Jewish Home Chairman, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett, defended on Sunday the bill initiated by MK Ayelet Shaked (also of Jewish Home), which is designed to prevent the release of terrorist murderers in the future. The bill is to be discussed later today in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which decides which bills will enjoy the Coalition's support.
"The release of murderers contradicts natural justice and Jewish morality,” he explained. “It is unacceptable that Israel will be the only country in the world that releases the murderers of its own citizens.
"The deterioration in this matter in recent years commits us to make new rules regarding the release of terrorists. It used to be taboo to release them at all. Then we released terrorists for soldiers, then we reached a thousand terrorists for one soldier, until we reached a situation in which terrorists are freed in return for nothing.
Bennett went so far as to say that “the Israeli governments in the last 30 years have proven that they cannot withstand the pressure, and that the nation, which is the sovereign, must tie their hands.”
"If the opponents to the law say that we are tying our own hands – then I say, this true. It appears that we have to tie our own hands if we have reached this situation.”
"It is better to tie our hands than to raise our hands [in surrender] in the face of terror,” Bennett determined. “The release of murderers must not be connected to any peace process. If you want to talk about peace, talk about peace, but do not release terrorists as part of talking about peace. Murderers push peace away and weaken us as a state.”