Israel Matzav

Surprise: Vast majority of Israeli Jews opposes terror release

I have mentioned a number of times that 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen is demanding the unilateral release by Israel of some 100-120 'Palestinian' terrorists being held in Israeli prisons for terror attacks in the years leading up to the Oslo Accords. A new poll finds that a huge majority of Israeli Jews is opposed to that demand. 85% of Israeli Jews say that the 'Palestinian' terrorists should not go free in exchange for a resumption of the 'peace talks.' I didn't think 85% of us could agree on anything.

Asked whether they would support releasing terrorists as a gesture to bring the Palestinians to the negotiating table, 57% said they would strongly oppose it, 28% said were against it, 13% said they supported it and just 2% said they were strongly in favor of such a move.

The poll of 407 respondents representing a sample of the Jewish population of Israel was taken last week and has a 5% margin of error.

The survey also asked how withdrawing from Judea and Samaria would impact the security situation in Israel. It found that 68% of Israelis believe it would harm Israeli security and 21% believe it would improve it.

The poll was taken in honor of the [Knesset Land of Israel] caucus’s launch on Tuesday.
It is to consist of 35 MKs plus the outside support of several cabinet ministers who cannot join caucuses.

That's a huge majority. But the reality is that if the government were to release terrorists and withdraw from Judea and Samaria, it's unlikely that would cause anyone to vote differently in the next election.

What could go wrong?

Labels: gestures, Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian terrorists, unilateral concessions, unilateral withdrawal

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:49 AM