Though Israel won the war in Gaza, negotiations for Gilad Shalit’s release seem to have returned to square one- except for one difference: Israel is apparently willing to be more flexible.
General Security Service Chief Yuval Diskin, as well as some government ministers, now appear to be more willing to free a large amount of terrorists imprisoned in Israel in exchange for Shalit. They now feel that because Hamas is weaker than it was, even the return of a significant number of terrorists will not make a major difference.
Hamas has demanded the release of at least 1,000 terrorists in exchange for Shalit.
Mrs. Gandhi: Release of Shalit Takes Precedence
A surprising push for the release of terrorists has come from the widow of Rehavam (Gandhi) Ze’evi, former Cabinet Minister and IDF Central Commander O.C. Ze’evi, a known hard-liner on Land of Israel and Arab issues, was assassinated by Arab terrorists in 2001. His widow Yael has now announced that she would be willing to have her husband’s killers released if it would bring back Gilad Shalit.
“My husband always walked around with a dogtag with the names of the missing soldiers on it,” Gandhi’s wife told a TV interviewer on Wednesday night. “Their return home was more important to him than revenge.”
Another 100 bereaved families of terrorist victims agree with her. They are signed on an open letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asking him to release even their own family members’ murderers in order to bring Shalit home.
Terror Organizations Say No
Representatives of terrorist victims are adamantly opposed. Shifra Hoffman, Chairperson of Victims of Arab Terror, told IsraelNationalNews, “Releasing terrorist murderers should not be an option, but it should certainly not even be considered unless the Red Cross is allowed to see Gilad and make sure he is alive – otherwise we are liable to receive just a coffin, as happened with Hizbullah last year.”
The Almagor Terror Victims Association says, “If the government makes a deal with Hamas now and releases terrorists with blood on their hands, this will be a tremendous victory for Hamas and a terrible fiasco of an end to the war.”
Almagor’s Dr. Aryeh Bachrach added, “Woe unto a government that ends its war with Hamas – in which soldiers and civilians were killed and wounded, and a million citizens sat in shelters for a month – by giving them hundreds of arch-terrorists.”
Meir Gross, a member of the Moledet Party that Gandhi founded, said, “With all the genuine respect that I have for [Gandhi’s widow] Yael, the terrorists are not hers alone. They murdered an Israeli Cabinet minister – not to mention that Israel was able to snatch them from their refuge in Jericho and bring them to trial.”
Release of Terrorists is Dangerous
“Let us not forget that their release is liable to bring about the murder of more Jews, Heaven forbid,” Gross added.
Almagor Director Meir Indor quotes Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubenstein as saying that “overall, 80% of the terrorists who were released up to 2007 resumed their terror activities.” Specifically, he said, 180 Israeli citizens have been murdered by released terrorists since 2000 – not including those who were killed during the Intifada, “which was led and supported by released terrorists."