Two important facts about last month’s terrorist murder of four Israelis, including a husband and his pregnant wife, have come to light: The mastermind was recently released from Israeli prison, and the killers sought to kidnap the bodies.
Just three weeks ago, near Beit Haggai south of Hevron, Palestinian terrorists drove past an Israeli car carrying four Jews – and shot all of them to death. Yitzchak and Tali Imas were the parents of six children, and Tali was about to give birth; Kochi Even-Chaim, mother of one; and Avishai Shindler, married barely a year.
It has now been learned that the mastermind of the attack was Nasat Karmi of Hamas. Karmi was in prison for other terrorist crimes, and was recently released when his term was up. However, he soon afterwards became involved in terrorism once again – and was listed as the IDF’s number one wanted terrorist in the Hevron region.
In addition, the Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper reported today that the murderers of the four planned to abduct the bodies, use them to demand the release of imprisoned terrorists, sabotage the peace talks, and bring about the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas and the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.
A car that happened to pass by just after the quadruple murder thwarted the grandioseand morbid Hamas plans.
Al-Ahram reported that this information originated from the terrorists themselves, during their interrogation by PA security forces. The murderers said they expected that the abduction would lead Israel to withdraw from the talks and the IDF to enter local Arab villages en-masse and search for the kidnappers. This would then cause Abbas (Abu Mazen) to resign.
Bereaved Father: Prison for Terrorists is Like a Country Club
In light of the news that the mastermind had been freed from Israeli prison, Arutz-7’s Shimon Cohen spoke to Tzion Swiri, who lost his son, daughter and son-in-law in a drive-by terror attack nine years ago. It is known that the mastermind of that attack, Marwan Barghouti, is high on the list of candidates for release in a deal for captive soldier Gilad Shalit.
“I can only hope that Marwan Barghouti and the other six who were involved in murdering my children will remain in prison until they die,” Swiri said. “My feeling at present, given the news regarding the recent attack, that ‘we told you so.’ We’ve been railing about this for years: Terrorists must not be released as goodwill gestures or in exchange deals; they must remain in jail.”
Cohen reminded him that in the case of Nasat Karmi of Hamas, “his term in jail came to an end; there was nothing to do but release him.”
Swiri responded, “That brings me to our other complaint. If jail was really jail for these terrorists, they would not want to return. But we give them everything they want, including a university education – so why should they not want to commit more terrorism? At worst, they know they’ll return to the country club we call jail…”
It has even reached the point, Swiri said, “where the mother of a terrorist who was about to be released from prison pleaded to let her son remain in jail a little longer so that he could complete his education without paying. What have we come to?!”
There are various options by which to pressure the terrorists, Swiri said, “and not just a closure on Gaza. Prison conditions should be worsened for them… We should kidnap some of the top terrorists or their children, and then exchange a child for a child.”
Swiri blames the media for exerting pressure for a prisoner release “without thinking of what will happen the day after. They have not been the targets of terrorism, and that’s why they allow themselves to take that position. I asked some of them how would they respond if their own son would be murdered in the next attack; they had nothing to say, except that that I shouldn’t speak that way…”