http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=5065
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It is a damning reflection on
the civilized world that one rarely hears a word of condemnation of the
criminal Palestinian society in which the murder of Jews is not only
considered laudable, but has today effectively become a vehicle towards
achieving upward social mobility, both socially and financially.
Let us relate hypothetically to Ahmed, a typical youngster in a large and impoverished Palestinian family.
Like his peers, Ahmed has been
brainwashed - since kindergarten and throughout his schooling, by the
mullahs at his mosque and in the daily media - into believing that the
highest level of piety is attained by killing the Israeli enemy.
He knows that if he were killed
in attacking a Jew, he too would become a Shaheed – a martyr - and be
compensated for his sacrifice by the rewards and pleasures bestowed on
him in Paradise. Moreover, his family will be honored and receive a
lifelong state pension from our “peace partner”, Mahmoud Abbas and the
PA.
Ahmed will recollect the
interviews he watched on the PA state television of mothers displaying
pride in their offspring’s sacrifice on behalf of Islam and their
frequently expressed hope that some of their remaining children will
follow the example of the blessed martyr.
Furthermore, PA officials will
ensure that even if he had brutally murdered innocent Israeli civilians,
he would be portrayed as a saintly hero of the Islamic nation and
Palestinian people. Ahmed’s family name would become memorialized as
city squares, roads, schools, cultural centers and even football teams
will be named in his honor.
Of course, death is the worst
outcome. If Ahmed is fortunate enough to be captured rather than killed,
he gets to have the best of all worlds.
His family will continue to
visit him in prison where he is likely to receive better food than he
had at home. He will even be provided with amenities such as television.
Moreover, he will be able to educate himself and enroll in University
courses and obtain a degree – which would have been inconceivable in his
former habitat
And for all this “suffering”
the PA will pay him a handsome salary (using funds received from the US,
EU and other donors) for every day that he remains in jail. In fact,
the longer his sentence, the higher his monthly salary.
In recent years the deterrent
for terror attacks was further eroded as successive Israeli governments
released large groups of brutal murderers, including cold-blooded
killers of infants, in return for an Israeli hostage and more recently
as a prerequisite to Abbas merely agreeing to negotiate with Israel.
These releases have become such a routine that Ahmed is now confident
that if imprisoned, it is highly unlikely that he would serve his full
term.
He sees that upon his release,
instead of being obliged to express remorse for his crimes, Palestinian
television audiences will approvingly entreat him to describe to them in
detail the ghoulish murders he committed.
Ahmed will hear how
correspondents from Western newspapers, like Jodi Rudoren of the New
York Times, wrote a lengthy article humanizing a released terrorist, the
brutal murderer of an elderly Holocaust survivor. Rudoren noted that
the murderer had been “demonized as a terrorist by the Israelis”,
relating sympathetically to his complaint that as a national hero (he
was elevated to the honorary rank of a PA brigadier general), the
“$100,000 grants and monthly payments” received from the PA were
insufficient to buy him an apartment.
The Winograd Commission
reviewing the Second Lebanon War explicitly urged the enactment of
legislation to prevent the premature release of convicted terrorists
because of political and other considerations. Alas, these
recommendations were completely ignored, thus intensifying the incentive
to murder Jews.
It is inconceivable for a
self-respecting country to behave in such a demeaning manner. Would the
Obama Administration, which pressured our government to release these
murderers, dare act in this fashion towards convicted mass murderers in
their jails? And what hypocrisy! The US pressured us to release these
monsters and yet cautioned us against releasing those who had murdered
American citizens. And as a further sickening display of duplicity, the
Obama administration even stooped to the level of exploiting Jonathan
Pollard – who they should have been released many years ago – as a pawn
to pressure us.
Fifteen years ago, Prime
Minister Netanyahu published a book warning that releasing terrorists
would embolden extremists and encourage them to intensify their
activities. Now he himself is doing precisely that.
Nobody envies the pressures
currently confronting our Prime Minister. There are unsubstantiated
rumors that the Obama administration, which obscenely lays the blame on
Israel for the failure to move forward in negotiations, has threatened
that unless Israel toes the line, it will impose its own solution. There
were also murmurs that the US could abandon support for Israel in
international forums which would open up the doors for sanctions to be
applied against us.
Nor should one underestimate
Netanyahu’s challenges in seeking to maintain a government comprised of
parties which are all jockeying to maximize voter support for an
election in the not too distant future.
It has been claimed that
Netanyahu chose to release terrorists rather than impose any kind of
construction freeze, even in outlying settlements, in order to retain
his coalition. Moreover, he was - and possibly still is - contemplating
releasing Israeli Arab terrorists in order to placate the Americans and
Abbas.
The tension surrounding this
issue reached boiling point after the murder of Baruch Mizrahi outside
Hebron on Passover eve. When his murderer is ultimately apprehended, he
will be sentenced to life imprisonment, but he will have grounds for
confidently anticipating that within a few years, he too will be
released and embraced as a hero by his people.
That Abbas only mumbled that it
would be premature on his part to condemn the latest murder until such
time as a “full investigation of the incident was concluded” should be
considered the ultimate affront.
The onus rests on Netanyahu to
display leadership. Continuing to release murderers undermines our
national dignity and inflicts unbearable pain on families of victims.
The erosion of deterrence now
impinges directly on the security of Israeli citizens, which must be the
primary concern of any government. The current trend is creating an
environment where terrorists feel that the risks and penalties they are
likely to incur in shedding Jewish blood have now been dramatically
minimized.
Netanyahu must reverse this
policy of releasing murderers to placate the Americans and appease the
Palestinians or he will be accused of standing by passively as
increasing numbers of Palestinian Ahmeds feel that there is an incentive
for them to murder Jews as a means of achieving upward social mobility
and enhancing their family status.
Failure to act now will compromise Netanyahu’s leadership and undermine his legacy.
The writer’s website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com.He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com
This column was originallyy published in the Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom
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