Bennett: No Palestinian murderers should be freed

Almagor robo-message impersonates PA minister thanking PM; Bennett: Freeing prisoners not a gesture but a disgrace.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Bennett taking pictures on giant imaginary camera 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Bennett taking pictures on giant imaginary camera 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
The government must not release Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to open peace talks, Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday, as the Almagor terror victims organization sent messages to cabinet ministers in the same vein.
“Not one murderer can be let out,” Bennett told Army Radio. “This isn’t a gesture; it’s a disgrace.... Why should we have to give over murderers in order to receive the dubious privilege of being able to negotiate with [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas?”
The Bayit Yehudi leader emphasized that the prisoners were people who murdered Israelis and other Jews, including children.
“I don’t believe that [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu will release murderers just so he can start negotiations,” he added.
Also on Sunday, cabinet ministers received pre-recorded phone calls, ostensibly from Palestinian Authority Prisoners Minister Issa Karaka.
“I want to praise your prime minister,” the caller said. “It’s important for him to have a meeting with our leader, but for that meeting to happen, our friends have to return home.”
By “friends,” the caller meant Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
“It’s true that they killed and murdered, but it was for our goal, for our country, Palestine. So they killed a few Jews. What’s the big deal? All they want is to return home with a college degree.”
The calls, sent by Almagor, featured a voice actor impersonating Karaka and referred to the widespread practice by Palestinian prisoners to obtain a higher education while incarcerated.
“What are we asking for?,” the actor said. “Just a few – 120, no fewer. Thank you Netanyahu.”
Almagor launched a campaign in recent weeks to prevent the government from releasing Palestinian prisoners as a gesture in peace talks. It followed reports that US Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace plan demanded that Israel release over 100 Palestinian prisoners arrested before the Oslo Accords were signed.
The organization’s director, Meir Indor, has visited several ministers and political headquarters, as well as Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, presenting them with a list of the 120 terrorists Abbas requested be released, and the names of people each one killed.
The list appears in a booklet titled “Have we gone crazy?” and features photos of the terrorists and their victims.