And again: 'Palestinian' stabs Christian British student to death on Jerusalem tram
A 23-year old Christian British woman was murdered by a 'mentally unstable' (is there any other kind?) 'Palestinian' terrorist on the Jerusalem tram this afternoon. The terrorist was a 57-year old (so much for 'only' letting 'over-50 Palestinians' move around freely) resident of Ras-al-Amud, the area near the Mount of Olives. The stabbing took place as the tram rounded the corner at IDF Square, just outside Jerusalem's Old City.
Another woman, who is pregnant, was injured when the train stopped, and a man was hurt while trying to flee the assailant. They are both lightly hurt, MDA said.
The assailant has been identified as Gamil Tamimi, 57, a Palestinian resident of Ras al-Amud in East Jerusalem who was recently released from a psychiatric hospital, according to the police said.
Probably related to this Tamimi - at least distantly. Israel is holding this paragon of virtue - at least until the next Terrorists for X exchange.
The Shin Bet said that Tamimi had tried to commit suicide by swallowing a razorblade while hospitalized. In 2011, he was convicted of molesting his daughter.
"This is yet another case of a Palestinian suffering from personal, mental or moral distress choosing to commit an act of terror to escape his problems," the Shin Bet says.
So in 'Palestinian society' you can save your 'family honor' by murdering a Jew. Murder a Jew and and molesting your daughter is forgiven.
Change: Trump demands Sbarro murderer's extradition, tells 'Palestinians' to end incitement
One of Haaretz's editorials today speculated that ultimately, the 'Palestinians' will have to save Israel from enacting a 'two-state solution.' Israel Radio's midnight news gave two signals that the 'Palestinians' are being put in a position where they will have to behave properly, or there will be no support from the United States for a 'Palestinian state.'
First, the United States has demanded that Jordan extradite Ahlam Tamimi, who planned the Sbarro suicide bombing 16 years ago and drove the bomber to the downtown Jerusalem restaurant.
Tamimi scouted for a target before leading the bomber, Izz al-Din
Shuheil al-Masri, to the Sbarro restaurant. They arrived just before
2:00 pm, when the restaurant was filled with customers, dozens of women,
children and babies, and pedestrian traffic outside was at its peak.
Tamimi
departed before Al-Masri, thought to be carrying a rigged guitar case
or wearing an an explosive vest weighing 5 to 10 kilograms of
explosives, nails, nuts and bolts, detonated his bomb.
She is
currently a television host in Jordan, has hosted Hamas arch-terrorist
Saleh Arouri (who ordered the kidnapping of three Jewish teenagers in
June 2014), bragged of her involvement in others murders of Israelis and
is considered as a symbol of the Palestinians fight.
Israel Radio reported that Tamimi was sentenced to 16 life sentences (15 Israelis were murdered in the bombing and a 16th - Chana Nachenberg - is in a vegetative state to this day), but was released as part of the 'terrorists for Gilad' trade in 2011. Israel Radio said that two of the terrorists' victims were US citizens (I think it was actually more than two - Malki Roth and Shoshana Heyman HY"D were also American citizens).
Jordan may have a tough call to make, honoring its strong alliance to
the US, with trying to avoid offending its majority Palestinian
population and an anti-extradition trend in its court system, according
to Shurat Hadin which is representing the family of the victim Chana
Nachenberg (Finers and Nachenbergs) who was grievously injured in the
bombing and remains in Israel in a coma even until now.
According
to Shurat HaDin President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner: "We are glad that
the US Department of Justice has decided to move forward against this
notorious mass murderer. We have been requesting for a long time that
this unrepentant Palestinian terrorist be rearrested, extradited and
prosecuted by American law enforcement officials."
"It was
outrageous that Israel released this criminal with so much innocent
blood on her hands and who has publicly rejoiced that she killed 8
Jewish children. For too long Jordan has become a safe haven for
Palestinian terrorists and, hopefully, this is a change of policy for
the new Trump administration, to start to pursue the numerous
Palestinians who have killed US citizens in Israel," she said.
Chana
Nachenberg's father, Yitzhak Bennett Finer, has responded: "We applaud
the efforts of the Department of Justice in trying to bring Tamimi to
justice and we hope they'll be successful. Our daughter Chana Nachenberg
had the prime of her life taken from her because she has spent the past
15 and half years in a vegetative state on a respirator as a result of
this inhuman act of the heinous bombing of Sbarros. Her daughter Sarah
has grown up without a mother and her husband David without the love of
his wife."
Jordan is highly unlike to extradite Tamimi. If the royal family is about anything, it's about self-preservation. Extraditing Tamimi (whose clan includes prominent Jordanian lawyers) would bring about fighting that has been unseen since the Black September uprising in 1970. There is almost no chance that King Abdullah will take that risk to keep the United States happy.
In a second report this evening, Israel Radio reported that the United States' Jerusalem Consulate's readout of Trump envoy Jason Greenblatt's meeting with 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen today included a demand that the 'Palestinians' stop incitement to terrorism.
During a meeting at the Palestinian
Authority’s headquarters in Ramallah, Abbas committed to combat
Palestinian incitement, the statement said. The Palestinian leader and
Greenblatt also discussed building up the PA’s security forces,
advancing the peace process, and improving the Palestinian economy.
According to the readout, Abbas told
Greenblatt that “he believes that under President Trump’s leadership a
historic peace deal is possible, and that it will enhance security
throughout the region.”
“President Abbas committed to preventing inflammatory rhetoric and incitement,” the statement added.
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has been adamant that PA-sanctioned media and school
curriculum are responsible for inciting terrorism.
...
The Palestinian daily al-Quds cited sources in
the US Congress who said Greenblatt warned Abbas that US lawmakers are
working to condition US aid to the Palestinians — with the exception of
security assistance — on ending incitement, including payments to the
families of Palestinian terrorists.
The PA pays monthly stipends to families who
have a member who is considered to have been “martyred,” which usually
means being killed by an Israeli while carrying out a terror attack or
suspected attack, or who is spending time in Israeli prison for
perpetrating a terrorist act.
The US government has already taken measures
to ensure its aid isn’t funneled to the families of terrorists. That
includes paying the debts of the PA directly, rather than transferring
funds into the PA’s coffers.
In the 12th year of his four-year term, Abu Dodobird may have finally found an American President who is willing to stand up to him. The 'Palestinians' must be really disappointed that Hillary Clinton lost the election. Heh.
Shirley Temper 'rescues' her brother from the IDF, Papa is proud
Do you all remember Shirley Temper (real name Ahed Tamimi, and yes, from that Tamimi clan)? On Friday, Shirley and her mother attacked yet another IDF soldier to prevent them from arresting her little brother for throwing stones at soldiers.
The opening shots show a partially-masked soldier with a rifle in his
hand running after the boy, Muhammad Tamimi, across an empty brown
hillside filled with rocks and a few scattered olive trees.
The
soldier catches Muhammad from behind and places him in a choke-hold.
Muhammad screams and begins crying. The soldier pushes Muhammad onto a
rock and lies on top of him, as a young female activist with a gas mask
in one hand tries to pull the boy away.
The soldier pushes her back and tells her to leave the boy alone. Muhammad’s left arm can be seen in a cast.
The
soldier calls out for reinforcements as he holds one arm around the
boy’s neck and keeps his other hand on his gun. Within a minute,
Muhammad’s sister, Ahed, 14, and mother arrive, along with other women
and children.
Screaming, they hit the soldier, unmask him, and
try to pull the boy away. They succeed just as a second soldier arrives.
One of them throws a stun grenade at the Palestinians. Both soldiers,
however, walk away without arresting Muhammad.
The IDF said the
incident occurred during violent clashes between its soldiers and
Palestinians in which rocks were thrown at security forces. It said that
an attempt was made to arrest Muhammad after he was identified as one
of the stone throwers.
The IDF said that during the execution of
the arrest, a number of Palestinians, including women and children,
acted in a violent and provocative manner. It said that a commander
decided not to carry out the arrest as a result of this.
"We have the right to resist. Our children are doing their duty and must be strong," Bassem Tamimi told The Jerusalem Post,
when asked how he feels about his children's participation in West Bank
protests against soldiers. He noted, however, that they are not against
the soldiers, but against the occupation.
...
"There is no safe place to be," he tells the Post, making no
distinction between soldiers, settlers or Jewish extremists . "Because a
lot of time they target houses, and there is fire on the houses." He
gives the example of the Dawabshe family who were the victims of an arson attack
on their home in Duma in July, which killed a Palestinian toddler and
his father. The attack was allegedly perpetrated by Jewish terrorists.
It's actually far more likely that the attack was perpetrated by a rival 'Palestinian' clan but because our government is afraid to come out and say it, so is everyone else and we continue to be slandered.
Responding to comments made by right-wing Israeli politicians and
activists on the heels of Friday's incident, that IDF soldiers should
open fire immediately if they are attacked, Bassem Tamimi claims that it
makes no difference if they are attacked or not: "they will open fire
anyway," he asserts.
Our Prime Minister is like a little kid who is showing off how much candy he's been given. Yes, 'Bibi' is so proud of himself because the IDF has 'rearrested' 50 Hamas terrorists who were released in the spineless 'terrorists for Gilad' deal because... wait for it... they violated the conditions of their release.
"I wish to extend my congratulations to the troops and commanders of
the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) for the complex
operations that they carried out overnight," Netanyahu tweeted on his
Twitter account.
"The operation overnight in which Hamas
terrorists were arrested, including those released in the prisoner swap
for Gilad Schalit, is an element that carries with it an important
message," the prime minister wrote on his Twitter account. "This is all
part of a series of many operations that will continue, and their goal
is to retrieve the kidnapped youngsters and strike a blow to Hamas in
Judea and Samaria."
The prisoners had signed a document on their
release vowing to live up to a set of conditions, which they have since
violated, a senior security source stated.
The former prisoners, all members of Hamas, were selected by the Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency] for arrest.
Since when is someone who is extorted required to abide by the deal he signed while being blackmailed?
Is it just this week that they violated the conditions of their release, or have they been violating them since 2011, but our gutless government ignored the violations until now?
Has Ahlam Tamimi (who led the Sbarro terrorist to the site of his murderous attack and then broadcast the story on television that night) violated the terms of her release? Why isn't Netanyahu going after her?
Here's our request.If you have Hebrew speaking friends or acquaintances who you feel should become aware of what has taken place in this sad and worrying extended affair, please point them totoday's articlein Haaretz - נדיבים לרוצחים. For your English-speaking friends, please refer them to theEnglish version of the same article (here on our blog). We have nothing more than this to ask. People should simply know. [The English article is also here. CiJ].
And please also mention to those friends that the two convicted terrorist/murderers about whom Frimet writes were married in a highly-publicized wedding ceremony (including live TV coverage - this was a major event in the Arab world) in Amman, Jordan, on June 16. As far as we can tell, not a single Israeli news source has reported this until now.
A snapshot of the blissful couple, one of many such pictures to appear in the Arab media, appears at the top of this blog posting.
Any of you who has read this blog for some period of time has seen me use the term NotInMyBackYard, which basically means that if it doesn't affect me personally, I don't care about it. For example, if bombs are going off in Sderot, none of the elites need to care because Tel Aviv is quiet. I have a friend who has a neat name for this kind of behavior - Bishvili Nivra HaOlam syndrome. The name is a takeoff on the Talmudic saying that every person must think that Bishvili Nivra HaOlam, the world was worthy of being created for me. Of course, the Talmud did not intend to say that the world is for me to the exclusion of everyone else.
As a people, we Israeli Jews are afflicted with Bishvili Nivra HaOlam syndrome. We don't timely pay our employees or contractors, we cheat on taxes, we cut in lines at banks and supermarkets, we drive like there are no other cars on the road even in the heaviest of traffic (and especially at night when there seems to be less chance of being caught), we remain indifferent to others' pain.... You all know that at least some of those things describe you... and me to a greater or lesser extent.
Eight months ago, the entire country was endangered to resolve a personal issue belonging to one family that was capable of resolution in other ways. Over 1,000 'Palestinian' terrorists were released in exchange for one kidnapped IDF soldier, Gilad Shalit. What was most striking about the release was the manner in which the families of terror victims were completely ignored. Victim impact statements were nowhere to be found. In fact, families of terror victims were unable to even obtain the most basic information from the government. It was as if they did not exist.
I've known Arnold Roth for about eight years - we were briefly colleagues at the same law firm. My eldest daughter was a couple of years ahead of his daughter, Malki HY"D (May God Avenge her blood) in school. Malki was one of 15 (really 16 - one woman remains in a coma to this day) people murdered at Sbarro's here in Jerusalem ten years ago. The planner of that attack, the woman who brought the bomber into Jerusalem, dropped him off outside the restaurant and then went back to Ramallah to gleefully broadcast the story on the evening news, was Ahlam Tamimi. Tamimi, who was released as part of the Shalit deal despite vehement protests from the Roth's and from many other people, is such a sadistic personality that she smiled with satisfaction at the television cameras when she was told in an interview that eight of the dead were children, and not three as she thought. She is a despicable excuse for a member of the human race.
Eleven days ago, in a move that is simply inexplicable, because it was not part of the Shalit deal, Tamimi's cousin Nizar Tamimi, who is also a murderer who was released as part of the Shalit deal, was allowed to move to Jordan to marry Ahlam, so long as he doesn't return to Israel or Judea and Samaria for five years. Once again, the government moved without consulting with either Nizar's or Ahlam's victims, thereby ensuring the perpetuation of a prominent terrorist family for at least another generation. When one compares this to the pitched battle the government fought to prevent Yigal Amir, the alleged assassin of Yitzchak Rabin z"l (of blessed memory), from consummating his marriage, the contrast could not be more striking. That's because Rabin was 'one of us' and Arnold and Frimet Roth, as immigrants from Australia and the United States, respectively, are not. But what's most striking about the Roths' battle to at least keep Tamimi in jail, or to keep her from procreating, is not that the government has not acceded to any of the Roth's requests, but that they have not even been willing to listen to them.
The article linked below, authored by Ben Cohen of Joint Media News Service, currently appears on the web editions of the Canadian Jewish News and of Algemeiner Journal. It describes the Roths' ongoing battle to force Tamimi to pay a price for her crimes. You can also read it here. I urge you all to read it.
In a brief post on Monday, I reported that the fiancee of 'Palestinian' terrorist Ahlam Tamimi was allowed to cross into Jordan to consecrate their marriage. Needless to say, he's not coming back. Both Tamimi and her fiancee cousin Nizar were released as part of the terrorists for Gilad deal executed by the Netanyahu-Barak government.
For Arnold and Frimet Roth, whose daughter Malki HY"D (May God Avenge her blood) was murdered as a result of Ahlam Tamimi's actions, Nizar's release to Jordan is just another in a series of actions by Prime Minister Netanyahu that kowtow to terrorism and cause them additional pain.
Why, we demand to know, did this government secretly delete the condition of the murderer Nazir al-Tamimi's release? This had been accepted by Hamas and was the last vestige of punishment that remained for two evil monsters. There is simply no rationalization for rewarding them.
Unlike the Shalit deal, this generosity will not return to Israel any missing soldiers. It does not benefit the nation in any way. But it will embolden terrorists everywhere. Tamimi will make certain of that.
Since the Shalit deal, she has traveled freely from her base in Jordan. On visits to Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia and Qatar, she incites crowds of fans to follow in her footsteps. She hosts a weekly prime-time TV talk show every Friday night on a Hamas satellite channel. Since March, her hateful messages are beamed to households throughout the Arabic-speaking world. She brags about her barbaric deed, declares she has no regrets, encourages others to follow and states her readiness to repeat it.
Many know Tamimi as the “star” of a viral YouTube clip in which she smiles joyfully upon learning that her fifteen victims at Sbarro include eight children. She had thought there were three, she says.
This is the person our leaders – sworn to uphold the basic democratic principles of justice and fairness – have chosen to reward.
Precious Malki has been denied forever the right to life, marriage and a family. But we must now watch Tamimi, the embodiment of evil, living her life to the fullest. Courtesy of our own government.
Ahlam Tamimi's husband allowed to join her in Jordan
I have discussed Ahlam Tamimi, the brains behind the Jerusalem Sbarro massacre, more times than I can count on this blog.
When Tamimi, seen above reading a newscast about the Sbarro bombing on 'Palestinian' television shortly after the bombing, was released from prison as part of the terrorists for Gilad trade in October, she was exiled to Jordan, 'never' to return to Israel or the 'Palestinian Authority.' In Jordan, she has become a television star....
Meanwhile, Tamimi's cousin Nizar al-Tamimi, to whom she was betrothed, was released to Judea and Samaria as part of the same deal, and was not allowed to leave the area. Nizar al-Tamimi is also a murderer.
My friend Arnold Roth, whose daughter Malki was murdered in the Sbarro bombing, got wind last week that the Israeli government was preparing to remove the restriction that kept Nizar in the 'Palestinian Authority.' On Wednesday, Arnold and his wife, Frimet, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu, which they republished - on Sunday - here.
On Sunday evening, Arnold and Frimet got word that Nizar was quietly permitted to cross into Jordan on Thursday. Did Arnold and Frimet's letter accelerate Nizar's departure? I leave that to the reader to contemplate.
The same government that fought dozens of court battles to prevent there being more Amir's in the world, has quietly facilitated the existence of future Tamimi's in the world.
Ahlam Tamimi, who arranged the murder of 15 Israelis and the wounding of tens of others (one of whom is in a coma to this day), and who was released as part of the 'terrorists for Gilad' trade in October, is complaining that Israel has hired the Russian mafia to liquidate her and 40 other terrorists released to Arab countries. Tamimi was sent home to Jordan.
Tamimi, who was released in October 2011 together with over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Schalit, told Al-Jazeera that the Mossad was planning to assassinate her and 40 other prisoners who were deported to Arab and Islamic countries.
She did not provide further details of what she described as a “filthy plot.”
Israel has asked the Russian mafia to assassinate the former prisoners living abroad, Tamimi, who is currently in Jordan, charged.
“Israel has prepared a plan for the execution of this filthy plot,” she said.
She added that Israel has already begun targeting Palestinian prisoners who were released into the West Bank by re-arresting a number of them.
Tamimi boasted that Israel was forced through the prisoner deal to abandon its pledge not to succumb to the demands of Schalit’s captors.
Tamimi is a mass murderer who deserves to die a slow and painful death. It should happen soon.
It happened to most of the terrorists who attacked the Munich Olympics in 1972.
Ahlam Tamimi hosting talk show on Hamas television
'Palestinian' terrorist Ahlam Tamimi, who is responsible for the murder of 15 people at a Sbarro's restaurant in Jerusalem in 2001, is now hosting a talk show on Hamas television. Tamimi was released from prison in October as part of the terrorists for Gilad deal.
Entitled Nasim Al-Ahrar [Breeze of the Free], Tamimi's show deals with the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
The first program focused on the implications of the Schalit deal and the case of Palestinian female prisoners.
Tamimi hosted Saleh Arouri, who is in charge of the prisoners portfolio in Hamas and participated in the negotiations that led to the signing of the prisoner exchange accord.
Arouri said that the only way to secure the release of more Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails was by continuing the "resistance" and kidnapping IDF soldiers.
Sickening. The unmitigated gall of this woman is just beyond belief.
The United States can and should prosecute many of the terrorists who were released by Israel last month in exchange for kidnapped IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit.
Since the Antiterrorism Act of 1990, it has been a capital crime under American law, punishable by “death or imprisonment for any term of years or for life, or both,” to “kill a national of the United States, while such national is outside the United States.” A conspirator in such a crime can get up to 20 years imprisonment. No statute of limitations precludes prosecution of old offenses.
Another law, passed in 1994, made it a federal crime to use an explosive bomb “against a national of the United States while such national is outside of the United States.” In 2002 Congress authorized prosecution in American federal courts of anyone who, with criminal intent, injured “a national of the United States” outside the United States by detonating “an explosive or other legal device in, into or against a place of public use” or “a public transportation system.”
Prosecutions have been brought in American federal courts against individuals responsible for bombings that killed Americans in the Philippines, Colombia, Kenya, and Tanzania. Many of the individuals accused of these crimes were brought here for trial following their extradition, on the request of the United States, from foreign countries. American prosecutors have not, however, charged the Hamas perpetrators of bombings in Israel such as the 2001 and 2003 bombings in Jerusalem and Haifa, even though American citizens were murdered in these attacks. They have relied on the Israeli legal process to arrest and punish the perpetrators.
Tamimi, al-Jabaa, Sharakh, Amr, and Dar Musa were prosecuted and convicted in Israeli courts. They and other perpetrators of these murders received either multiple sentences of life imprisonment or long prison terms. Until they were released by Israel’s government under duress in order to bring Gilad Shalit home, they expected to spend the rest of their lives in Israeli prisons. They are now free in Jordan or Gaza.
The Department of Justice should now indict, extradite, and put to trial in United States courts, under American law, these killers of American citizens. Jordan has an extradition treaty with the United States that covers all offenses “punishable under the laws in both Contracting States by deprivation of liberty for a period of more than one year or by a more severe penalty.” A conspiracy to commit such an offense is also covered by Article 2(2) of the treaty.
No provision of any extradition treaty should preclude bringing these criminals to justice in the United States. The Jordan treaty bars extradition for “political offenses,” but it would be hard to claim that the mass terrorist killings of civilians in Jerusalem and Haifa were only “political offenses.” At the least, Jordan should be put to that test.
Nor could Jordan or any other requested country invoke the bar against double jeopardy that appears in many extradition treaties to prevent second punishment after a criminal prosecution for the extraditable offense has been conducted and fully carried out. That provision obviously does not prevent extradition of a fugitive who flees a country where he has been convicted in order to avoid imprisonment. It also should not prevent extradition if, by some other unlawful means such as Hamas’ extortionate demand, the criminal process is aborted.
I have to get you in the proper mood for this, so here's Paul Anka (sorry - I was never too crazy about Donnie Osmond) singing Puppy Love.
Let's go to the videotape.
Tom Gross reports on Puppy Love among the released 'Palestinian' terrorists.
* Omar Ghraieb: “He was from Fatah and she was from Hamas, the two rival Palestinian movements. They were both serving multiple life sentences. They had participated in killings – she for her role in a Jerusalem restaurant bombing, he in connection with the killing of an Israeli. As lovers go they could not have been more star crossed, yet Nezar and Ahlam Al Tammimi met, fell in love, got engaged and finally married while they were sitting in Israeli jails. Both were among some 450 Palestinian prisoners swapped for Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit last week.”
* Tom Gross adds: Tammimi is one of the worst terrorists of recent years, proudly taking responsibility for her key role in the Sbarro pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem which killed 16 Israelis (including 12 children) and injured 150. (Contrast Israel’s allowing prisoners to meet and marry, with Gilad Shalit’s treatment in Gaza.)
Actually, from what I have read, they are not married... yet. Ghareib's article, which Gross quotes in its entirety further into his dispatch, gives the impression that they have married. And there's one other small problem.
Ahlam's sister, Iftikhar Aref, said that the family never [dared to] hope that one day Nizar and Ahlam would be freed. "Thank God that it has happened," she added. "When we heard that both were part of the exchange deal, we started arranging a party for them here in Jordan." Although Nizar was able to return to his home in Nabi Saleh, Ahlam was deported to Jordan. "We will complete preparations for the marriage between Ahlam and Nizar," said Iftikhar, "and if Ahlam is unable to go to Nabi Saleh, then Nizar will have to come to Jordan." There are no security and travel restrictions on Nizar as there are on some of the released prisoners.
Nabi Saleh is in Samaria. If Nizar moves to Jordan, that's fine with me for now. Another 'Palestinian' moving to the 'Palestinian' state. And eventually, they'll both get what's coming to them and not a moment too soon. Heh.
Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Friday, October 28 (sorry - I missed this earlier).
1) A brief history of prisoner releases
While the trade of 1047 Palestinian prisoners wasn't, strictly speaking, a prisoner release, Ethan Bronner of the New York Times wrote, when he reported that a deal had been reached:
He said he had told his negotiators to hold the talks “under the guidelines important to Israel: the need to bring Gilad home and the need to keep Israel’s citizens safe.”For Palestinians, the plight of thousands of their sons in Israeli prisons has been equally traumatic, and the possibility of their release drew enormous attention.
First of all the equivalence between Shalit and the Palestinians released is outrageous. Among other things the Palestinians currently in Israeli jails were convicted of crimes, of varying severity up to multiple counts of murder. Still Bronner asserted that the incarceration Palestinian prisoners in Israel was "traumatic," so the question is how did this "plight" come to be. In Annex VII of the Israeli Palestinian Interim Agreement (Oslo II) the conditions for prisoner releases were specified.
2. The following categories of detainees and/or prisoners will be included in the abovementioned releases:
a. all female detainees and prisoners shall be released in the first stage of release;b. persons who have served more than two thirds of their sentence;c. detainees and/or prisoners charged with or imprisoned for security offenses not involving fatality or serious injury;d. detainees and/or prisoners charged with or convicted of non-security criminal offenses; ande. citizens of Arab countries being held in Israel pending implementation of orders for their deportation.
3. Detainees and prisoners from among the categories detailed in this paragraph, who meet the criteria set out in paragraph 2 above, are being considered by Israel to be eligible for release:
a. prisoners and/or detainees aged 50 years and above;b. prisoners and/or detainees under 18 years of age;c. prisoners who have been imprisoned for 10 years or more; andd. sick and unhealthy prisoners and/or detainees.
Note especially items 2b) and 2c). In 1995, Israel had only recently declared the PLO not to be a terrorist organization since Arafat had made a declaration (albeit an insincere one) renouncing terrorism as a tactic. There were still people in jail who had been arrested for belonging to Fatah. It was mainly these people that prisoner releases were meant to free. So what happened a few years later when then (and now, current) Prime Minister Netanyahu followed these terms to the letter? Arafat incited riots against Israel!
With every day, until the relative calm of today, the unrest has gained momentum, threatening the Israeli-Palestinian peace effort. In response to the violence, the Israelis have frozen the land-for-security plan, and it appears increasingly unlikely that they will carry out the second of three withdrawals from the West Bank as scheduled by Dec. 18.And with every day, the prisoner issue has assumed greater importance.Some youths are referring to the riots as ''the prisoners' intifada,'' evoking the Palestinian uprising of 1987-1993. The anniversary of that uprising's outbreak will be celebrated on Wednesday. Israeli officials have seized on the label to paint the unrest as a breakdown of the peace effort.
When Israel released the first batch of 250 last month, the Palestinians were outraged that they included 150 common criminals. The deal, said Arafat and his aides, was for political prisoners to be freed. Surely they did not bargain for days at Wye for the liberation of car thieves, said Ahmed Tibi, a Palestinian spokesman. Not so, said Netanyahu, and the State Department concurred: Nowhere in the agreement does it specify that the freed detainees be political prisoners. But the American stance has done nothing to defuse the anger among Palestinians, for whom the issue of prisoners is visceral. This weekend, it burst into the open with demonstrations throughout the West Bank, which were put down by Israeli troops firing lethal rubber-coated bullets and tear gas. The scenes of the wounded being carted off, bloodied and grimacing in pain, were reminiscent of the Palestinian uprising that ended six years ago. At the same time, hundreds of the prisoners began a hunger strike that was joined by some of their families.
Arafat, in a meeting this week, asked Clinton to resolve the dispute, according to Ahmed Tibi, a senior advisor to Arafat. Tibi accused the Israeli government of misleading the Palestinians on the releases and of deceptively padding the release rosters with car thieves and other common criminals. Of about 2,100 Palestinian "political prisoners," Tibi said, about 300 killed Israelis and an additional 1,000 are members of Hamas or similar militant Islamic organizations and not eligible for release. That would leave at least 700 supporters of Fatah and other pro-Arafat organizations who Tibi said should be freed. "These are the soldiers of Yasser Arafat," Tibi said. The Israeli government disputes those figures, however, saying that only 200 or so inmates meet the criteria for release.
Note that neither report includes the important detail that Arafat was changing the deal from what was written in Oslo. Two weeks later in an op-ed Peter Edelman of Americans for Peace Now complained:
Why is the latest peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians in danger when both sides started off largely meeting the terms of their commitments? As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatens to delay implementation of the Wye memorandum for the umpteenth time, it's clear that mere compliance with the letter of the accord is not enough.The agreement is threatened because the deep distrust that evolved between the two sides over the past few years did not dissipate when Netanyahu and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat signed the deal. Almost from the moment he returned to Israel from the Wye summit, Netanyahu has antagonized the Palestinians as well as his American allies. Until the Israeli government changes its attitude, it will be difficult to resolve issues that have evolved outside the text of the agreement, much less move forward to productive final status negotiations.
Later on Edelman apportions blame to Arafat too, but of course his main target was Netanyahu. Charles Krauthammer, as usual, observed something important:
The administration did, in the famous "Note for the Record" requiring the Palestinians to end anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic incitement, to change the Palestinian charter to eliminate clauses rejecting Israel's existence, to reduce the size of the Palestinian police, etc.Every single one of these promises remained a dead letter. How do we know? Because they reappear--as Palestinian commitments--in the Wye accord negotiated 21 months later. This time, said the State Department, we really mean it: Israel will get these reciprocal gestures--in return for another 13 percent of the land.Indeed, the U.S. proposed a three-stage deal so that Israel would not be stiffed again. Rather than withdrawing in one chunk--as it did in Hebron, then finding that the Palestinians, land in hand, simply ignored their obligations--Israel would give up 2 percent first, then wait for Palestinian compliance; then another 5 percent, with a pause for Palestinian compliance; then a final 6 percent.
Contrary to Edelman's false charge (later in the op-ed) that Netanyahu had delayed withdrawals outside of the framework of Wye, Krauthammer points out that the stages were an essential part of Wye. What's important about this incident is how it demonstrated a trend of Palestinian demands becoming etched in stone - regardless of what was actually agreed to. Netanyahu once again found himself cast as the bad guy for insisting the agreements meant something. One footnote to this prisoner story is this report, a month later: Arafat Releases Prisoners to Mark Holiday; Israel Protests
Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat released 54 jailed prisoners, including members of the Islamic militant group Hamas and other opposition organizations, to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.A Palestinian police spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said those freed included both criminals and political detainees, among them some low-level members of the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Leading Hamas figure Abdel Aziz Rantissi and Islamic Jihad leader Abdullah Shami were not among those released....Israel called the move a "violation" of agreements.
The prisoner release was a pretty clear violation of Arafat's commitment at Wye to fight terror, and the LA Times puts violation in scare quotes! The Israel Project has a list of prisoner releases that Israel has undertaken as of 2008.
Mr. Taqatqa, 38, was among the first group of 477 Palestinian prisoners freed in return for an Israeli tank soldier, Sgt. First Class Gilad Shalit, captured five years ago when Hamas militants crossed through a tunnel to raid an Israeli military base. Mr. Taqatqa had served 18 years of a life sentence in an Israeli prison, with a lot of time spent in solitary. While Sergeant Shalit has remained largely out of public view, Mr. Taqatqa and many of the other freed Palestinian prisoners are living in the full glare of near constant publicity. The transition and unceasing attention have made Mr. Taqatqa a bit uneasy as he tries to learn to deal not only with freedom but also with the unfamiliar trappings of modern life, like cellphones and laptop computers. “He still feels that he is in prison; he does not believe that he is out,” a sister, Zeinab, said during one evening visit to a family friend’s house. She has come to Gaza to help him find a wife.
The profile shows a man who may really want to do something with his life, other than terrorism. There was a fascinating detail in the article.
He is among 60 former prisoners living at Gaza’s newest hotel, Al Mashtal, which looks out over the Mediterranean seafront. Featuring marble floors, palm trees and a swimming pool, it would not look out of place anywhere along the Mediterranean and usually charges $140 a night. Hamas is paying $110,000 per month to house the prisoners until they find homes.
For an impoverished government in an impoverished region, $110,000 sounds like quite a lot. And of course, Taqatqa has a computer and a cellphone. Gaza is not, apparently, the portrait of poverty that many like to paint. But if Mohammed Musa Taqatqa is interested in moving beyond the violence, other recently released terrorists are not so inclined. http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3156.htm
Muhammad Abu Ataya: I was arrested for being a member of the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and for killing traitors and spies, and killing traitors and spies, as well as going after the herd of settlers and the Israeli army.Interviewer: Brother Muhammad, as you regain your freedom, you carry the gun of the rebel, the gun of the fighter, and you wear the fatigues of the Al-Qassam Brigades, even though Netanyahu warned that any released prisoner rejoining the resistance would be severely punished.Muhammad Abu Ataya: He can make as many warning as he likes. His warning and threats will not deter us from continuing the journey of resistance, on which we embarked decades ago.
Interviewer: If you could go back in time, would you carry out such a large-scale attack?Ahlam Tamimi: Of course. I do not regret what happened. Absolutely not. This is the path. I dedicated myself to Jihad for the sake of Allah, and Allah granted me success. You know how many casualties there were [in the 2001 attack on the Sbarro pizzeria]. This was made possible by Allah. Do you want me to denounce what I did? That's out of the question. I would do it again today, and in the same manner.
As I wrote yesterday, these terrorists are honored not for the time spent in Israeli jails but for their efforts to kill Jews. And it's not just Hamas that supports these efforts, the "moderate" Abbas does too. There will be no peace until terrorism is no longer rewarded by the Palestinians.
Ahlam Tamimi, who quarterbacked the Sbarro terror attack ten years ago, tells an interview after her release from prison in the terrorists for Gilad trade that she has no regrets about what she did and would do it again.
Protesters outside Ne'eman's house demand release of Jewish prisoners
Some 60 demonstrators, including relatives of terror victims, relatives of Jewish prisoners, and at least one MK, demonstrated outside the Jerusalem home of Justice Minister Yaakov Ne'eman on Thursday night, demanding the release of Jews imprisoned for hurting Arabs as a counterweight to the terrorists for Gilad deal.
Knesset Member Michael Ben Ari (National Union) who participated in the protest, said: "We demand a certain balance. These prisoners did what they did not out of hatred towards Arabs but out of helplessness. Unlike the Palestinians who were released, these prisoners all regretted their actions. Why do Jews get different treatment than Arabs?"
Among the protesters was also Ora, mother of Shahar Butbika, who has been jailed for killing a Palestinian. Ora claims her son committed the crime after his friends were murdered and he was sent to clear the body parts.
"He suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," she said. "If they free terrorists who murdered children, the people who committed the Ramallah lynch, then why not my son?"
David Libman, whose brother Shlomo was murdered by terrorists in Yitzhar in 1998 also attended the demonstration. His brother's murderers were released in the Shalit deal.
"We are still deeply shocked by the release of my brother's killers. It opened the old wounds again and we have a terrible sense of abandonment. Knowing that the murderers were in jail gave us a sense of sanity."
They're right. It makes no sense to keep these people in jail when they have regretted their actions while Arabs who murdered Jews in heinous terror attacks, which they now aim to replicate, go free.
That ought to earn me some nasty tweets from some of the Arabs who follow me.
Anyone who wants to argue has to provide a logical argument why Ahlam Tamimi should go free but Shahar Butbika should not. Saying that Tamimi should not have gone free is not an answer. The bottom line is she went free.
Foreign Policy has a list of the top 10 terrorists released as part of the terrorists for Gilad exchange. I'm not sure I agree with their list. In any event, what they don't list is how many of the top 10 (and how many of the others) have threatened (or worse) to return to their previous activities. They only mention two terrorists saying or hinting that they will return to terrorism (Yehya Sinwar and Ahlam Tamimi) and we know that many more have said the same thing. If you see any reliable statements from terrorists released last week that say that they have or are planning to return to terrorism, please send them to me. A hat tip could await you.
It's not just the 'Palestinians' - it's the entire Arab world
This picture and its caption speak for themselves (Hat Tip: This Ongoing War).
The caption reads "Ahlam Tamimi, a Jordanian prisoner during a reception at the Family Court of Amman in the Jordanian capital. Jordan. 19th October 2011."
And if you thought that the only mass rallies welcoming freed 'Palestinian' terrorists took place in Gaza and Ramallah, think again.
Hundreds of Jordanians flocked to Diwan Tamimi in Dahiyat Al Rashid neighbourhood on Wednesday to celebrate the release of Ahlam Tamimi the only Jordanian prisoner among the first group of 477 prisoners released in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Indeed they did.
And no, not just Jordan. Here's a picture from Syria:
Several Syrian ministers and officials, in addition to leaders of Palestinian factions in Damascus, welcomed the detainees while thousands of Palestinians and Syrians gathered at the Airport hall waving Palestinian and Syrian flags, and chanting for the liberation of all detainees.
When members of Hitler's SS escaped to Latin America at the end of World War II, they went quietly out of fear that the World would not tolerate seeing mass murderers escape. Today, mass murderers arrive in Arab countries to the cheering throngs. How do you like that change?
Much more about Tamimi (including two video interviews) here.
US legally required to prosecute released terrorists
David Bedein of the Center for Near East Policy Research says in this interview that the United States is legally required to pursue and prosecute approximately 40 of the terrorists who were released by Israel this week under the Koby Mandell Act.
Let's go to the videotape.
I would start with an extradition request to Obama's good friend and ally Jordanian King Abdullah for Ahlam Tamimi - the quarterback of the Sbarro massacre.
This is rich: Tamimi's father wants her to quit terrorism
This is rich. The father of mass murderer Ahlam Tamimi, who is scheduled to be released from an Israeli prison on Tuesday and deported to Jordan as part of the terrorists for Gilad trade, wants his daughter to quit terrorism.
Ahlam’s brother Fakher is delighted that the Schalit deal guarantees the rights of both Palestinian and Israeli people.
“It’s our right to be happy for Ahlam the same degree the Israeli community has the right to be happy for Schalit,” the 53-year-old judge who lives in Amman told the Post.
Ahlam’s nephew, Faraj, 29, thinks Ahlam is already a hero.
Her brother Fakher agrees, saying, “She’s a freedom fighter just like the Israelis have heroes.”
Faraj does not expect Ahlam to go back to militant activities.
“After 11 years in prison, it’s time for Ahlam to have a life of her own,” her nephew told the Post.
Her father Aref told the Post he will not allow Ahlam to continue working in the political scene.
“I won’t encourage her; she’s 31 years old now, and engaged. She should look after her life,” he said.
He thinks she will not be allowed to go back to the West Bank, and it would be difficult to be politically active from Jordan. Other family members disagreed with him, saying this is Ahlam’s decision, and they expect her to become a political leader.
Ahlam is engaged to her second cousin Nizar Tamimi, 39, who is expected to be released in the first stage of the swap in the upcoming days. Nizar spent 19 years of his life sentence in Israeli prisons.
The family does not know how the marriage will happen, since they are unaware if Ahlam can go back to the Palestinian territories or if Nizar will be allowed to go out of it.
Her brother Muhammad, 36, will travel to Jordan tomorrow to welcome his sister. He told the Post that Ahlam will keep struggling to live with Nizar.
Their father, who lives in Jordan now, described Ahlam as a stubborn and courageous child, and said the family heard of her involvement in the Sbarro attack from the news.
“We thought she was going to her university; we never knew what she was up to,” said her father, who is in his mid- 70s.
So what happens if Ahlam doesn't listen to her father? Do Muslims do honor killings for refusing to quit terrorism?
If you have any doubt where Tamimi came from, the apple does not fall far from the tree.
When asked what message they would send to the families of the victims of the Sbarro attack, Ahlam’s family members said they would like to ask the Israeli people what do they say to the Palestinian families who lost their loved ones.
“We will not tell them sorry,” her nephew Faraj said, while her brother Fakher said he wished that the innocent civilians from both people stood together in the face of injustice.
Please....
And by the way, how many of the Sbarro victims never married and never had children because of Ahlam Tamimi? I'd say most of them.
Ahlam Tamimi should meet her end violently in the very near future. Nothing would be more fitting. I don't care who does it.
I wonder whether PM Netanyahu has heard Tamimi’s statements. Could he possibly have agreed to free an unrepentant, cold-blooded murderer, sentenced to 16 life terms after she publicly committed to murder again?
Perhaps he simply hasn’t seen the interview. Or perhaps the Prime Minister did see it and wasn’t moved.
After all, several months ago my husband and I sent him a letter detailing the crimes of which Tamimi was convicted and pleading with him to refuse to release her. In that letter, we reminded him that she is generally described mistakenly as the “driver” or “helper”. We noted that she was actually the planner and engineer of the attack. She personally transported the 10 kg bomb concealed in a guitar case in a taxi from Ramallah to Jerusalem, met up with Al Masri, the suicide bomber, and handed him the case. The two then walked together, disguised as tourists, to the center of the city. They stopped at the target Tamimi had selected. She instructed Al Masri to wait fifteen minutes before detonating the explosives. She wanted him to give her enough time to escape the scene safely, she explained later.
Prime Minister Netanyahu never responded to our written plea. He did not attempt to explain to us why he decided to include Tamimi in this horrific deal despite her uniquely demonic credentials: a mass murderer who has served nine years and has publicly proclaimed her lack of remorse and intention to murder again.
Now the day nears when we fear Tamimi will board the bus to a free life in Jordan, when her own prediction of 2006 - “I will be free again” - is realized.
We feel desperate. We beg Mr Netanyahu to grant us a few minutes of his time and hear us out.
In any sane country with a fair judicial system, even paroled murderers are not released without granting the victims’ loved ones a chance to address the parole board. I thought Israel is such a state. I pray that I was not wrong.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
