PM scrambles to get ministers’ support on prisoner release

The Government should not support a prisoner’s release for these reasons:
1 – 85% of Israelis are against it.
2 – no inducement to the Palestinians should be given to them just to enter negotiations. Either they want to negotiate or they don’t.
3 – intransigence shouldn’t be rewarded.
4 – If they have to be induced to negotiate, what good can possible come of the negotiations.
Ted Belman

Prof. Louis R. Beres: Do Not Release Terrorists!

In a MUST READ incisive article sent to Arutz Sheva, internationally acclaimed professor of  Political Science and International Law, Professor Louis René Beres, explains why the release of the terrorists with blood on their hands is a grave breach of international law, in addition to being an instance of Credo quia absurdum “I believe because it isabsurd.”

JPOST

The government is expected to vote Sunday on a process to allow for the release of 104 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture during what Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said would be at least a nine-month negotiation period with the Palestinians.

The vote comes in advance of the renewal of direct talks, possibly as early as Tuesday in Washington with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and special envoy Yitzhak Molho.

The government is also expected to vote on a referendum bill for any territorial exchange that would be part of a final-status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Netanyahu on Saturday night published an open letter to the Israeli public explaining the importance of a peace deal and why he believed it was necessary to release Palestinian prisoners – most of whom have blood on their hands and are serving life sentences – in spite of the high emotional cost.

“This is an incredibly difficult decision. It is painful for the bereaved families, it is painful for the whole nation of Israel and it is very painful for me,” Netanyahu wrote.

“In the next nine months, we will consider whether there is a Palestinian element opposite us that, like us, truly wants to end the conflict between us. Such a conclusion will be possible only under conditions that will ensure security for Israel’s citizens and ensure our vital national interests. If we succeed in achieving such a peace agreement, I will submit it to a referendum.

“Such a fateful decision cannot be made by a closed vote in the Knesset. Every citizen must be allowed to directly influence our future and our fate on such a crucial issue,” Netanyahu said.

With respect to the prisoner release, the government on Sunday will appoint a four-member ministerial committee to oversee the peace process, that will include Netanyahu, Livni, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch.

That committee will have the authority to make decisions with regard to the peace process, including the release of prisoners.

It is understood that a vote for that committee is a vote to release the prisoners.

Likud ministers said Netanyahu had pressured them to support the prisoner release. But Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz told The Jerusalem Post he intended to vote against it.

“I cannot vote to free terrorist murderers, harm bereaved families, and encourage terror,” Katz said.

“I made my view very clear a week ago, so there is no point in pressuring me.”

Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett announced that his party’s ministers would vote against the prisoner release. A source close to a Yisrael Beytenu minister said the party’s ministers would be permitted by their leader, Avigdor Liberman, to vote according to their conscience.

Deputy ministers Danny Danon and Avi Wortzman called upon ministers to vote against the proposal, which Wortzman called “dangerous and senseless.”

Land of Israel Caucus co-chairmen Yariv Levin (Likud) and Orit Struck (Bayit Yehudi) called the proposal “a shameful surrender to terror.”

“Israel is surrendering yet again,” Levin and Struck said in a joint statement. “The pace in which the government is backtracking from its declared positions before the talks have begun is very worrying.”

In a letter, addressed to Likud ministers, Danon wrote, “This sets a future standard for Israel of far-reaching compromises in the face of ridiculous requests from the other side.”

Danon added, “I call on you to vote against releasing prisoners, but in favor of negotiations without preconditions.”

The deputy defense minister stated that there is a “consensus” among Likud members against “the crazy release of dozens of terrorists with the blood of hundreds of Israelis on their hands.”

Danon ended his letter with a call for the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard from prison in the United States.

Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On called upon Netanyahu not to approve the referendum bill, because it would raise questions about whether he honestly wants to advance the peace process and indicate that he lacks a mandate to commit to future evacuations of territories.

“Just a few months ago the nation chose its representatives in the government and the Knesset to run the country and make fateful decisions,” Gal-On said. “Bennett and Netanyahu are trying to change the rules of the game and shift responsibility to the nation.”

Netanyahu defended the prisoner release in his letter to the nation.

“From time to time, prime ministers are called on to make decisions that go against public opinion – when the matter is important for the country.

“In order to make decisions that are supported by the public, there is no need for prime ministers.

“At the present time, it seems to me that it is very important for the State of Israel to enter into a diplomatic process. This is important both in order to exhaust the chance of ending the conflict with the Palestinians and in order to establish Israel’s position in the complex international reality around us.

“The major changes in our region – in Egypt, Syria and in Iran – not only place challenges before the State of Israel but they also create considerable opportunities for us.

“For these reasons, I believe that it is important for the State of Israel to enter a diplomatic process that will continue for at least nine months – in order to check if it is possible to reach an agreement with the Palestinians during this time.

“But even with all of the importance that I ascribe to the diplomatic process, I was not prepared to accept the Palestinians’ demands for withdrawals and [building] freezes as preconditions for entering negotiations.

“Neither was I prepared to accept their demand to release Palestinian prisoners before the start of negotiations. I did agree to release 104 Palestinians in stages after the start of the negotiations and in accordance with the circumstances of their progress,” Netanyahu said.

He explained that the release of prisoners “collides with the incomparably important value of justice.”

“It is a clear injustice when depraved people, even if most of them have sat in prison for over 20 years as in this case, are released before they have finished serving their sentences.”

“The decision is difficult for me, seven-fold because my family and I personally know the price of bereavement stemming from terrorism. I know the pain very well. I have lived with it every day for the past 37 years.”

“The fact that previous Israeli governments have released over 10,000 terrorists does not make it easier for me today, and did not make it easier when I decided to bring back Gilad Schalit,” Netanyahu said.

He added that politicians, however, have to make these difficult decisions.

“People in positions of leadership need to choose between complex choices and sometimes the necessary decision is especially difficult when most of the public opposes it.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry phoned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday and informed him of the Israeli government’s decision to release Palestinian prisoners.

Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, said that Kerry told the PA president that US President Barack Obama’s administration fully supports the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

During a meeting with Palestinian journalists in Ramallah, Abbas was quoted as saying that Palestinians should expect “good news” on Sunday regarding the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Abbas refused to elaborate, but told the journalists: “Follow the Israeli media on Sunday and you will hear good news on the prisoners.”

Abbas reiterated his commitment to a two-state solution and said the Palestinians were keen on the success of the peace process

July 28, 2013 | 50 Comments »

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  1. yamit82 Said:

    Just what they need: With Egypt running out of wheat, US sending F-16?s

    Perhaps it has something to do with this:

    Perhaps no other region in the world counts on Egypt as a friend and ally as the Gulf States do. It is a relationship that goes back decades but peaked in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, when Egypt provided 35,000 troops for the Gulf War of 1991. It was in fact the third largest contingent after the US and the UK. A few months after Kuwait’s liberation, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar forgave $6bn in debt that Egypt owed them.
    Gulf citizens also have a deep bond towards Egypt and Egyptians since the days of Gamal Abdel Nasser.
    Egypt, with its significant military power, is the only Arab power that can balance the military strength of Iran and Israel. Egypt’s army has almost 500,000 active soldiers, with another 500,00 reserves and 400,000 paramilitary troops. The force is considered to be the largest in Africa and the tenth largest in the world.

    This might also explain the quick support for the army from the gulf.
    although the story is old it is still pertinent. perhaps some of those planes are slated for the next gulf war.
    http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/02/2011214151229281695.html

  2. Shy Guy Said:

    Where are your heros Eldad and Ben Ari? Are the 3 of you forming a posse and headin’ up from the south to ride Netanyahu out of Jerusalem on a rail by sundown?

    when the posse arrives which side will feiglin be on?

  3. yamit82 Said:

    The right is the silent majority in academia,

    it appears to be a silent majority in everything. Why is it silent and why is a majority unable to unite the electorate? Perhaps the right should learn from the tactics of the left.

    I am suspecting other issues that divide the “right”. To that end I ask the question why Eldad, bennett and Feiglins constituencies cannot unite together, and with others, who seek YS for Israel? Certainly this recent issue of releasing terrorists was in sync with the majority of the electorate so why are they not uniting around the issue of most importance or are their central issues all different?

  4. yamit82 Said:

    Leadership is not just having good even correct ideas but the ability to convince others to accept those ideas and positions.

    I know you dont agree with me but I think that lawfare would have been one more road that would have contributed greatly to this effort. Big law cases get publicity and even in failure the arguments become available to the public for thought getting free publicity from the media. The left uses it to the extent that they have blown their influence beyond their size. I am surprised that not one politician involves himself actively in organizing in this area. It is interesting to note that the sole basis of the EU action is based on the concept that jewish settlement in YS is illegal. Only some cheeps from solitary birdies are heard in opposition. This is due to doing nothing in that area. In my view the right is organizationally challenged so much so that a minority left can still wield a great influence.

  5. Netanyahu Said: Freeing Terrorists Strengthens Terror
    Just five years ago, Netanyahu declared that releasing prisoners “reflects weakness and a loss of direction.”

    Gideon Saar, who was Likud faction chairman, said at the time: “The government’s decision crushes the public’s trust, that murderers and terrorists are brought to justice, and it will harm the security of the citizens of Israel and the attempts to free Schalit.

    “One can only imagine how this release of 200 terrorists, free of charge, will affect the level of demands that Hamas will make.”

    Saar, now Minister of Interior, voted in favor of the release of terror prisoners on Sunday and has defended the move.

  6. yamit82 Said:

    court opts for lenient charges in lynch of Eden Natan Zada.

    Is this Livni’s court? Those who voted likud got livni in their courts and representing them with the pals.

  7. Shy Guy Said:

    Try to get your facts straight. Feiglin has been voting against his own party’s line when appropriate ever since Netanyahu issued an edict to prevent Feiglin from going up to Har Habayit.

    it’s a futile effort and that should be obvious because feiglins constituency is diluted and rendered moot by being in Likud. Feiglin attracts voters to Likud whose votes are wasted because Likud appears to be in action far left of its perceived platform. therefore, “rightists” voting for likud/feiglin are really voting for livni/barak.
    although I am pretty clueless about Israeli politics it appears to me that the only result of feiglins efforts can be to get himself elected. He, and everyone else who just disagreed with this obviously undemocratic Likud action of releasing prisoners,should get out of Likud and move to the right so that those who wish to vote for YS know that their vote is not useless. as it stands now I have been unable to find any evidence, other than rumor, that Likud is a right-wing party seeking to gain YS for Israel. I have no idea what Likud wants other than what BB says and does. The thing about this recent action is that it shines a light on a weakness on the Israeli electoral system in that, apparently, an overwhelming majority of the population and the members of Likud/IB/BY were unable to realize their wishes. It shows either how a few can hijack the country or how many are closet liars who are pretending for reelection but go along when push comes to shove.
    Right now Feiglin is acting as a protection and fig leaf for the Likud executive intentionally or not. i think he would do better on the outside of Likud and have more influence. Look at livnis influence and she hardly got any votes.
    How does an Israeli citizen pressure his representative in the Knesset. does he have a representative or just a list? Is the only way to pressure govt through each party structure in the coalitions by the members of those parties? what about non members?
    I got an impression from a voter in YS that they are so afraid of the “right” breaking up and labor getting in that they support likud. They said that every seven years the right implodes and labor gets in.
    Unless BB has cards up his sleeve unknown to most it appears to me that his platform is slightly to the right of the left. i dont understand why the so called 85% weren’t all out on the street calling for BB resignation. why doesn’t the right organize such things?

  8. drjb Said:

    By the way, best reagards Yamit!

    Back to you Doc.

    What is apparent is that Feliglin is not an unknown quantity nor what is his agenda. After 14 years of trying to build a following in the Likud all he has managed to do in those 14 years is to gain a small but loyal following in the Likud. He managed to get a safe spot on the likud list through a political deal with MK Katz the past head of the powerful union in IAI, each faction voted for the other in internal likud primary. Katz brought in a large contingent from IAI for the vote. How many Feiglin gave in return I can’t say but certainly not as many as Katz had. That said my observation and criticism is that after 14 years of effort and expenditure one might think that the Feiglin contingent in the Likud would be one of the main pillars of power today. They are not and have lost to BB in every vote and in every direct confrontation.

    No-one seems to care or fear feiglin or his groups power otherwise the results should have been different. If Feiglin really had power in the Likud he could have made it clear that any vote by any Likud minister in favor of prisoner release would not be on the next Likud list and that Feiglin would work hard to make sure they were finished politically. Apparently he does not have such power and thus is ignored as a factor to contend with in the Likud. I say this with no joy but as a rational observer.

    While I am not crazy about Bennett he has shown Feiglin the way it has to go and that is not in the Likud but a replacement of the Likud. According to latest Polls Bennett despite mistakes and losses to Shas and Deri is now polling higher than the Likud and Lapid. He need only attack the likud and BB from the right to increase his numbers.

    The Israeli electorate is now returning to the traditional left right political fight over national and security concerns and Feiglin is being totally marginaized first by himself being part o the Likud and secondly by the power structure within the Likud led by BB. If BB makes more major concessions the Likud as a political force in Israel is over. They will be indistinguishable from the left as perceived by most on the right and they will be correct.

    Leadership is not just having good even correct ideas but the ability to convince others to accept those ideas and positions. I would say based on empirical evidence Feiglin has failed.

  9. @ Shy Guy:
    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/169470#.UfZU8ayBbfg
    Former MK Aryeh Eldad, head of the Hatikva party, has been chosen to head Professors for National and Economic Strength, an organization of nationalist academicians. In an interview with Arutz Sheva, Prof. Eldad said that while most people think the majority of intellectuals side with the left – this is not true.

    “The image the right wing has, is that the people side with it, but the intellectuals do not,” he explained. “This is a misguided image that the left makes use of.” Based on personal knowledge, he said, most of the people occupying the senior positions in academia are nationalists.

    The right is the silent majority in academia, he insisted.

    He admitted that in the liberal arts, the left and right may be balanced – or the left may have an a majority. However, he said, in the exact sciences, there is a clear majority for the right wing. These academics are busy, however, and “they do not find enough time for shouting,” he added.

    MK Eldad, whose Otzma Leyisrael faction failed to pass the threshold for entering the Knesset in the last elections, noted that there is no nationalist opposition to the present government. He therefore intends to turn the Professors for National and Economic Strength into an ex-parliamentary opposition to the government.

    If there was a nationalist opposition party in the Knesset, Eldad said, it would have filed no-confidence resolutions because of the construction freeze in Judea and Samaria, and the government’s reported intention to free jailed terrorists, as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority.
    Otzma Leyisrael Continues Fight Outside Knesset

    Otzma Leyisrael failed to remain in the Knesset but continues to fight for its key issue – a strong Jewish Israel.

  10. yamit82 Said:

    Is this the best that the Great Feiglin can come up with?

    Waiting to see what more you can do other than mouth off on an English Israel oriented blog.

    Hey! Where are you heros Eldad and Ben Ari? Are the 3 of you forming a posse and headin’ up from the south to ride Netanyahu out of Jerusalem on a rail by sundown?

    Well are you, Paper Digital Pixel Cowboy?!

  11. @ yamit82:
    Feiglin is the only member of the coalition that has the balls to publicly oppose Bibi. He does so on principle, is hardly ever supported or acknowledged by his colleagues.
    He’s a rookie and yet carries more weight and scrutiny than all other likudniks combined, with the probable exception of Boogie Ayalon.

    He’s been in the Knesset for 6 months, what do you want him to do?? become Don Quixote??
    He has to keep on spreading his message around, gain some exposure and experience, and keep on chugging along. He’ll get his chance eventually to become the leader that Israel sorely needs.
    By the way, best reagards Yamit!

  12. With reference to the convicted terrorists that the PA want released as a condition for renewing ‘peace’ talks, there are 3 parties involved all of whom need to be somehow satisfied.

    The Americans feel the PA will not return to the talks if this condition is not met. The PA wants their ‘prisoners’ freed. And then there is Israel.

    The solution is Israel should free all of the terrorists when Secretary of State John Kerry arrives inIsrael with the freed American prisoner Jonathan Pollard and that Secretary Kerry have the freed PA prisoners taken to the U.S. with him for re-settlement.

  13. @ the phoenix:
    @ bernard ross:


    Feiglin: Fight Terrorist Release by Voting Against the Budget

    MK Moshe Feiglin calls on MKs from all parties to vote against the state budget to protest the release of terrorists.

    Is this the best that the Great Feiglin can come up with?

    After 14 years of Chasing illusions he made it to the Knesset.


    Feiglin is the equivalent of a vestigial body organ
    . He values his job a Deputy Knesset Speaker he makes 2500 shekels more for that position.

  14. Shin Bet Head Warned Ministers: Don’t Release Terrorists
    Yoram Cohen told ministers that releasing terrorists would hurt security, diminish deterrence.

    Shin Bet head Yoram Cohen warned government ministers at the weekly Cabinet session Sunday against releasing terrorists as a “gesture” to the Palestinian Authority (PA) – but the ministers voted to do so anyway.

    Cohen explained that the release of terrorist prisoners would diminish security “both in the immediate threat to the public, and because of the erosion in deterrence.”

    “The chance that the prisoners will go back to terrorism is relatively large,” he said. Experience shows that as the years pass from the terrorists’ release, they tend to go back to the activity that landed them in jail, he added.

  15. I notice all the BS members and ministers of Likud, IB,bayet yahudi and including Feiglin pretending to be against the release. None of them appear to be leaving the govt coalition or their parties to give evidence to their lying BS.
    […]
    The personal benefits far outweigh the importance of the nation of Israel to them ALL. they are worse frauds than BB. They could make a difference by leaving their parties and coalition en masse in support of 85% o the Israeli people. I will never listen or believe one shred of the BS that they spout in the future. They want credit from verbal BS while risking nothing in support of Israel. .

    Spot on, mr Ross. Sadly, this came to pass and I am afraid that more irreversible bad news are yet to come.

    Feiglin has been voting against his own party’s line when appropriate ever since Netanyahu issued an edict to prevent Feiglin from going up to Har Habayit. And it was Feiglin who has publicly told other coalition members to buck the Likud coalition. Nobody else in the coalition has done either of these things.

    And I can tell you that it was Feiglin who was running from minister to minister today to attempt to prevent this tragedy from taking place.

    Wow!!
    Bravo!!
    What incredible courage….

    @ Bernard Ross
    @ shy guy

  16. bernard ross Said:

    Feiglin pretending to be against the release. None of them appear to be leaving the govt coalition

    Try to get your facts straight. Feiglin has been voting against his own party’s line when appropriate ever since Netanyahu issued an edict to prevent Feiglin from going up to Har Habayit. And it was Feiglin who has publicly told other coalition members to buck the Likud coalition. Nobody else in the coalition has done either of these things.

    And I can tell you that it was Feiglin who was running from minister to minister today to attempt to prevent this tragedy from taking place.

    As for your previous question to me, I already gave Yamit an unsatisfactory answer to such questions.

  17. yamit82 Said:

    BB had four choices:

    there was the choice of sticking to no preconditions. a terrorist release as a “gesture” has no relevance to the process of negotiations. It is simply an exercise in abject humiliation where Abbas, Kerry and obama have sucked the jews into a “gesture” of no value but instead a demonstration of the willingness of the jews to whatever they are told including acts of depravity. They are demonstrating to the world the depravity of the jewish people as a people willing to sell their brother and sister for a mess of pottage. They prove that the Jew is without the slightest shred of personal dignity. This is how the world sees the jews and this is how the jews must now see themselves: not one shred left of personal dignity. this is what the europeans did to the Jews before they slaughtered them. First, they spit on them and humiliated them.

  18. I notice all the BS members and ministers of Likud, IB,bayet yahudi and including Feiglin pretending to be against the release. None of them appear to be leaving the govt coalition or their parties to give evidence to their lying BS.
    http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Bayit-Yehudi-MK-Govt-that-releases-prisoners-will-uproot-settlements-321272?rz=n_28July13
    The personal benefits far outweigh the importance of the nation of Israel to them ALL. they are worse frauds than BB. They could make a difference by leaving their parties and coalition en masse in support of 85% o the Israeli people. I will never listen or believe one shred of the BS that they spout in the future. They want credit from verbal BS while risking nothing in support of Israel. At least BB has a backbone but they are just sniveling pigs at the trough willing to sell anything to keep their benefits. No respect is due for their patronizing verbal diarrhea.

  19. @ Laura:

    BB had four choices: agree to 67 borders as a starting point. Agree to total construction freeze including Jerusalem, releasing all the terrorists or saying NO to all of them, and stick to his long stated position of negotiations without preconditions.

    He choose releasing terrorists as it doesn’t compromise strategically negotiations over final borders. He and those before him have shown that the national upset over terrorists release while disturbing will soon be forgotten and he doesn’t expect to lose his current coalition over this issue. The left and the moderates love him the political flunkies will support him because he is the one holding them up politically and they want to keep their jobs. The ideological right in this political context are a minority trumped by Labors guarantee of support from without or even in the coalition replacing Bennett if he and his party leave. The Likud rank and file have shown that party politics is more important to them than principle and doing the right thing so BB has come out of this tarnished in the eyes of the right but now adored by the left and moderates. Until someone decides to seriously challenge BB from the right he will do whatever he wants and will get his way.

    I warned that releasing over a thousand terrorists for Shalit BB would have a difficult time the next time the Arabs and Obama demanded same. Well that time has come and BB could not say No after he is already on record of releasing Pali prisoners and murderers.

    At least with Shalit we got something in return.

  20. Cut the bullshit you stated in your open letter, Bibi. You are releasing terrorists because Obama and lurch Kerry ordered you to and you don’t have the backbone to stand up to them and refuse their demands.

  21. yamit82 Said:

    Hamas, spurned by Egypt, tries to get cozy with Iran again

    Its too bad my reply is still in moderation. the gist of my reply was that hamas is on a leash and has few options, they are begging for bucks but they have been screwed. they cannot support iran or their leaders will be killed and they will be starved.
    Here is another story that you may beleive supports your view but I note that their talks were before Qatar kicked out meshaal. Perhaps hamas tried to stay in bed with Iran on the sly for the extra cash and got caught. In any case I think it has been demonstrated to them that they are on a leash without options until the GCC says differently.
    http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Report-Hamas-Iran-secretly-met-in-Beirut-to-talk-truce-321260?rz=n_28July13
    where can meshaal go? Iran, Egypt, Gaza…? Gaza is a target rich environment. I think Israel demonstrated that when it killed Iran linked hamas leaders last time. The question is whether the hamas top brass and Qatar colluded with israel on the targets as both wanted Iran out. Hamas must go with its begging bowl where it can but it cannot escape the GCC/sunni axis and flee to iran without their consent.

  22. @ the phoenix:
    Dear Phoenix, that is an absolutely gorgeous video. I watched it twice and have saved it to watch it many times again. It’s entrancing in its beauty. Thank you so much.

  23. There is nothing to celebrate!

    The Arabs rightly see the Jews do not attach great importance to the lives of their own people.

    Forgetting about justice is considered by them a good enough reason to humiliate and degrade them themselves for the dubious privilege of sitting down at the table with the murderers of their own people.

    Next week’s talks in Washington were already doomed before they even began. Today’s morally reprehensible decision by the Israeli government is the writing on the wall!

  24. @ Shy Guy:

    The wicked have triumphed

    It is indeed remarkable to observe the resiliency and the quest for life of any living creature, even after a major organic ‘set back’ (worms, lizards and even creatures higher up on the evolutionary scale that have lost a limb, or have self amputated it themselves so as to allow themselves to continue to live FREE!!!)
    Nonetheless, there is a limit to how many such hits, the living creature can sustain and continue living.
    The fact that these acts of HIGH TREASON are taking place even as we speak, and THE ISRAELI PUBLIC does not take to the streets to prevent the amputation (to come) and to charge and convict these bastards and their peace at any cost bs with HIGH TREASON (can we call a spade, a spade for a change, without a spin?)…is very worrysome.
    Symptoms of a rampantly spread disease of apathy at best and self hate and suicidal tendencies of pleasing others to death (literally). – at worst.

  25. ‘Why Hunt Down German Nazis, but Release Muslim Nazis?’ says Rabbi Eliezer Weiss who lost his wife and three children to terrorists. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/170327#.UfUq-KFraM8

    Cabinet has approved the release of Nazi killers.

    I won’t be posting that much anymore. My level of disgust with both your government and with Israeli tolerance for it is too high now. Just scanning the political headlines from Israel each day is sickening enough.

  26. @ bernard ross:

    yamit82 Said:

    A likud who allows BB to get away with murder is not deserving of better.

    I agree, there is no excuse and no reason to disassociate the rest of likud from this vote. Those in disagreement should leave the party and go with a party that votes no. I do not understand Israel.

    Could not agree with you more, mr Ross.
    This is sad, outrageous, maddening…futile?

    Thank God for gardening and cats, to keep sane…

  27. yamit82 Said:

    A likud who allows BB to get away with murder is not deserving of better.

    I agree, there is no excuse and no reason to disassociate the rest of likud from this vote. Those in disagreement should leave the party and go with a party that votes no. I do not understand Israel. Unlike the US where you really have a choice of only 2 in Israel why aren’t more people voting for a party that agrees with them as even a minor party can ascend to controlling power. Like the nazi party it makes no sense to try to rationalize the position of those who stay with Likud it is like rationalizing those who stay with the nazi party. Surely 85% of the population should be able to get its will in a system like israel where a govt can be brought down mid-term on a single issue. I blame those in likud who disagree with BB but also the 85% who don’t think the issue is important enough to pressure their representatives to vote their wishes.

  28. yamit82 Said:

    Hamas, spurned by Egypt, tries to get cozy with Iran again….I was right in yesterday’s reply to Bernard Ross!

    Sorry, no cigar 🙂
    this article means nothing, just diplo talk looking to keep getting some cash from iran and keepng doors open for the future. I think, in the current situation, Hamas has few options than to tow the line because everyone around them is squeezing them. However, if the GCC changes then anything can change. They were even getting squeezed by Morsi.

    Hamas needs a new patron that can help it pay its bills, tacitly and backing Assad is apparently a price it is willing to pay – a move that will, if made public explicitly, cause some serious damage to Hamas’ reputation in the larger Arab world.

    I dont think they are willing to pay this price. their top leaders would be dead from all sides.

    It will be interesting to see if Khaled Meshal, Hamas “political” head who has been moving from country to country

    will he go to Iran? I doubt it.

  29. yamit82 Said:

    Feiglin and his faction voted for supported Ya’alon

    Manhigut has known for ages exactly what stuff Ya’alon is and isn’t made from. As an example, see this Manhigut Weekly Update from February 2012. That pins him perfectly.

    Believe me, Manhigut didn’t think there was anything new under the sun during the recent election cycle.

    BTW, there are certain things I know which I can’t say in my discussions with you regarding Manhigut.

  30. yamit82 Said:

    Are you surprised?

    No. Not me.

    Feiglin and his faction voted for supported Ya’alon

    Versus? Try putting your point in context. The algorithms used by Manhigut for whom to vote for in the primaries were complex. It produced varied lists, so for example my wife and I had different lists for candidates to vote for, in order to spread the votes a certain way to the overall betterment of the right in the Likud.

    Does the system suck? Yes, big time. Did Manhigut invent the system? No.

  31. Shy Guy Said:

    Minister of deh fence, Bo’ged Ya’alon

    Voting for Terror Prisoner Release ‘With a Heavy Heart’

    Are you surprised? When he was head of military Intellgence he was for giving up the Golan to Assad.

    Feiglin and his faction voted for supported Ya’alon, so who is responsible? Great judgement.

    A likud who allows BB to get away with murder is not deserving of better.

  32. “From time to time, prime ministers are called on to make decisions that go against public opinion – when the matter is important for the country.

    Peace? There is, to be sure, one peace plan that would be acceptable to the Arabs and if the Jews would agree to it, there is guaranteed to be peace between them and the “Palestinians”. That plan is to give up the State of Israel, the Jewish State.

    “In order to make decisions that are supported by the public, there is no need for prime ministers.

    These decisions are exactly those a referendum should address. If it’s in the national interest then it’s incumbent that the PM and his government convince the nation that the national interest as he sees it overrides the opposition of the public.

    I would like to see such an immoral argument made against claims that the national interest overrides all moral imperatives, not to mention the abrogation of the rule of law and the loss of sovereignty of the State and it’s constituent institutions.

    BB should be made to defend his judgement and decision before he acts not after when it’s too late. when 75-81% of the Public according to different polls is against his decision it’s not a matter of overriding a slight majority. When you remove the Arab vote or voice from the polls you have as close to unanimous as you can get.

    At the least BB should be made to defend publicly his decision and not throw out inane,feckless, vacuous, nugatory for his reasoning behind his capitulation to foreign dictates.

    What value “Peace” at the expense of Justice and all moral values upon which the state and the nation rest upon?

    For those Jewish Israelis who are weary? We have been fighting the Arabs for 65 years? Nonsense! We have been fighting an entire world for more than 3,000 years and if our ancestors had been as weary and guilt-ridden and confused as so many of our time, where would we be today?

    We may, indeed, have to fight for another 65 years – or 500! We may, indeed, have to be a garrison state confronting vicious and cruel Arabs who seek our destruction. What of it? Do we therefore surrender to illusion and delusion? Do we therefore walk away from our state? Far, far better to have a state and an army and power that we must be prepared to use and guarantee Jewish survival, than to return to the state of conditions of the Exile that led to the Holocaust. Far, far better to have a state and an army and power that we must be prepared to use and guarantee Jewish survival, than to return to the state of conditions of the Exile that led to the Holocaust.

    Far better a garrison state than an emasculated state of destruction. All the Jews who have died in 65 years in Israel barely equal the number who perished in one day in the death camps. http://www.geocities.ws/nkmpa/peace.html

  33. Din Rabin and Din Sharon = Din BB, may it be today.

    BB is ultimately a murderer of Israelis no less than the Arabs he is releasing.

    What ever happened to BB’s and Israels oft stated position of negotiations without preconditions?

    I have long stated that terrorism pays and no country supports terrorism more than Israel itself.

  34. May G-d bless and keep Binyamin Netanyahu… far away from us!

    The new Czar of Israel – same as the old one(s).