Will his daughter's murderers go free?

Many years ago, when our financial pressures weren't quite what they are today, Mrs. Carl used to take classes at a seminary in Jerusalem. One day, just before Rosh HaShanna in 1995, we were driving our car, and she was telling me about how someone from the US came to speak about his daughter at the seminary. Mrs. Carl was telling me about how the speaker said he understood how our forefather Abraham felt when he put his son Isaac on the altar, when suddenly, my wife burst into tears....

A week or two later, I was in the synagogue on the second day of Rosh HaShanna. I was praying the Musaf prayer, and when I got to the part where we ask God to remember the akeida, the binding of Isaac to the altar, as a merit for his children, I thought of Stephen Flatow talking about his daughter Alissa HY"D (May God Avenge her blood) and I suddenly burst into tears. I had never done that during prayers before....

Stephen Flatow and I have never met, but we know a lot of people in common, because I used to live in the same part of New Jersey where he lives. He is worried that his daughter's murderers are about to be released. And with good reason (Hat Tip: Ricky G).

I thought that by now Israel would have learned the first lesson of negotiating: Never negotiate with yourself.

I appear to be wrong, because, apparently at the behest of Secretary of State John Kerry, over 100 terrorists are going free, including many directly involved in multiple murders — as a good-will measure to “bolster” Abbas and to give Kerry something to say he accomplished after racking up so many frequent-flyer miles traveling to the Middle East.

What will Israel get in return? From all news accounts, it appears the answer is nothing more than the Palestinians returning to the negotiating table.

So I ask Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Will my daughter’s murderers, now in an Israeli prison, be released for the sake of good will? Can you show me anything concrete that will come from this action that will allow my son and his family, citizens of Israel, to sleep safely in their home in Jerusalem?

Show me something that will allow me to go to my eventual rest knowing that my personal efforts to assist in the ongoing development of the state of Israel weren’t a waste of time. Show me something, anything at all, and I will support you.

Unfortunately, I don’t think you can. Your present course of action will only lead to more tragedy.

Someone took me to task yesterday for referring to our Prime Minister as 'Bibi' (Hat Tip: Gershon D). (The third quote in his post was from me). He argued that calling the Prime Minister 'Bibi' is an undeserved term of endearment. Point taken. I will try not to use that name in the future. It's just faster to type than Binyamin....

Prime Minister Netanyahu has shown himself to be no better than Ehud K. Olmert or Yitzchak Rabin (who was likely the one who referred to Alissa Flatow as a 'sacrifice for peace' - he was the one who coined the term). Netanyahu has no backbone, just like they had no backbone. In fact, he may even have gone over to the side of the appeasers. 

It is time for him to be replaced. The Flatow family deserves better and so do the people of Israel.