Netanyahu Set To Release Terrorists “For Good Of Country”

Who wrote these words 18 years ago?

“A government that seeks the defeat of the terrorists must refuse to release convicted terrorists from prisons… Releasing imprisoned terrorists emboldens them and their colleagues… By nurturing the belief that their demands are likely to be met in the future, you encourage terrorist blackmail of the very kind that you want to stop. Only the most unrelenting refusal to ever give in to such blackmail can prevent this.”

The answer is the same guy who just agreed to release a bunch of murderous terrorists “for the good of the country.”

bibi bombAmid reports that Israel has reluctantly agreed to release all 100-plus Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners held since before the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night issued an open letter to the public, bracing Israelis for an extremely “difficult decision” that he was taking in defiance of public opinion but “for the good of the country.”

Netanyahu reportedly agreed to release all 104 pre-Oslo prisoners, including 20 or more Israeli Arab citizens, because the Palestinians made clear to US Secretary of State John Kerry that otherwise they would not come to the scheduled resumption of peace talks in Washington on Tuesday.

A vote on the prisoner releases is expected at Sunday’s cabinet meeting, and Netanyahu may have a difficult time winning a majority, Channel 2 news reported on Saturday night. Israel had previously indicated that it would free more than 80 Palestinian prisoners jailed since before the Oslo Accords, but had refused to release the Israeli Arab prisoners. The prisoners are to go free in four phases, the first of which may be in about two weeks, at the conclusion of Ramadan. The Israeli Arab prisoners will be released in the last phase, Channel 2 said.

The prisoners, some of them convicted of major terrorist attacks involving multiple murders, may not all be released into Palestinian territory; some may be sent into exile, Channel 2 said. The Shin Bet security service will make recommendations on this issue. A small ministerial committee is to be appointed on Sunday to oversee the process of releases.

“This is an extremely difficult decision,” Netanyahu wrote in the open letter released on Saturday night. “It pains the bereaved families, it pains the entire Israeli public and it pains me very much. It clashes with a foundational value — justice.”

The letter continued: “Our best response to the loathsome murderers who tried to terrorize us into submission is that in the decades that they sat in prison, we built a state to be proud of.”

Netanyahu noted that easy decisions did not require firm leadership. It was the hard ones that required a strong prime minister, he said. “Every now and then prime ministers need to take decisions that fly in the face of public opinion — for the good of the country.”

He added: “Over the next nine months we will come to see whether there is a Palestinian partner who desires the end of the conflict as much as we do. The conflict’s resolution can only be achieved if we are guaranteed security for Israel’s citizens and the protection of our vital national interests.”

Earlier Saturday, Israel Radio reported that Israel had agreed to release 24 Israeli Arab prisoners serving life sentences who were incarcerated before the 1993 Oslo Accords, in addition to the 82 pre-Oslo Palestinian prisoners. The releases would be carried out in phases, the radio report said, in parallel with progress at Israeli-Palestinian peace talks which are set to resume next week.

The Palestinian Authority had long sought the prisoners’ release as a precondition for resuming talks, a demand Israel refused. Israel had feared that the PA would secure the prisoners’ releases, and then walk away from the negotiating table. Hence the phased approach. Netanyahu had long been offering to free several dozen of the pre-Oslo prisoners, many of whom were convicted for terrorist crimes involving multiple murders, but had balked at releasing them all.

As recently as last week, officials in Jerusalem said Israel would release the 82 veteran Palestinian prisoners, gradually, during the negotiations but was refusing to release the Israeli Arab prisoners.

For his part, PA President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking to Arabic media Saturday in an apparent reference to the freeing of the prisoners, said he was expecting “good news” on Sunday.

Kerry announced in Amman on July 19 that a basis for the resumption of negotiations had been worked out and that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators could be expected in Washington within a week or so. However, in the following days Palestinian officials claimed that the framework for the negotiations was not fully resolved — and restated their demands for the release of pre-Oslo Palestinian prisoners and for the use of the pre-1967 lines as the basis for negotiations on a Palestinian state.

Channel 2 quoted an unnamed Western diplomatic source on Saturday night saying Kerry had not written a letter to the PA saying that the talks would be held on the basis of the pre-67 lines or that there would be an Israeli settlement freeze. Some PA officials had claimed the secretary had given Abbas a written commitment to that effect. Hebrew media reported on Friday, however, that Netanyahu would cap new settlement projects to a total of 1,000 new homes, inside existing settlement blocs, for the duration of the negotiations.

An Arab member of Knesset told The Times of Israel on Thursday that Kerry had promised Palestinian officials that negotiations would not resume before Israel agreed to release all the 100-plus pre-Oslo prisoners. He said this group included 21 prisoners who are either Israeli citizens or Jerusalem residents and whom Israel had steadfastly refused to free as a goodwill measure to boost negotiations.

Here is a list of the prisoners on the list, including their misdeeds.

Pre Oslo Prisoners

The last time we released a bunch of dangerous terrorists, it was to secure the release of our kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

Here, the only kidnap victim seems to be Netanyahu’s backbone, which is MIA.

Update: Rabbi Seth Mandell, who unfortunately knows about terrorism better than most of us, articulates the reasons why this is unjust and dangerous.

And Israellycool’s Brian of London tries to use crowd sourcing to understand what on Earth Bibi is doing.

29 thoughts on “Netanyahu Set To Release Terrorists “For Good Of Country””

  1. The question is, WHICH country is this supposed to be good for?

    If we’re going to betray the families of the victims we should at least get something for it. Maybe Obama can spring for an F-16 per terrorist. Or at least an iphone.

    1. Oh, you simply must send some of the most vicious murderers to:
      1. Fox Chapel, PA
      2. Ketchum, Idaho
      3. Nantucket, MA
      4. Boston, MA

      Since the US has apparently forgotten the outcome of terror (and yet, curiously, does not release THEIR terrorists from Guantanamo) maybe this would serve as a take-home reminder.

  2. And what happens when the peace talks break down – as they inevitably will? Will Israel still be committed to releasing the rest of the prisoners?

    And when they’ve all been released and the “peace talks” are supposed to restart – what will be left for Israel to give to the Palestinians?

    I’m so frustrated I could scream. This is not a democracy we live in. We vote right and we get left. What was the point of voting at all?

  3. Istra Belagena

    anneinpt says: I’m so frustrated I could scream. Me too, me too, and this is what all Jews ought to scream, three times a day, because it has been given specially for a situation as the one we are in:

    “Hashivah shof’tenu k’varishonah v’yoatzenu k’vatt’hillah, v’haser mimmennu yagon v’anahah, umlokh alenu m’heraha attah HaShem l’vaddekha…”

    “Et tsemah David avd’kha m’herah tatsmiah… ki lishuat’kha kivvinu v’tsippinu kol hayyom!”

  4. I’m too upset to write something glib or even attempt to be flippant. That Netanyahu has the unbelievable arrogance to call himself a “strong leader” because he decided to do something that the majority of the people who elected him, not to mention the Israelis who didn’t vote for him, do not want him to do is reprehensible. I can only hope that enough Israeli ministers have the guts to vote against him in the referendum to stop this terrible act from happening. Please let the Zionism that was practiced by the early Jews who fought and lived and died to create Israel, prove to still be alive in Israel’s leaders today.

  5. and when these negotiations fall apart…as they will

    what exactly will bibi have accomplished by allowing murderers to run free and kill again?

    he spits on those that have supported him and his party

    he spits on the memory of the people whose blood has been spilled by these animals

  6. Those who subvert justice to gain a little temporary peace will not in the end gain what they seek.

    Israel is eroding before our very eyes and the Arabs are laughing at how little respect the Jews have for their own dead and how little it takes them to capitulate in abject humiliation!

    “For the good of the country,” indeed. Spare me!

  7. “He had a choice between war and dishonor. He chose dishonor. Now we shall have war.” – Winston Churchill

  8. I think a lot of Americans, like myself, see this as a goodwill gesture on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s part, and tangible evidence that Israel is willing to make hard choices to pursue the peace process. I know it’s a hard pill to swallow given the crimes of these individuals, but this could lead to positive and constructive results for Israelis in finally ending the conflict with the Arabs.

    1. Or we could make these concessions, have the peace process fail again, and get another intifada.

      If America wants to encourage Israel to make sacrifices for peace, maybe they could promise that in the event of a withdrawal from the West Bank, some US soldiers could be stationed along the border in case of rockets. They could even say that they are there to make sure the nasty IDF doesn’t overreact…

      The above is a terrible idea, but as it is Kerry has no skin in the game besides his own reputation. What are we getting for this? The US Congress already likes Netanyahu.

    2. If Kerry and Obama want to set an example, they should release Jonathan Pollard as a goodwill gesture. Nah! They are both hypocrites when it comes to ethics.

      1. Jim_from_Iowa

        But no one has linked the release of Pollard as a precondition to anything, Norman. We should get something for releasing this no-good traitor before his parole date, which isn’t that far off. When released, Pollard no doubt will move to Israel, where he’ll be treated as some kind of hero among the settler community. Let them have him.

        1. The non-linkage is Bibi’s lapse.

          Meanwhile, the cabinet has approved the prisoner release by 13 to 7 with two abstentions.

        2. The “no-good traitor” who gave Israel the information the Americans were supposed to give Israel but didn’t… And the Americans reneged on the plea-bargain.

          Details, details…

        3. We should get something for releasing this no-good traitor before his parole date, which isn’t that far off.

          Why should you get any more than us Israelis expect to get from releasing all those prisoners? At least Pollard won’t go murdering those people who wrongly kept him imprisoned for over a quarter of a century – way longer than any much more dangerous spy ever served.

          Don’t talk to me about injustice! That one screams to the very heavens!

          Pollard never murdered anyone. He passed info on to Israel that the US was supposed to give Israel but didn’t. He made a plea bargain which was ignored. That made a mockery of the US justice system.

          His human rights have been trampled for over 25 years by holding him in a max security prison, when he threatens harm to absolutely no one, and more often than not in solitary confinement.

          He wasn’t allowed out for his father’s funeral, not even to say goodbye to him.

          Don’t preach int’l law and human rights and justice and fairness to us Israelis. We’re sick of it all up to here (points to above eye level).

          If the Americans so love prisoner releases, release Pollard and prove it.

    3. how many more pounds of flesh does a jew have to give up to make the world and the arabs happy?

      these arent political prisoners…these are murderers

  9. We are still going to be portrayed in the World media as the ones who refused to come to the negotiating table.
    This makes me so angry I shall have apoplexy if I don’t turn off the computer, turn off the radio, turn off the TV and stop reading the newspapers.

  10. Istra Belagena

    Dave, could you do everybody here a favor and ban Jim_from_Iowa from your blog? If his first post with cheap talk from afar rubbing salt on our wounds wasn’t enough, it’s obvious that “no-good traitor” remark of his in the second post merits an indefinite withdrawal of his posting privileges.

    Everyone please pray for Netanyahu to be peacefully and legally removed from office on account of his mental illness and succeeded by a true Jewish leader who won’t buy photo-ops with our mass-murdering enemies at the price of Jewish blood whose screams can still be heard rising from the earth.

  11. Over on “A Soldier’s Mother,” I posted some reflections on Simon Wiesenthal’s famous book, “The Sunflower.”

    Modestly, I think its my best essay! And I want to say what it shows is they don’t make Jews like they used to make ’em!

  12. And the Palestinians gave up what in exchange? A shipment of rocks and an I O U. I hope this doesn’t come back to haunt the israelis but have a bad vibe they will hear from these criminals again & soon.
    What a breakthrough engineered by S o S John Kerry.

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