An overwhelming majority of 84.9 Israelis oppose another “goodwill” release of terrorists “with blood on their hands,” and nearly two-thirds oppose the scheduled renewal of “peace process” talks, according to a new poll published Friday by the Israel HaYom newspaper.
The Palestinian Authority demand for freeing terrorists reportedly is the first issue on the agenda if the two sides get together as planned on Tuesday.
Previous governments have agreed to several mass releases of terrorists, and the Supreme Court always has rejected petitions challenging the decisions. The court has ruled that it does not intervene in security measures.
If a prisoner release comes to the Cabinet for approval, the biased Israeli electronic and print media, led by Yediot Acharonot and Voice of Israel radio, will try to rah-rah the proposal, but the public reaction is likely to be a lot bitter this time around.
The November 2011 release of more than 1,000 terrorists and security prisoners for the return of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit may have been the last straw for the public. Dozens of terrorists returned to their old habit of trying to kill Jews.
Terrorists who have been released by Israel in all previous deals and ”gestures” have been responsible for the deaths of 569 Israeli civilians, according to the IDF.
The 82 or more terrorists who may be released in the next round have been in jail since before the Oslo Accords, a designation with questionable significance.
The illogic apparently goes like this: These terrorists killed Jews before the Palestinian Authority agreed to stop the murders so they really should not be blamed. As for those who blew up and gunned down Israelis after the Oslo Accords, well, most of them have been freed, so what different does it make?
Ask the relatives of those who have murdered by “turnstile terrorists” for the answer to that question.
Some of the terrorists on the pre-Oslo era list are Israeli citizens. The terrorists whom chairman Mahmoud Abbas wants freed include two who were involved in the October 1988 firebombing of a bus en route via the Jordan Valley to Jerusalem, killing Rachel Weiss, three of her children and an IDF soldier who tried to save their lives.
Two other terrorists on the list are the Gaza terrorists who stabbed to death two men in their apartment in Ramle, near Ben Gurion Airport, can then cut off the victims’ ears for nostalgic value.