The Olmert government is considering transferring the killers of two IDF soldiers to Jordan in compliance with a request by the Hashemite regime.
The Cabinet will discuss the proposal in its weekly meeting on Sunday. The move would release four Arab terrorists with Jordanian citizenship to serve their terms in Jordan.
Three of the prisoners – Salem Abu Jaloon, Khaled Abu Jaloon and Amin A-Sana'a - crossed into Israel from Jordan on November 7, 1990. They encountered an IDF patrol and killed Cpt. Yehuda Lifshitz. They were members of the Jordanian police. The fourth prisoner, Sultan Ajlooni, entered Israel six days later, on November 13, 1990, and killed First-Sgt. Pinchas Levi. Ajlooni was a minor at the time. The terrorists are all serving life sentences.
The families of the murdered soldiers expressed outrage. They have appealed to the Supreme Court in the past against such attempts to transfer the killers.
“I am simply ashamed of our prime minister,” said Lifshitz’s brother, Itai. “I don’t want to live in a country whose government decides to release our soldiers’ killers.” Levi’s mother said the move would be tantamount to murdering her son a second time. Both agreed that there is no way to be sure that the terrorists will remain in prison once they are transferred to another country. A family friend said that the terrorists may even be celebrated as heroes in Jordan.
The government proposal calls the move a symbolic gesture to Jordan. "Considering the peaceful relationship and the special ties between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom,” the proposal reads. “And considering the request of the Jordanian government, we are required to decide to comply with the Jordanian government's request and approve the transfer of the prisoners to serve the remainder of their prison term in a Jordanian prison."
Ariel Sharon had rejected a similar request due to the fact that the four “have blood on their hands.”