24 December '13..
Earlier today a letter of invitation was sent out by a staff member of MK Deputy Minister Danny Danon, to attend a gathering tomorrow at the Knesset. Its purpose is to support a group of mothers whose children have been killed by terrorists and are organizing a public rejection of the decision by the government to release further terrorists. Within the body of the letter was the following:
As I mentioned earlier, early next week Israel will release the third group of Palestinian terrorists as part of the government’s commitment to Secretary of State Kerry at the outset of the current round of negotiations.
This has been a very contentious issue with many questioning the morality of releasing convicted murderers for the “privilege” of sitting in the room with the Palestinian negotiating team. (emphasis added)
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The following is a more than appropriate reaction and response by Arnold Roth and his wife Frimet, whose daughter Malka was murdered in the Sbarro bombing.
I appreciate getting this notice, and have passed it along to my wife Frimet. Both of us will be tied up with an .... So we will be unable to attend.
The issue of prisoner deals (that I believe is the correct word) represents one of the very lowest achievements of our politicians, if there is a ladder that measures such things. It is depressing to see the same underlying problem expressed once again in the attached letter from Elie Bennett, whom I do not know.
The criticism he or she directs at this exceptionally awful practice of our government (prisoner deals) is that it is "a very contentious issue with many questioning the morality of releasing convicted murderers for the “privilege” of sitting in the room with the Palestinian negotiating team."
No, it's not contentious. When the Israeli public was polled back in July, 91% said they were opposed [some background here]. The support for doing the Shalit deal in 2011, which was said to be overwhelming at the time, never reached that stratospheric percentage. If there have been other polls since July 2013 on the subject of these prisoner deals, I am not aware of them. 91% opposition does not mean contentious. When did any of us last hear of a politician with the brazenness to ignore a 91% electoral consensus. The matter speaks for itself.
And no, it's not a moral issue. The judiciary sentenced these convicted murderers (every last one of the 104 in this prisoner deal is a murderer) and the judiciary has not changed the verdict or the sentences. The politicians did - a small, carefully selected inner circle of them, in fact. Perhaps there is a constitutional issue in this: I don't know. Certainly there is an arrogant breach of the convention that we require each of the separate arms of government to mind their own business and not to usurp the role of one of the others. That certainly did not happen here. The political arm swooped in, ignored the public, and did what they did because there was (and is) no one in the Israeli political constellation to stop them.
And to call it a moral issue because it has resulted in "the Palestinian negotiating team" sitting down at this table or another is to miss the point completely. As victims of the abominable terrorists, and as individuals who have written and spoken at every opportunity against prisoner deals, it deeply upsets us to see the huge problem framed in terms of the political damage it causes. It should not matter what our side thinks it gets from prisoner deals. They simply should never have been done. As for the political arrogance and hubris that has accompanied every step on this path since 2011, that has simply rubbed salt into the wounds of many Israeli non-politicians, bringing about an unspeakable degree of pain that we can never forget...
More by Arnold and Frimet Roth can be found at their highly recommended and acclaimed blog, This Ongoing War.
Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.
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