It is not surprising that in these redemptive times, good and evil become confused. Israel's present self-serving administration lost the ability to discern between people imprisoned by hate and people imprisoned in the name of a vision. A perfect example of this is the Olmert government's decision to release 256 convicted terrorist prisoners from Israeli jails, and granting amnesty to 178 others, as a gesture to the so-called moderate terrorist Abu Mazen (a.k.a. Mahmoud Abbas).

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will obviously stop at nothing.

The terrorists that are being offered for release, we are told, have "no blood on their hands." This simply means that they either tried to kill Jews and were not successful, or were simply only successful at maiming and crippling Jews, or were "simply" involved with the planning an aiding of these acts of terrorism.

We also are told that the terrorists that were chosen for this gesture have all promised to desist from being involved in terrorist activities. In fact, they do not have to rejoin their old terror affiliations, but can all join the official terrorist arm of the PLO, the Palestinian police. They will be changing their uniform, but remaining prisoners of the same rabid hatred and zeal.

We have also been informed that these terrorists, still imprisoned by dark demons of hatred, are being gifted to Abu Mazen to supposedly strengthen his more "moderate" regime. Yet, Abu Mazen's own spokesmen and new Prime Minister have already declared that this gesture is meaningless until the Israelis accept all of the Palestinian maximalist demands.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will obviously stop at nothing in order to take the spotlight away from his own corrupt and careless tenure. It seems the pain and torment inflicted on the hundreds of Jewish families wounded and battered by these 256 released terrorists does not carry any weight in the decision-making of a man desperately holding on to power.

"Malki“ Roth was murdered at the young age of 15 in a suicide bombing at the Sbarro's pizza restaurant in 2001. Fifteen people were murdered and more than 100 wounded in the attack. Malki's father reacted in shock and pain to the news of Prime Minister Olmert's "gesture."

"Like almost every last Israeli, we long to see Gilad Shalit free, along with the other MIAs and kidnapped servicemen. But that longing does not come at the expense of the deepest reservations we feel about what it will mean to Israeli society to free the murderers," said Roth. "We know the pain of being without our child. We wish it on no one."

Add to this very explosive mix an American President who is desperately trying to carve out some legacy as his tenure nears a difficult end. The American administration has surprisingly slipped into a bottomless hole where darkness seems to overcome the light. President George Bush is very clear-headed and insightful when it comes to discerning regimes and dictatorships imprisoned by hatred, but becomes blinded when looking at the cancerous evil that has overtaken Palestinian society. President Bush and his administration would do anything to stop and de-claw any terrorist entity being established around the world - except in the piece of land stretching into Israel.

This blindness becomes almost farcical. In the words of political columnist John Podhoretz (New York Post, July 17, 2007), "Bush (on July 16) essentially told the Palestinian people that American money would rain down on their heads - kind of like the manna that fed the Jews in the desert thousands of years ago - if they just renounced terror.... What Bush said is simply a matter of fact. Right now, America is raining half a billion dollars on the Palestinian government solely because it's kinda-sorta acting a little bit like it's maybe possibly giving up on terror."

Yet, in the midst of all this fantasy and insanity there is another group of individuals continuing to languish in prison. The families and supporters of 25 imprisoned young Jews who had been arrested during demonstrations protesting the expulsion from Gush Katif and part of the Shomron are asking for the release of these young people as well. These young people - indicted and convicted of crimes as heinous as blocking street
This blindness becomes almost farcical.
corners with sit down strikes and entering into areas the military had declared closed - are being treated worse than terrorists and would-be murderers. This may be changing at last, but the struggle continues to be difficult. By a comfortable margin of 37-10, the Knesset has approved a first reading of a proposed bill to offer a pardon to these prisoners, who acted for the sake of Zion. The bill now passes to the Knesset Law Committee for final formulation, from where it will return to the Knesset for additional votes.

MK Yossi Beilin (Meretz) objected to the bill, saying that, from a judicial standpoint, "it is unacceptable to legitimize violence against soldiers merely because it was done for ideological reasons."

MK Benny Elon called out, "You have no judicial problem with pardoning convicted terrorists and setting them free - but to pardon a young boy who protested against the expulsion, that's a problem?"

Beilin said the two cases should not be compared.

Yossi Beilin is one-hundred-percent correct. The two cases cannot be compared. On the one hand, you have people bent on killing innocent men, women and children for the sake of their political goal and a blissful position in the world to come; on the other hand, you have young people who have embarked on a non-violent protest to attempt to thwart a government from actions that have since proven to be suicidal for the sake of Israel's destiny.

I recently participated in a wedding of a young couple where one of the guests was a young man sentenced to prison for anti-expulsion activity that included damaging police property. The question regarding the efficacy or necessity of such actions is not even the central issue here. This young man, released for the day of this family wedding, represented the passion, zeal and vision of the young people. Not wanting to take the focus of attention from the young couple, this very sensitive boy attempted to dance off to the side, out of the limelight. Yet, to no avail. The main focus of the wedding celebration was the young couple - who represented the ultimate "fixing of the vessels” - but many participants, some of whom would not have agreed with the specific actions of this young man, danced around him with fervor. He symbolized the sacrifice and passion that must lead and precede the "fixing."

Those prisoners will remain imprisoned by their hatred forever.

With eyes closed in intensity and voices raised to the heavens, this young man sang and danced with all the other wedding guests in celebration of G-d, Torah and about a people and land they were all so intent on serving. It is that passion that will lead them back to fix all that was broken and re-invigorate the spirit that was dampened in this people.

The release of so many blood-thirsty terrorist prisoners will remain a badge of shame for this administration. Yet, in reality, those prisoners will remain imprisoned by their hatred forever.

The young people imprisoned for non-violent resistance remain the badge of courage of a new generation. As difficult as this punishment is for them and their families, those prison walls will never contain and limit their spirit.