Israel Matzav

What will Steve Linde say to families of future terror victims?

With apologies to Caroline Glick (whose writings I now read on her blog), I am happy that I canceled my hard copy subscription to the JPost. Once again, the new editor, Steve Linde, proves that he's a moron.

There are undoubtedly those in Israel, especially some victims of terror, who will strongly oppose the release of Palestinian terrorists, and even murderers.

This is understandable, and their voices should be heard and not judged.

But the overriding principle must not be forgotten: Israel and the IDF cannot abandon Israeli soldiers, citizens and prisoners, wherever they are.

Excuse me? How many Israelis will - God forbid - die in terror attacks so that Gilad can return to Mitzpe Hila, Mr. Linde? And what will you - as someone who promoted this 'deal' say to them? How many of them deserve to die to free one IDF soldier?

Caroline Glick calls the 'deal' A Pact Signed in Jewish Blood.

The deal that Netanyahu has agreed to is signed with the blood of the past victims and future victims of the terrorists he is letting go. No amount of rationalization by Netanyahu, his cheerleaders in the demented mass media, and by the defeatist, apparently incompetent heads of the Shin Bet, Mossad and IDF can dent the facts.

IT IS a statistical certainty that the release of 1,027 terrorists for Schalit will lead to the murder of untold numbers of Israelis. It has happened every single time that these blood ransoms have been paid. It will happen now.

Untold numbers of Israelis who are now sitting in their succas and celebrating Jewish freedom, who are driving in their cars, who are standing on line at the bank, who are sitting in their nursery school classrooms painting pictures of Torah scrolls for Simhat Torah will be killed for being Jewish while in Israel because Netanyahu has made this deal. The unrelenting pain of their families, left to cope with their absence, will be unimaginable.

This is a simple fact and it is beyond dispute.

It is also beyond dispute that untold numbers of IDF soldiers and officers will be abducted and held hostage. Soldiers now training for war or scrubbing the floors of their barracks, or sitting at a pub with their friends on holiday leave will one day find themselves in a dungeon in Gaza or Sinai or Lebanon undergoing unspeakable mental and physical torture for years. Their families will suffer inhuman agony.

The only thing we don't know about these future victims is their names. But we know what will become of them as surely as we know that night follows day.

Netanyahu has proven once again that taking IDF soldiers hostage is a sure bet for our Palestinian neighbors. They can murder the next batch of Sinais and Gals, Noas and Ruths. They can kill thousands of them. And they can do so knowing all along that all they need to do to win immunity for their killers is kidnap a single IDF soldier.

There is no downside to this situation for those who believe all Jews should die.

Caroline explains that while there is no rational reason for Netanyahu to have made this deal, there is plenty of rationale for Hamas: Netanyahu has granted them safe passage to Egypt (Israel Radio has reported that the Hamas headquarters is likely moving from Syria to Egypt, but has not reported that Netanyahu granted them safe passage).

According to Channel 2, in exchange for Schalit, beyond releasing a thousand murderers, Netanyahu agreed to give safe passage to Hamas's leaders decamping to Egypt.

What this means is that this deal is even worse for Israel than it looks on the surface.

Not only is Israel guaranteeing a reinvigoration of the Palestinian terror war against its civilians by freeing the most experienced terrorists in Palestinian society, and doing so at a time when the terror war itself is gradually escalating. Israel is squandering the opportunity to either decapitate Hamas by killing its leaders in transit, or to weaken the group by forcing its leaders to go down with Assad in Syria.

At best, Netanyahu comes out of this deal looking like a weak leader who is manipulated by and beholden to Israel's radical, surrender-crazed media. To their eternal shame, the media have been waging a five-year campaign to force Israel's leaders to capitulate to Hamas.

At worst, this deal exposes Netanyahu as a morally challenged, strategically irresponsible and foolish, opportunistic politician.

Read the whole thing.

The picture at the top of this post is my daughter's friend Nava Applebaum HY"D and her father Dr. David Applebaum HY"D (May God Avenge their blood). The night before Nava's wedding, Nava and David were murdered by a suicide bomber, Ramez Sali Abu Salim, who had been released in a previous deal.

The murderer, Ramez Sali Abu Salim, from Rantis, northwest of Ramallah, had been freed from an Israeli prison in 2002. He was rearrested a few months later, but was freed again on February 20, 2003. Seven months later he was sent by the Hamas command in Ramallah to commit a terror attack in the heart of Jerusalem.

Here's their story. Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Caroline Glick, David and Nava Applebaum, Steve Linde, terrorists for Gilad trade

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:38 AM