Prof. Israel Aumann, Nobel laureate, talked about the implications of the deal with Arutz Sheva - Israel National News.
Professor Aumann denounced the policy of recovering hostages in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the release of terrorists. He further suggested that alongside the terrorists, Israel begin releasing prisoners suspected of crimes against Arabs as well, as stated in a recent appeal by the Honenu legal aid organization.
"We are releasing terrorists who have killed dozens of people, which is very bad because after their release they will kidnap and kill many more Jews than the number of hostages. This is obvious. I don't know what the logic is in this," he began
"I suppose Trump forced Netanyahu, but I don't understand the logic of it because many more Jews will be killed as in the case of Gilad Schalit. The released terrorists had killed many more before the war. Among the released was Yahya Sinwar, responsible for more than a thousand Jews being murdered in the October 7th massacre."
"I don't understand the logic of this thing, but at least we can express our displeasure with it by releasing Jewish prisoners, among them Amiram Ben-Uliel, who has no evidence against him for the Duma case. They were able to convict him only on the basis of a confession extracted from him by means of very severe torture. It is like in the Middle Ages when people were accused of crimes and tortured into confessing and being executed."
Aumann was shocked to know that Israel cannot determine which of the hostages will be released and Hamas can precisely determine which prisoners it wants to release and at what stage. In the face of all these, the release of Jewish prisoners would be seen by him as an Israeli protest.
"The hostages are a very serious and very important task, but it is no more important than the existence of the State of Israel. In this deal that we made, we are in effect going back on all the goals of the war for the sake of the release of the hostages. We are making gestures and taking steps in the war itself. Part of the agreement was to evacuate the Philadelphi corridor, which was something very very important, and to withdraw from Gaza. In fact we are allowing Gaza. It is a loss in the war."
"If it were my father I might say that I want my father and damn the state, but a Prime Minister cannot speak thus. The responsibility of a Prime Minister is greater than that of the private individual demanding the return of his father from captivity."
"The way we have acted all these years by giving more than a thousand terrorists with blood on their hands for one soldier, we have developed the price of the hostages, how we cried over the hostages and made a big deal of it, but that was wrong. For years we have shown that we are very sensitive to this issue and we say to the enemy 'go and kidnap people from us and that is how you can destroy us'."
"This must be put to an end, for this will be the end of the State of Israel. We tell the enemy to take it because it hurts us so much that we are willing to give up the victories of war, to withdraw our troops from strategically important places that cost hundreds and thousands of dead and wounded."
"We are giving incentives to the enemy to continue to capture our citizens, and they will, as they have in the past. This is not the first time and there will be more and more - they even say so. They are not hiding it and we are either not hearing or not caring about our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and our country, only the hostages. I want the hostages back, but not at any price. There is no such thing."
"I am glad that Gilad Schalit is now living a normal life, but I am not happy about the thousands of people who were killed as a direct result of the October 7th massacre, which was a direct result of the Shalit deal. I am not willing to have another such thing happen "