That’s the question asked at the end of a long Jerusalem Post report on the negotiations leading to the swap of over 1000 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom were responsible for the most heinous terrorist attacks which killed hundreds of Israelis, for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
It’s not for me to second guess the decision; I don’t have family members serving in the IDF and I don’t presume to downplay the importance of Israeli solders knowing that every effort will be made to retrieve them if captured or killed.
But if reports of some of the names included on the list are true, I also can’t help thinking about the families who lost loved ones in restaurants, night clubs, buses, and stores, seeing the killers of their children set free to what is sure to be a celebratory homecoming. Family members of those killed in the notorious Sbarro Pizza bombing (which was celebrated by Palestinian university students) already have petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to try to stop the release.
The family of one Sbarro victim posted this statement (h/t IsraelMatzav) at the blog dedicated to the memory of their daughter who was 15 and eating pizza when the suicide bomber blew up the restaurant:
We received a phone call a few minutes ago from the director of the Department of Pardons at Israel’s Ministry of Justice notifying us of the official decision to release two prisoners convicted of carrying out the Sbarro restaurant massacre. The woman, Tamimi, will be exiled to Jordan. Her accomplice, Muhammad Douglas, will be exiled to chutz l’aretz” (Hebrew: means somewhere outside Israel’s borders). What the unspecified location means, we don’t know but it hardly matters. He and she will have their lives to live, despite having been sentenced in a court of law and after a full and proper trial to sixteen consecutive life sentences. And despite (in her case) having expressed pride in what she did, and an utter lack of remorse.
The Shalits were not the only parents.
And there will be more, as Hamas already has announced that its policy of kidnapping Israeli soldiers will continue.
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Comments
I feel overjoyed for Gilad Shalit’s family. Knowing he was likely frequently tortured by those barbarians must’ve been agony for them.
Of course, my heart goes out to the families whose loved ones were snuffed out by the murderous 1,000. If someone killed my child, I would make it my life’s mission to hunt them down and inflict an agonizing death upon them.
I hope the Israelis secretly injected them with Mad Cow disease before releasing them … even though that’s too good for them.
LukeHandCool (who otherwise wouldn’t hurt a flea).
Linked: ‘Gilad Shalit and the Price Freedom in Israel’.
I understand the joy the Shalit family must be feeling but it does seem a costly rescue and heart breaking for families hurt by the prisoners being released. This type of ultra reasonableness by Israel doesn’t ever seem to discourage the bad behavior by the Palestinians. From the Palestinian viewpoint kidnapping an Israeli soldier accomplishes quite a lot – risk/reward.
Not to put too fine a point on things but you never have to worry about one day being blackmailed into releasing a terrorist who was sentenced to death and executed.
Very good point.
Terrorists and Israelis agree 1 IDF soldier is worth a 1000 terrorists. Kind of indicts the quality of the terrorists doesn’t it?
Another reason for the swift and repeated ues of the death penalty.
The last time Israel made a trade with Hezbollah, it got dead soldiers back. Israel should send Hamas its terrorists back in coffins.
I think footballs would be better at sending the message across. I don’t mean giant ones, just regular sized pigskins.
I’m thinking Israeli courts are making a huge mistake here. Future sentencing of Hamas terrorists should be something like this: “Execution 72 hours after the official confirmation of a kidnapping or slaying by any means of one or more member of the Israeli Armed Forces by any person(s) acting on behalf of Hamas; otherwise 25 years to life imprisonment.”
Of course if you appease bank robbers you will get more robberies, and if you appease murderous kidnappers you will get more murderous kidnappings. I feel sorrow for the parents of Shalit, but the cost is such that Israelis will rue this day, as it empowers the genocidal aspirations of Hamass and Iran, and makes them believe that Allah is on their side in their attempts to exterminate the Jews, and the Jews will be useful idiots in their own destruction.
This dishonors the memory of the hundreds, or is it thousands, of Israels injured and murdered by these Palestinians.
It is a disservice to the men and women who serve in the IDF, awaiting the next round of conflict by the very same people they previously overcame.
Round and round they go, with no positive progress to show.
There may be a certain strategy to this on the part of Benjamin Netanyahu in being willing to do this at this juncture. He can see that Obama has just been forced into backing Israel, lest he face open revolt amongst the United States Citizenry, especially in populations Obama NEEDS to have in order to have any chance at reelection.
It shows the world “good will” by Israel, after Abu Bluff just made an ass of himself in demanding Palestinian Statehood but still refusing negotiations and allows Israel to ask the question “Why won’t the Palestinian’s negotiate with us to guarantee peace? We’re ready, yet they refuse.”
But, more importantly, it gives Netanyahu a “Sword of Damocles” to hang over the Palestinian’s heads. He can diplomatically say, with a straight face, that they will release Palestinian prisoners in good faith; that Israel acted with restraint and patience this ONE time, but NEVER again.
Netanyahu can say that should another soldier kidnapping occur like this in the future, that the entire strength of the Israeli military will be brought to bear on Hamas and Fatah, without pause or mercy, and they will be destroyed. He will be able to say this, because he made the deal once, and was rewarded with a second kidnapped soldier, thus Hamas and Fatah cannot be trusted (which we all know to be true). Those defenders of the Palestinians will scream that Israel is acting out of proportion, but Netanyahu can say that if violence is the only thing that the Palestinians understand, then he will send them a message that they cannot ignore. He then has to follow through on it, and this is exactly how I would suggest he do it:
– Upon a soldier’s kidnapping, give the Palestinian government an ultimatum of 1 hour to free him unharmed. Regardless of if it is a sanctioned operation or not, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for all terrorist acts coming from the Palestinian controlled lands. Track EVERY one of them.
– At the end of that 1 hour, every Palestinian lawmaker is to be arrested for terrorism. Any that resist, should be summarily executed on the spot.
– At the end of rounding up the Palestinian lawmakers, start rounding up the general populace into internment camps (preferably WITH the lawmakers). Any Palestinian who resists processing is to be summarily executed on the spot (so much as a struggle, punch or shot fired). Men, women and children are to be separated. Bread and water will be provided, but no other food or drink of any kind.
– Go building to building. Once a building is cleared, demolish it with explosives and then bulldoze the rubble. All weapons, goods, currency and material to be confiscated as war plunder.
– Hospitals, Emergency Services and other governmental services to be occupied. No emergency response, so no “faking” deaths of non-combatants and children by Hamas (one of their favorite Public Relations tactics). If somebody is dead, it means that they resisted and that makes them an enemy combatant.
– Make it PERFECTLY CLEAR to both the captured and the still free that Hamas and Fatah can stop this at any time by returning the captured soldier. Tell the populace that no international group is coming to save them, and they have but ONE opportunity to save themselves, and that is to have the soldier freed.
– Do not stop until the soldier is released unharmed or they run out of structures to demolish. Long before it gets to that point, when the populace sees the horror of what is coming, they will turn on Hamas and Fatah themselves and will get the soldier freed lest that horror come for them.
The reason for this is both simple and elegant: if the Palestinians are not going to respect international law, it’s time that Israel start playing by the same tactics. A concerted, planned attack on a uniformed soldier during a time of peace is an act of war, and since there is no “uniformed” army of the Palestinians, until disarmed, every single one should be treated as an enemy soldier.
No “cease & desist” action will survive a UN Security Council vote, because Obama needs the Israel supporting population in any reelection effort. A security council action to stop Israel from taking measures after a Jewish soldier kidnapping during non-combat operations would look particularly bad for Obama, and would instantly draw the ire of everybody who does support Israel.
Chuck, the option of execution of the terrorist 48 hours (law enforcement tells you the first 48 hours are critical to solving the crime) after the kidnapping, wounding, or slaughtering of any Israeli (not just the soldiers) is better. Not only would it empty Israeli jails, but it will also, if carried out, hand the Arabs the brutal justice that would make them reconsider their murderousness, especially if the execution is done with larded bullets.
Executing previously captured terrorists does empty the jails and take out the terrorists already captured, but it doesn’t give the populace any incentive to revolt against Hamas and Fatah, nor does it give any incentive for Hamas or Fatah to do anything other than execute the hostage and hoist up his body as a display piece.
I think it unlikely to make the terrorists reconsider their murderous ways.
What I proposed above isn’t about making the terrorists reconsider. It’s about making the general population turn on the terrorists because they will suddenly realize that there is something far worse than those terrorists, and that is the Israeli government when it is truly motivated and actually has turned off the safety valves.
So instead of us nit-picking the details, I say they should unilaterally use all three retaliatory systems. What could be fairer than that?