If the government is planning to release dozens more convicted terrorist killers, it should simply free them now rather than dragging out the process, bereaved father and anti-terrorism activist Ron Kerman has argued.
“Why wait nine months? Just release all the terrorists today already,” Kerman told Arutz Sheva.
Kerman’s suggestion came in response to reports that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is planning to end negotiations with Israel as soon as the terrorist release is complete. Abbas has openly declared that his goal is to free all PA terrorists from Israeli prisons, and that he does not plan to compromise on a single issue in negotiations.
Israel should free terrorists now and end the charade, Kerman said.
Kerman accused Israel’s current government of cowardice. “They can’t stop the [terrorist] release. They’re afraid of their own shadow,” he charged.
“If they wanted to, they could stop the release. It’s a question of standing up for yourself,” he added.
He had a message for Israel’s leaders. “We’re the ones who carry this great burden, not you,” he said. “I’m afraid for my children’s future, very afraid.”
Kerman’s daughter Tal was among 17 people – nine of them children – who were murdered by a PA terrorist in a suicide bombing in Haifa in 2003.
“I tell my friends that Tal is in the safest place now,” he revealed. “I don’t want other people to join her.”
Israel has already released two groups of terrorists; both groups included several terrorists convicted of notoriously brutal murders, including the death by fire of a young, heavily pregnant mother and her three children, and the deliberate slaughter of elderly Holocaust survivors. The Supreme Court gave the go-ahead to both mass releases.
The freed terrorists were given a warm welcome in Ramallah that included a pledge of lifelong financial support from the PA.
Kerman spoke out in vain against previous terrorist releases, warning that such "gestures" only increase terrorism.