Israel Matzav

Netanyahu gets tickled by a backbone

It's taken a long time - too long for my tastes - but it seems that Israel's Prime Minister might just be starting to discover that he has a backbone and that he can use it after all.

Israel's Channel 2 is reporting that the Prime Minister has informed the United States that Israel will not release 'Israeli Arab' terrorists as a gesture to the 'Palestinians,' but that it will release them in exchange for Jonathan Pollard.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told US Secretary of State John Kerry that Israel would not release any Israeli-Arab prisoners in the fourth and final release, Channel 2 reported on Monday night, citing an Israeli official.

Israel has been reluctant to release those prisoners that, unlike the Palestinian prisoners, live within the Green Line and have an Israeli ID.

Netanyahu has reportedly asked the Shin Bet and the Israeli Prisons Service to compile a list of other prisoners to replace the Israeli-Arab prisoners already on the list.

The Prime Minister's Office, however, said that Israel never committed itself at any stage to release Israeli Arabs. A decision to do so would entail another cabinet vote.

Why should we have to 'replace' anyone we take off the list? Especially in light of the next line...

The official told Channel 2 that Israel felt "deceived" by Kerry, who caved to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' demand to increase the number of prisoners released from 82 to 104, and led him to believe Israel would be willing to release prisoners with Israeli citizenship.

Why didn't Netanyahu say so six months ago? And since when have we outsourced our negotiations to John FN Kerry?

And then there's this.

Netanyahu reportedly told Kerry that while Israel was not willing to release Israeli-Arab prisoners as a gesture to the Palestinians, it would be willing to release them as a gesture to the US, in return for the release of Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard.

According to the report, Kerry has agreed to consider the proposal, but has yet to respond to it.

 Pollard is not going to go for that.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, gestures, Israeli Arabs are a fifth column, John Kerry, Jonathan Pollard, Palestinian terrorists

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:40 PM