Ehud Olmert released 200 Palestinian terrorists from Israeli custody today as a so-called goodwill gesture to bolster PA President Mahmoud Abbas...and not coincidentally, to put a smile on Condi Rice's face as she arrived in Israel today to try and arm twist more concessions out of Olmert 'for peace'.
This particular group included killers Israel defined as 'having blood on their hands', an israeli term signifying that these particular murderers had been convicted in Israeli courts of having direct responsibility for killing Israeli civilians. Of course,since Olmert blurred that line by trading a very live child killer Samir Kuntar to Hezbollah for the mutilated remains of two captured Israeli soldiers, the Olmert government appears to be willing to let these scum go regardless of what they might have done.
Two of this particular group bear special mention as an example of the kind of people Olmert is releasing to a hero's welcome among the Palestinians. Muhammad Abu Ali murdered two people. In 1980, he killed Yehoshua Saloma (Hy"d) in Hebron, a young Yeshiva student studying in the Kiryat Arba Yeshiva. Saloma, a new immigrant from Sweden, walked into Hebron from Kiryat Arba to buy some dried fruits for the upcoming Tu B’Shvat holiday. While he was shopping, he was brutally ambushed from behind.Ali later murdered a fellow prisoner while he was in jail.
Said Al-Ataba masterminded an attack on the Petach Tivka market in 1977 that wounded dozens and took the life of an Israeli woman, Tzila Galili, (Hy"d).
Both of them are now free to kill again. And that's not merely a figure of speech.At least 180 Israelis and counting have been murdered by terrorists who had been released from Israeli jails, and that doesn't take into account those that were arrested or killed in an attempt.
Condi, of course, thinks that releasing these people was just wonderful,and wants more of the same."It's something that Abu Mazen brings up each time we meet," Rice told reporters on her plane about today's release, using Abbas's informal name. "It's something that matters a lot to the Palestinian people."
No mention of course on whether it might matter a lot to the Israelis to keep these killers behind bars.I doubt that matter penetrates her consciousness.
Nor does it matter to Mahmoud Abbas, who referred to the released terrorists as 'heroes' and made a point of saying that no peace agreement with Israel was possible until all of the terrorists are released.Nor did eithr he or Condaleeza Rice have the common decency to mention a single word about Gilad Shalit, who's still being held incommunicado in the Gaza Strip.
Israel at one time had a significant deterrent factor in the Arabs knowledge that they would not deal with terrorists and could be expected to hit back hard at those who murdered their citizens. Ariel Sharon's deal with Hezbollah to trade prisoners for bodies and an Israeli drug dealer with connections to his son Omri and Ehud Olmert's execrable conduct during the entire two and a half years he's been in power have done much to undermine that.
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