How do you reconcile negotiating for the release of a kidnapped soldier on the one hand—with the probability that hundreds of convicted terrorists will go free to terrorize more—with the fact that rockets are raining down daily on Sderot. Nine on Tuesday. Eleven so far today.
I really don’t understand how the Israeli leadership thinks that this won’t lead to anything less than more kidnappings—unless it’s being done so that the IDF can go full-blown into the Gaza Strip after they get Shalit back. Now that—that I could live with. Not this.
The Palestinian News Agency Maan reported Thursday that a breakthrough has been accomplished in regards to kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
According to the report, Egypt has been able to convince Israel to accept some of Hamas’ demands, including the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners – some of them militant cell leaders – who Israel considers to be “extremely dangerous”.
However, we’ve read conflicting news reports about this subject a dozen times before. Yesterday Reuters reported that Hamas is not moving an inch on its demands for the release of over a thousand terrorists:
Hamas will not release a captured Israeli soldier unless Israel meets its demand to free nearly 1,400 Palestinian prisoners, including 350 with life sentences, a leader of the Islamist group in Gaza said on Wednesday.
[…] Muzaini said Hamas would not budge on its demand for 1,400 prisoners. “In March we closed discussions on this issue and we have no intention of reopening them. The ball is in Israel’s court,” he said.
Olmert will release terrorists with blood on their hands, putting more Israeli soldiers—and Israelis everywhere—at risk of kidnapping. The Palestinians think their tactics are working. And why not? Terrorism got Israel out of Gaza. Terrorism is turning Sderot into a ghost town. Kidnapping is about to pay off, big-time.
Only when the IDF is systematically killing terrorist leadership do the terrorists stop their murderous actions. You would think that Israel would catch on to that, sooner or later.
It’s important to keep coming back to the repeatedly demonstrated truth: all concessions to terrorists are always counterproductive, in the long run.
… and also in the short run.