It’s hard to believe that John Kerry and Bibi Netanyahu thought that releasing dozens of Palestinian killers in the name of advancing a peace process few Israelis seem to have much faith in was going to be an easy sell. But now that the first wave of prisoners have been released to a hero’s welcome, the critics are really getting in gear.
Earlier this week, a group calling itself Bereaved Families for Peace and Justice released a letter to Kerry asking for a meeting to make their argument against releasing more prisoners.
Meet with us. Let us explain why being complicit in turning the killers of our children and parents into heroes and ‘freedom fighters’ must not be part of any policy befitting a great nation and moral exemplar like the United States. It is not too late. We ask you to make time to meet with a small group of us when you come back to this area in the coming days. We urge you to re-connect with the human dimension of the process you have started.
Also this week, Jewish Home MK Ayelet Shaked released a letter to Kerry making essentially the same point:
By forcing Israel to capitulate to terrorism by releasing murdering terrorists with so much blood on their hands that the US would never dream of releasing if it was their own citizens murdered – you are not only being extremely hypocritical, but are actually dabbling in experimentation and gambling, by putting me and my children’s lives at risk.
Meanwhile, the National Council of Young Israel President Farley Weiss is calling for the prisoners who have killed Americans — men who the Palestinians consider to be national heroes — to be extradited to the United States to face trial.
Going forward, there is only one solution that can easily be adopted and can, at least partially, solve the problem. It is a solution that has been successfully used by other countries: the terrorists who murdered Israelis who have American citizenship, or any Americans visiting Israel, must be extradited to the United States to face US justice, and more than likely spend the rest of their lives in US prisons.
