Well, they’re at it again.
Releasing convicted murderers, I mean. And they are murderers:
All of the 26 prisoners on the [Israel Prison Service] list were either convicted of murder or attempted murder. Among the most notable cases is Damouni Saad Mohammed Ahmed, who was convicted of involvement in the brutal lynch of IDF reservist Amnon Pomerantz in the Gaza Strip in 1990.
Another Palestinian set to be freed is Massoud Issa Rajib Amer, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who in 1993 was convicted of brutally hacking to death Ian Feinberg, a young lawyer who spent time in Gaza cultivating ties to the local Palestinian community while trying to promote economic projects. Amer was also convicted of killing three Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel.
Israel will also release Tukeman Yusef Suleiman Mahmed, Abu Hanana Zakariya Udia Usama, and Abdel-Aziz Said Kassam Ahmed, three men involved in the 1992 shooting death of Moshe Biton. Biton was shot and killed after entering a convenience store, and his wife was shot after trying to tend to him.
This is the second group of mostly murderers released as part of an agreement that brought Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiators to the table.
Someone recently wrote that “no other country in the world lets murderers go free.” I don’t know how to verify that, but surely no other country would let them go free for less than nothing, which is what Israel has done in this latest deal.
What exactly did Israel get in return for causing immense pain to the family members of victims, making a joke of its justice system and risking the return of these vicious killers to ‘active duty’ as terrorists? Let’s look at the PA’s position in the recent talks:
The Palestinian Authority demands that any land swap with Israel as part of a peace deal not exceed 1.9 percent of the West Bank, less than half of the land necessary to incorporate the lion’s share of settlers, according to details leaked to Channel 2 by a disgruntled Palestinian official on Sunday.
According to the report, the Palestinians are also insisting that they gain control over water, and control at their sides of the Dead Sea and border crossings; that a Palestinian state be able to sign agreements with other states without Israeli intervention; that Israel release all Palestinian prisoners it holds; and that all Palestinian refugees and their descendants be granted the right to choose to live in Israel or the Palestinian territories as part of a final agreement.
To be polite, this is a non-starter. To be impolite, it is a recipe for the end of the Jewish state. Can you imagine ‘Palestine’ inviting Iran to build a base in its territory? Can you imagine flooding Israel with millions of descendants of Arab refugees?
The PA is intransigent because officials do not want to reach an agreement. They know that a high-priority goal of US policy is to get Israel out of the territories, and that the administration in Washington is not sympathetic to Israeli concerns. They know that this leads to continued pressure on Israel to make concessions, like the prisoner release.
Their position gains them points with their constituency — polls have consistently showed that Palestinian Arabs overwhelmingly favor a hard line against Israel — and gets them concessions. By sticking to their maximal demands, they establish a baseline for future ‘peace’ proposals. They employ what I’ve called ‘the divorce court fallacy’ (if one party says X and the other Y, then the truth must be halfway in between) to drive the US closer to their position.
In the meantime, they pursue the parallel tracks of diplomacy at the UN, creating facts on the ground with European money, and of course terrorism.
Neither Israel nor the PA expects these talks to lead to a peace agreement. They do produce benefits for the PA, but what do they do for Israel? Only one thing, which is to get Barack Obama off its back. Maybe.
Technorati Tags: Israel, Palestinian Authority, prisoner release
What motivates the PA leaders in their maximal demands, above all else, is their security in the knowledge that so long as Obama is president of the U.S., Israel’s primary “ally” will never hold the PA accountable for anything, no matter how outrageous, and will pressure Israel to make concessions no matter what. The PA never had it so good, ever, by a long shot. They are predictably taking advantage of this situation for all it is worth.
Israel will never get Obama “off their backs”. But Israeli leaders are trying to preserve the U.S.-Israeli alliance, in the face of Obama, past Obama. They see no viable near-term alternative, and in this they are probably right.
But Obama has three years left in office. That is a political eternity. At some point, Obama is going to use his own “maximum” measures aimed at coercing Israel to accept a suicide deal with the PA.
Since there is no progress as of yet – no matter the objective fault that lay with the Palestinians for this – Obama is already ratcheting up pressure by his primary means: abandoning Israel on Iran.
His next move, if there is no “agreement” in coming months, is to abandon Israel at the UN. He’ll abstain at the very least, or perhaps vote in favor of a UNSCR “creating” a PA state in J&S, as per the PA request for statehood submitted to the UNSC two years ago, which, interestingly, has yet to be voted on.
If Israel does not comply immediately with such a UNSCR, there will be a new, largest-ever “Intifada”, backed up by the PA’s “Dayton’s Army”, the U.S. (and even Israeli)-supplied “security forces” the PA now fields.
This war, instead of being called out for the extortionist terrorism it actually is, will be treated in the media and by many governments – including most in the West – as a “war of liberation”.
Israel will have to crush this uprising, which will probably lead to her expulsion from the UN, plus international sanctions being aimed at Israel.
So, Israel is releasing prisoners now, as horrible as this may be, in order to put off the day that what I describe above comes to pass. Better to shorten the prospective duration of this nightmare, to the extent one can; better it is one or two years, instead of three. This appears to be the thinking of the Israeli leadership.
Israel, however, has a thriving economy, bolstered greatly by newly-developed energy reserves. Despite media and political uproar, many countries and businesses will interact with Israel, no matter what Obama or the UN does. Taiwan no longer has a seat at the UN, but they are doing just fine. And, according to respected sources, Israel still maintains the ability to set back the Iranian nuke program at least five years, but how much longer this will be the case is questionable.
With the above in mind, the time has come for Israeli leaders to “gut it up” and stand up to Obama.
Iran is going to have to be hit. Setting them back at least five years, if this is as feasible as authoritative voices say, will be enough to outlast Obama & Co. But this cannot be put off. And, once done, will remove Obama’s most important element of leverage.
If crushing the PA gets Israel booted out of the UN, this will be very bad…but it is not necessarily forever, any more than the “Zionism is Racism” UN resolution – voted into being under Obama’s precursor, Carter, of course – was forever. That was repealed, and under a future, more Israel-friendly U.S. president, Israel could well be invited back into the UN.
Obama is losing credibility at home and abroad on just about every issue. Apart from what Obama’s Soviet-style media may say, many people in many places will not blame Israel for giving Obama the finger. And, no matter what they might say or alternatively, be afraid to say in public, they’ll still do business with Israel. Israel – and the attractiveness of what she offers the world – will not vanish.
The way to get Obama off of Israel’s back…is to get Obama off of Israel’s back. This means standing up to him, not placating him. Actions like this prisoner release only encourage Obama & Co. to think that they can continue to jerk Israel around. They have got to be told that this charade is ending.
The near-term costs will be high, but the long-term benefits stand to be great. An Israel that proves that she can defend herself and stand up to pressure from the most powerful country in the world will go a long way towards convincing her adversaries that she is here to stay, so they better get used to it.
And finally, once again, to our Israeli readers here, I apologize for Obama. I never voted for him, and did my best to warn my fellow Jews here not to.
I can understand why most of them voted for him in ’08. I didn’t agree with it, and fought against it, but at least then, I understood what they were thinking.
I can’t explain why most Jews voted for Obama in ’12. For this, I have no explanation. Most of my worst predictions about him came true in his first term, and people such as myself had all kinds of evidence and credibility in claiming what a disaster a second term of Obama would mean, both on foreign and domestic issues. But people wouldn’t listen. I still don’t get it.
Hang in there, Israel. If Bibi doesn’t find his cahones, elect someone who has them. Before it is too late.
I am revolted!
No other country on earth would spit on their own dead.
And if Jews don’t care about their own dead, why have a Jewish State?
The Arabs full well understand the significance of Jews degrading and debasing themselves in front of them – even if Israel’s morally obtuse leaders miss the big picture.
When Jews openly show they cannot stand up for themselves, they should not expect others to accord them respect.