The Israeli cabinet voted today to accede to the demands of the Palestinians and free 104 terrorists convicted in Israeli courts as a pre-condition for peace talks with the Palestinians after a bitter debate.
Thirteen ministers voted for the measure, seven against and two abstained. The vote approved the establishment of a committee to manage the phased process of prisoner releases, and approved the resumption of the talks, which are set to restart after a hiatus of almost three years in Washington on Tuesday.
The issue of releasing the prisoners, jailed since before the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, has divided Israelis, many of whom see the freeing of convicted murderers and terrorists as a price too high to pay for a return to the talks. Others regard it as a necessary evil, meeting a Palestinian demand to enable a resumption of negotiations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that approving the releases was a deeply painful decision, but one that served the wider interests of the state. Underlining the anguish and divisions over the move, two ministers from Netanyahu’s own Likud party voted against it, and two more abstained. [...]
Voting in favor of the 104 releases were Netanyahu, [Moshe] Ya’alon, Gideon Sa’ar, and Yuval Steinitz (all Likud); Yitzhak Aharonovitch and Sofa Landver (Yisrael Beytenu); Yair Lapid, Yael German, Yaakov Peri, and Shai Piron (Yesh Atid); and Livni, and Amir Peretz (Hatnua).
Yisrael Katz and Gilad Erdan (Likud), Naftali Bennett, Uri Ariel and Uri Orbach (Jewish Home), and Uzi Landau and Yair Shamir (Yisrael Beytenu) voted against the measure. The Likud’s Limor Livnat and Silvan Shalom abstained.
Netanyahu said the decision, though tough to make, was needed for the “good of the country.”
“This moment is not easy for me, and it isn’t easy for the government ministers, and is certainly not easy for the bereaved families, whom I deeply understand,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu agreed to push this through in response to pressure from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Over 84% of Israelis opposed the move.
Looking at whom these prisoners are is heart rending when you imagine what the families of their victims must feel.
Agbariya Hassan Muhammed, Agbariya Mustafa Muhammed Yehieh and Jabarin Muhammed Tawfik Suleiman Yusseff are Islamic Jihad members who infiltrated an IDF base and murdered 3 unarmed soldier in 1992.They're serving 3 life terms.
Sarsawi Tsalah Taha Samir was a Fatah commander who ordered a grenade tossed into a crowd of civilians in 1988 and threw Molotov cocktails at several buses, causing a number of injuries, some serious. He's serving 30 years.
Abu Mohammed Yassin is a member of the radical Popular Front For The Liberation of Palestine(PFLP)who was convicted of stabbing two Israeli civilians, purchasing a weapon used to murder another civilian, and the attempted murder of a fourth Israeli civilian. He's serving 28 years.
Dagna Nofel Mahmoud, also from the PFLP planned and carried out the brutal murder of Sarah Sharon in 1993. He's serving a life term.
Sualha Bad Mahmed and Sualha Faza Husseini of Fatah are serving life terms for the stabbing murder of teenager Baruch Heizler, who was sitting next to them on an Egged bus in 199o. They then injured three teenage girls, Malka Betty, Shai Cohen and Avishag Cohen before they were able to be subdued and disarmed. Avishag, if memory serves me was all of ten years old.
Sabbag Ahmed Mahmed of Fatah is serving a life term for brutally torturing and murdering 3 Palestinians in 1990 he suspected of 'collaborating'...
Turkeman Yussef Mahmed,Abu Hanana Usama and Abdel Aziz Mahmed of Fatah are serving life terms for planning and carrying out the ambush of a husband and wife at a small convenience store in 1992. Moishe Biton was shot as he got out of his car and his wife, Mali Biton was murdered when she went to help her husband.
Damouni Saad Ahmed and Nashabat Ahmed of Hamas are serving life terms for the murder of Amnon Pomerantz, an IDF soldier. After disabling his jeep by throwing rocks at him, they let his vehicle on fire while he was still alive.
Ahmed Shahada is serving a life term for luring 13-year-old Oren Baharami to a hidden place, brutally sodomizing him and then inviting an accomplice to take a turn back in 1989. When the child tried to run away,Shahada beat him to death with an iron bar.
I should point out that I didn't cherry pick to find the worst offenders. Any of the killers on the list are there for similar reasons.
Israel has freed murderers before as a 'good will gesture' to the Palestinian Authority. It has never brought any 'goodwill' for the simple reason that a society that makes heroes out of people like this and makes their release a pre-condition for even talking about peace has no intention of making it.
Many of them are still relatively young and capable of killing again, and like almost all of the prisoners Israel has released previously, after their heroes' welcome in Ramallah, they'll get right back into the business of killing Jews.
And by caving in to the Palestinian demand for a pre-condition, it simply sets the stage for more blackmail. The Arab mindset sees what Netanyahu has done as an admission of weakness, and an opening for even more demands.
You also have to wonder at John Kerry's motivations. Is forcing Israel into doing this more important than taking a moral stand against people like this being freed? Certainly not if an actual peace is what's desired.
This will not end well.
6 comments:
This is so bad. Kerry and Obama are total morons and typical leftist Jew-haters.Kerry likes to tell everyone how his brother is Jewish so he couldn't be an antisemite (could you just vomit). Seriously this was part of his speech in front of AJC this year.
Actually I blame this one on Jewish democrats- the jews that voted for Obama and the likes of Beinart. If Israel really felt it had the Washington political power base on its side they would not need to do this. Israel knows it can't even count on AIPAC anymore. When Jewish children start dieing these Jews can blame themselves.But they won't. Kapos have no remorse.
Mr. Kerry cannot "force" the Israelis to do any thing. Israel is a soverign and independent nation. It may be true that Mr. Kerry and the US government could threaten to withhold some things that Israel might want. Since Israel's military is to powerful for it to beneficial for the US to try and challenge them, this seems to be all that it could be.
With that said when the Israeli government does things like this it cuts the legs out from under their friends in the US and elsewhere. If they refuse to cave to US pressure, they have numerous allies in the US who would back them 100% and would petition and lobby Congress and the White House on this matter for as long as it took and if that did not work would utilize much more drastic measures to stop the pressure. Essentially use whatever means necessary to stop this, if Israel does not want to go along with such pressure. Essentially it would end up being impossible for the American government to support such policies.
As stated previously when Israel does things like this, they cut the legs out from under their friends in the US and likely any they may have elsewhere. After all if a soverign allied government wishes to make decisions it deems necessary who are we to question them? Ultimately Israel will have to make whatever decisions it needs to make regarding this and any other decisions that it deems necessary. It's not Mr. Kerry's call nor is it any American's call. With that said this looks like a really, really dumb decision on the part of the Israeli government. I hope and pray they know something I don't.
I do believe your last sentence is spot on. I've often wondered what America's governing officials get out of humiliating themselves repeatedly. Why are we involved at all? This is a dispute between two parties who reside thousands of miles away from us on the other side of the world. Especially with all of the major problems our country currently faces. It makes no sense for us to be using precious resources on this right now.
As for Israel, why should they want us involved in this? I think they should begin by kicking the US, the EU, and the UN out of the peace process all together. As for Russia it is the only nation with the combination of "moral" authority and military power to be able to influence the Arabs at this time. Note moral authority is in in quotations because I'm not trying to suggest the Russians are morally superior but with the rampant anti-Americanism that prevails in the Middle East and the world at large the US has no ability to maneuver politically at this time and its military forces are worn down to the point that any use of them in this area would only make it harder to defend America and would only create more anti-Americanism!!
Frankly, I think Israel should kick out all third parties including Russia. Then reach an agreement with the Palestinians on terms that work for both parties. As long as the Palestinians continue receiving unconditional aid in such vast quantities from the US and the EU, I don't see them negotiating in good faith. If we are serious about peace, the first step would be to cut off this aid or at least make it conditional like what Israel receives. If this aid continues, Israel should intercept it but what Israel does in this area as well as regarding prisoner releases is up to Israelis not me or other Americans.
"...if an actual peace is what's desired..." It would seem such people either don't want peace or they are blinded by ideology. Surely the Israeli leadership understands the Arab mindset. As such, their going along with this makes no logical sense.
As for the US, they need to appease the EU, UN, Arab interests and others or so this is likely their thought processes. We in America should do all we can to get such people out of positions of authority by ANY means necessary. As for Israel, there is not much we can do since their government has made their decision. Israel certainly did not have to do this. The only options available are to pray and to hope this somehow works out better than it seems it will.
The bottom line is that Netanyahu is a weak leader. His speeches have turned to complete BS.
I'm Israeli & let me tell you, our political establishment sucks.
I'm not blaming anyone except Netanyahu for this shameful & disgusting surrender, this morally bankrupt stupidity.
This is a very bad omen for things to come.
Huge mistake. Once again bowing to US pressure. Will continue to happen as long as Israel believes that it needs the US, which given its mind-set it actually does and will continue to do so until the Israeli public faces up to its true enemies; Islam and the Marxist left.
Israel has benefited from America's friendship in two primary ways; Military/economic assistance and US vetoes in the UN. Now that Israel is developing its gas and oil fields off its coasts, US military and economic assistance will increasingly be a non-factor.
The UN is a joke, Israel needs to find the fortitude to tell the UN, EU and everyone else to go pound sand. Israel is already a pariah nation. Well, if they're going to have the label they might as well live up to it. Bad guys always count on the self-restraint of the good guys. It's long past time for Israel to get as ruthless as her enemies. You don't win a gunfight with a knife.
Since the EU has removed all doubt that its intentions towards Israel are hostile, Israel should make known that the day Tel Aviv is destroyed in a nuclear terrorist attack is the day London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels and The Hague disappear.
Israel's biggest problem is that her enemies face no consequences for their actions and that is not the fault of her enemies, that is Israel's fault.
Ariel Sharon would have more than likely told Obama to screw off with a request like this...
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