If He Is Released, I Will No Longer Be Able to Live

And you will not convince me that you understand my pain because you don’t. And no explanations that claim to be rational will help. You are heartless beings and abstruse. With your decision to release the murderer you spit on the graves of my mother and my brother Tal. You erase this story from the pages of the history of the state of Israel. And in return for what?

I beg you to remove him from the list of those to be released. Leave him in jail. [Let him] rot as he should rot. Don’t light again the fire that he lit. Don’t destroy those who are left in this family. Save us. Because if he is released my father, brother and I will no longer be able to live.

The terrorist responsible for the attack on the Moses family, Daoud Adal Hassan Mahmad, is among the pre-Oslo prisoners reportedly to be released as a concession to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

This article was adapted from a slightly longer version that appeared in the July 29 edition of the Israeli daily Yediot Aharanot. It was translated into English by Daniel Seaman and posted by media analyst Tom Gross on his blog, tomgrossmedia.com.