November 3: Readers speak out again on prisoner release

Don’t we ever learn that no matter how many prisoners are let out, in the end there will be no peace because they do not want peace?

By JERUSALEM POST READERS
Letters 370 (photo credit: REUTERS/Handout )
Letters 370
(photo credit: REUTERS/Handout )
Readers speak out again on prisoner release
Sir, – It was very difficult reading “Abbas vows there will be no peace agreement unless all prisoners go free” (October 31).
We lost our dear, wonderful friend, Shoshana Hayman Greenbaum, in the 2001 massacre at Sbarro by a terrorist who was released with the last group let go in a “good-will gesture.”
Don’t we ever learn that no matter how many prisoners are let out, in the end there will be no peace because they do not want peace? They take from us, piece by piece, but we get nothing in return. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas got what he wanted, and the picture accompanying the article spoke for itself.
Killers should never see the light of day again, just as their victims won’t. They receive many benefits for the pain they cause us, so why should they stop doing evil?
SHARLENE BALTER Beit Shemesh
Sir, – With regard to “Joyful Palestinians celebrate security prisoners’ release “ (October 31), I want to suggest how we can also rejoice in their release.
Fifty-two such prisoners have been released so far – 52 persons who had an air-conditioned home, very ample meals every day, TVs in their cells and the possibility for studying for degrees. At the same time, I am contacted to donate money to provide food for the hungry. I hear that many citizens have no roof over their heads and there are those who cannot afford to study.
Let our government make a decision that the money saved by releasing the prisoners be made available for these “prisoners of circumstance” and make us all happy when Palestinian prisoners are released.
REUVEN YAGIL Beersheba
Sir, – “All of them have blood on their hands; all of them have murdered Israelis. Their release.
I believe, illustrates Israel’s determination to reach an agreement with our Palestinian neighbors that will ,once and for all, end the conflict,” said Eviatar Manor, Israel’s envoy to UN bodies in Geneva (“Israel to UNHRC: Palestinian prisoner release shows we’re serious about peace,” October 30).
I had to read this a few times before it penetrated my consciousness.
We are releasing terrorists convicted of heinous crimes against our people to tell the world we are serious about peace with our terrorist neighbors. How can anyone take us seriously when we utter such humiliating statements? Another hard-to-believe statement came from Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who uttered the indefensible claim that the move had been guided by the government’s responsibility to navigate according to “longterm security considerations” (“Israel releases second batch of security prisoners,” October 30).
If the aforementioned statements are not a sign of insanity, I don’t know what is. If the government knew the meaning of the word responsibility it would not have considered such a move. It would not be talking to terrorists and trying so desperately to give up our land to those whose only reason for living is to destroy us.
EDITH OGNALL Netanya
Sir, – Right-wingers in the government are complaining that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu betrayed the Knesset and the public by allowing out more terrorists who murdered Jews. Why did not anyone speak up about bringing down the government? Terrorists will murder again.
If anyone tells me that the Left will get in strong, what is the difference between Bibi and the Left? Both will give away the country. Bibi will perhaps do it at a slower pace, but both will destroy settlements and allow the Arabs to keep controlling the Temple Mount, where Jews cannot even utter a prayer.
The only thing that will stop our prime minister is if he believes that he will be toppled and there will be new elections.
If he is not stopped now, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will get all or most of what he is asking, leaving the Jews drowning in the sea. Netanyahu has to fear being brought down in shame more than he fears US President Barack Obama.
Why is there no shouting? Everyone sitting in the government is to blame, and blood will be on their hands as Arabs are given the green light to kill Jews.
BARBARA GINSBERG Ma’aleh Adumim
Sir, – My wife and I attended a protest against the release of the latest batch of Palestinian prisoners who were responsible for the murder of Israeli citizens.
The truth is, I was not sure if it was appropriate for me to attend. I asked myself what was the message of the protest, and what was the message I wanted to proclaim.
I do not know the secrets that are spoken behind closed international and national doors. It is reasonable to believe that the prime minister would not succumb to pressure to release these prisoners if he and other ministers did not have good reason to do so, because of either the greater good or the lesser bad. Therefore, insulting the government would not be in the interest of Israel or the image of the Jewish people in the world press. (We have enough issues regarding the lack of Jewish unity.) However, I do know that it is morally and ethically wrong to release murderers who state that they want to murder again. I also deeply feel and believe that it is absolutely the right thing to show support, empathy, care and love to the families that lost loved ones,at the hands of the prisoners being released.
Faced with this dilemma, I went, motivated by wanting to show support and solidarity with these families. However, I believe there is another issue, perhaps equally important, that needs to be addressed: Why are Israel and the Jewish people not doing everything possible to make the moral issue crystal clear to the world – that releasing murderers who want to continue to murder is wrong, and that asking Israel or any people to do so is wrong.
We need to work on raising the consciousness of the world about how ugly anti-humanism and anti-Semitism is. I believe it is important and good that the government of Israel invests not only in R&D and the export of hi-tech products, but also in R&D and the export the Godly and humanistic values of mutual respect, morality and empathy.
After all, this is the mission of the Jewish people, to shine Godly light unto ourselves and the world from Zion.
SIMCHA EDWARD SHELDON
Hashmonaim
Sir, – On Page 1 of your October 30 issue, the lead headline was: “Israel releases second batch of security prisoners.” On Page 3 there was this: “Prisoner found in Nablus 13 years after failing to return from furlough.”
Perhaps we should change the name of our country to Chelm! AVRAHAM FRIEDMAN Modi’in Illit Sir, – The Israeli legal system has once again declared that Arabs who murder Jews shall not be kept in prison. Pity the poor Arab who mistakenly kills another Arab instead of a Jew, or the Jew who kills anyone.
Pity the poor Arab who merely rapes or robs a Jew. If only he had murdered his victim he would have been smiling last week on a podium in Ramallah.
We are told that the prisoner release will ensure the continuation of the latest “peace talks,” so can we assume that these prisoners will be returned to prison when the talks fail? Why not insist that US Secretary of State John Kerry release prisoners from Guantanamo to encourage Arab support for the negotiations? Israeli liberals assure us that prisons are humane and effective alternatives to the death penalty, and then rush forward to empty them. Israeli judges continue to solemnly condemn Arab killers to “life in prison” when both parties know that this is a farce!
STEVE BERGER Ramat Gan