long as there is no progress in the effort to free Gilad Shalit or the peace talks." And last week Likud MK Reuven Rivlin expressed those sentiments even more bluntly: "Olmert is not relevant to the political process and he does not need to make promises in Israel's name," adding: "We're tired of him and his political mischief."

But last week’s vote proved that even this wide spectrum of protesters is impotent. Olmert's immense and indomitable ego is just too formidable a foe. Several days ago it reared its ugly head in these telling comments: "I talk with Abbas nearly every week. Never has any Israeli prime minister held such extensive negotiations with a Palestinian leader like this…This is a time for decisions. I am ready to make that decision…You don't need months to make a decision," said Olmert.

On the last score Olmert is right. He can and must make one crucial decision: to cancel an ill-conceived release of Palestinian terrorists that rewards the Palestinian leadership for its past failures and promises bloodshed in Israel’s future.

Frimet Roth, a freelance writer, lives in Jerusalem. She and her husband founded the Malki Foundation in their daughter's memory. Malki Roth was murdered at the age of fifteen in the Sbarro Jerusalem restaurant massacre in 2001. The foundation in her name provides concrete support for Israeli families of all faiths who care at home for a special-needs child.