Freeing Jewish Prisoners

Peace Now has called on the Prime Minister to immediately remove from the Knesset's agenda any discussion about the initiative to free Arab prisoners within the framework the the Shalit Deal. "The deal is difficult enough for Israel, and there is no reason to add additional risk to Israel's citizen's by releasing Arab terrorists to the streets," said Peace Now's Director, Yariv Oppenheimer. The left's proposal is immoral and represents a warped worldview that allows attacking and killing Jews. NRG-Maariv.

Interesting to see a moral position from Peace Now about the legitimacy of releasing terrorists.
It's a shame that Peace Now didn't actually say the above, rather they said the release of "Jewish Terrorists" was immoral and represents a warped worldview. Interesting how they have no problem at all release Arab murderers, but not Jewish ones...

I would think that the only way to add any morality to the release of Arab murderers, would be to release Jewish ones as well.

Hagai Segal writes an interesting Op-Ed piece in YNET on the subject:

When a murderer is sentenced to 36 life sentences but is being released after barely eight years, it becomes clear that verdicts around here are not binding. The judges wrote something, so what?

For lack of other choice, what is left to do now is to at least adhere to the principle of equality before the law, or more accurately, equality before the absence of law. A mass release of Arab terrorists requires us to embark on a parallel release of Jewish security prisoners. It isn’t nice and it isn’t pretty, but it’s necessary.

If Israel is strong enough to cope with the release of 1,000 Hamas members, [Jameel adds; actually, they were also from Fatah, and some were Israeli Arabs] it is also strong enough to contend with the mitigated sentences of Jews who harmed Arabs. In this case we are not dealing with 1,000 prisoners, and not even with 450, but rather, with only 12 of them.

As opposed to the Arab prisoners released in the swap, believe me when I say that there is no danger that the freed Jewish inmates would ever take up arms again. The overwhelming majority spent a much longer period in jail than most of the recently freed archenemies sent to Judea and Samaria or to Gaza.

Ami Popper has been behind bars for much longer than the female terrorist behind the Sbarro restraint bombing, while members of the Bat Ayin underground were imprisoned many years before the architect of the Café Moment bombing. Other prisoners include soldiers and police officers whose actions marked a momentary lapse, rather than the result of a lengthy conspiracy or membership in a subversive group.

Shin Bet officials would surely say that in this era of “price tag” we must not pardon Popper or the Bat Ayin group, but these officials are supposed to realize that the most effective way to uproot the “price tag” phenomenon is to put out the fires of frustration that give rise to this trend. When 1,027 Arab terrorists go home with the Shin Bet’s approval, yet Yoram Cohen insists on keeping the handful of Jewish inmates in prison, the frustration merely grows. Hence, we should free them at once. This too is part of the intolerable price of the Shalit swap. (YNET)

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Who does the boycott hurt?

In response to the anti-boycott law, Peace Now went all out and declared a boycott on products from Judea and Samaria. They printed up fancy ads listing the top companies to boycott. Other leftists went around putting stickers on “Settler” products in stores.

The end result?

The number one company on the list “Meshek Achiya” a producer of fine olive oil reported a record jump in sales in Israel this week. The same for Psagot Winery and Tekoa Farms. In fact, all the companies that the Left targeted reported a jump in sales.


Why? Because the average Israeli wanted to show their support to the Settler enterprise and against boycotts of Israel and against the Left, and the Left told them who best to buy from to show that support.

But the real question is, who does the boycott really hurt?

Let’s start with Gush Katif. The 8000 residents of Gush Katif accounted for 10% of international sales of agricultural products from Israel. Who did the disengagement hurt?
The Israeli economy.

But it also hurt the Arabs of Gaza, who were gainfully employed at salary levels above those they would have in their own market.

But let’s talk Judea and Samaria.

There are some 788 factories in Judea and Samaria (including of course the Jordan Valley). The factories produce for export at least $100 million dollars in sales (I need to check if that is per month or per year).

Of the 17,000 employees of those factories, 11,000 are Arabs (“Palestinians”). Some 100,000 family members of these 11,000 Arabs are dependent on these Settler factories. That doesn’t include the Arab satellite companies that opened up, such as taxi and food services. And the salaries these factory employees get (along with the associated social benefits) is far more than they could possibly get in the PA work market.

I might also mention that these factories are typically models of peaceful coexistence (except when the occasional Arab employee tries to kill some Jews).

A while back, one Israeli company decided to move out of the Barkan (Settler) Industrial Park because of the pressure from the Left. As a result, its 90 Arabs employees were fired as they couldn’t work within the “Green Line”, the Jewish employees merely had to commute in the opposite direction. The firing of 90 Arabs means that some 800 Arabs no longer had a provider of income.

The truth is, a successful boycott would in reality hurt the Palestinians far, far more than it would hurt the Jews. But don’t confuse the Leftists with that piece of information, because their calls for boycott are helping improve the Settler economy they hate so much.


Oh, and here’s a question for you (as asked in Makor Rishon).

If Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli citizen currently living over the Green Line (making him a Settler) were to open a factory, would the Left call for its boycott too? Or are their calls to boycott actually racist and only targeting Jews?


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Peace Process: Palestinians Creating Facts on the Ground

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Infiltrating Israel's Left

What's a Zohan sign doing at a left wing rally in Israel?!

This past Saturday afternoon and evening, Israel's Left held a demonstration protesting Israel's policies in the West Bank/Yehuda-Shomron, the IDF's blockade of Hamas-run Gaza, and the interdiction of the "aid" flotilla to Gaza.

The J-Post reported that thousands attended the rally:

The protestors began their demonstration with a march from Rabin Square to the Tel Aviv museum, where speeches were held. The demonstration, which was held under the slogan "The Government is Drowning Us All", was originally planned solely to protest the occupation, but following last Monday’s deadly raid on a Turkish boat attempting to break the Gaza blockade, the rally also addressed those upset about the government’s policies in regard to the Gaza Strip and the raid that left 9 foreign citizens dead and several IDF soldiers wounded.

What was not reported however, was the infiltration of the demonstration by a large group of Russian Israelis, proudly holding signs in English and Russian, that weren't exactly in the spirit of the planned event.

See for yourself.

These photos and more, all appear on the NEWSru Russian language Israeli website which covered the demonstration. I'm only posting the family friendly,
ones as some of the other signs are on the crude side.

I'm sure Latma appreciates this one :-)

Didn't any of the leftists there read these signs?

"We'll Stab for Peace"
"We'll make the world abandon reason"
"We Believe in blah-blah-blah"
"What the hell am I doing here?"
"Don't mess with the Zohan"


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Equality under the law, Bagatz style

by Lurker

2006:

• Regavim appeal to Bagatz: Tell the government to enforce its own demolition orders against illegal Arab buildings in Mizrat el-Kabilya.
  
  
• Government response: We have the right to decide our own priorities for when to do things.
  
  
• Bagatz decision: Sounds good to us.

2009:

• Peace Now appeal to Bagatz: Tell the government to enforce its own demolition orders against illegal Jewish buildings in Haresha and Hayovel.
  
  
• Government response: We have the right to decide our own priorities for when to do things.
  
  
• Bagatz decision: No, the law is the law: You must get started on destroying the Jewish buildings right now.

2009/2010:

• Regavim appeal to Bagatz: So then tell the government to also get started on destroying the illegal Arab buildings in Mizrat el-Kabilya now.
  
  
• Government response: Our top priority is to forcibly prevent Jews from building; we don't care very much about illegal Arab building.
  
  
• Bagatz decision: Sounds good to us.

[Source: JPost]


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Lets help Peace Now!

Despite the explicit statement from the government that existing construction can continue in Yehuda and Shomron, the peace-lovin' organization, Shalom Achshav has decided that the government's edict isn't enough.

They are advertising for people who "see illegal construction" going on, to immediately call the special "illegal construction peace hotline" so they can transfer all the information to Ehud Barak's "inspectors."

See the following email which explains it all.

Shalom,

Peace Now (Shalom Achshav) had a press meeting yesterday where they advertised a phone number so that anyone seeing any illegal building in Yehuda and Shomrom can call and report it. We would like to fill up the voice mail to this number with as many phone calls as possible by leaving long messages which report illegal building the nearby Palestinian villages.

Whoever can please record the message and forward this message to as many people as possible. The phone number to leave messages is 1-700-701-967

Good Luck!

Secretariat – Yishuv Neriya

Note, in order that you do not receive a call back, dial *43 before dialing the above number. When you hear a new dial tone dial the above number. This will prevent the voice mail from identifying the caller – in the event and you don't want to be identified by Shalom Achshav.

hat-tip: FC

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Challenging Peace Now - Targeting Illegal Palestinian Building

What drives Peace Now?

In their quest for peace, targeting settlements is high on their list. They clearly state that in their opinion, settlements are an existential threat to Israel.

Settlements – including settlement expansion and the proliferation of proto-settlements known as “illegal outposts” – are a political, security, and economic liability for Israel, and an existential threat to Israel as a Jewish, democratic state.

Politically, they extinguish hope among Palestinians that Israel is serious about making peace. They destroy the credibility of Palestinian moderates who reject violence and tell their people that negotiations with Israel are the correct path to statehood. They create facts on the ground that make any viable arrangements for a two-state solution difficult, and eventually, impossible. (Peace Now)

Funded by less than friendly counties towards Israel, Peace Now tattle-tales daily to the world about every single brick moved within a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

However, there is also illegal Palestinian construction throughout the entire West Bank, constructed against zoning rules and electrical code, and are being built to create "Palestinian Facts On the Ground". Till now, the Israeli Government has turned a blind eye to these gross violations for fear of angering the Palestinians and world opinion.

The "Regavim" organization has finally said, "enough."

Last week, Regavim challenged the Israeli Government in Israel's Supreme Court.

The High Court asked state prosecutors why the state discriminates between illegal Jewish and Palestinian building in the West Bank, citing the lack of enforcement of demolition warrants against illegally-built Palestinian buildings in the area.

The High Court hearing on Thursday came after the right-wing "Regavim movement for the protection of national land", called for the court to force Defense Minister Ehud Barak to explain why he hasn't carried out the demolition of illegal buildings in the Palestinian villages of Asaviya and Yitma in the West Bank, which are located next to the settlement of Rahalim.

The state said in response to the petition that since 1996, demolition orders were given against 50 buildings in Asaviya, but only 3 have been carried out. (Haaretz)

The Supreme Court issues its ruling minutes ago:

High Court justices ruled that the State must enforce demolition orders issued for two illegal buildings near the Palestinian villages of al-Sawaya and Yatma and that a timetable be implemented in order to follow up on the enforcement.

The ruling was made in response to a petition filed by Regevim on the issue. The justices also ruled that the State must issue an update within 45 days that will detail the actions taken on the issue. (ynetnews)

Regavim has stated they will be bringing new complaints of illegal Palestinian construction on a daily basis to the Supreme Court.

If Peace Now really wants to help the Palestinians, they should back off the settlements.

Regavim: Kudos.

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"Peace Now" Slams IDF for Commending 9 Year Old Terror Victim

This was unfortunately, so predictable.

Peace Now's Director, Yariv Oppenheimer on the IDF awarding a citation to a 9 year old youth who fought off a knife wielding Palestinian terrorist:

"The job of a Brigade Commander is not to give out prizes, but to ensure the welfare of the residents of the area, Jews and Arabs, and enforce the law in the territories.

The subservient sycophancy of the army towards the Yitzhar residents is superfluous, and impacts the [army's] ability to enforce law and order in the area" [source in Hebrew]

I wonder if Peace Now has stated to bring charges of "crimes against humanity" against the IDF Commander in the Hague's World Court, for awarding the citation to the 9 year old Yitzhar resident.

Oops. Gave them an idea.

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Peace Now...Jews Later.

The picture above displays the faces of 177 Jews murdered by Palestinian Terrorists after the terrorists were released by Israel.

Released as "gestures" for peace

Released as "gestures" for goodwill during Muslim holidays

Released as "gestures" to the United States, for political brownie points

And what did we get as a result? 177 more Jews were murdered.

The tough call is that kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit is being held by Palestinian Authority Hamas terrorists, and they are demanding the release of over 1000 terrorists in Israel's jails.

Do we release these terrorists who will undoubtedly continue their attempts to kill us, to obtain the freedom of Gilad Shalit, the IDF soldier who was kidnapped outside of Palestinian-controlled Gaza?

The answer should be, a clear, resounding, "no."

Unfortunately, the Kadima, Labor and Meretz politicians of Israel will release these terrorists in the coming years if they are still in power. They will release these terrorists the same way they have always released terrorists for meaningless "peace" initiatives which have proven themselves as worthless gestures.

When one understands that these terrorists will be released anyway and they will continue to kill Jews, we might as well get Gilad Shalit back now.

It's a terrible situation, but we can count on Israel's Left to release these vermin later on down the road, so let's get Gilad in return.

The ALMAGOR - "Terror Victims Association" disagrees, because they don't want to see more Jews killed.

The problem is, they forget how pathetic Israel's leadership is.

And if we're talking about Israel's Leftwing; Peace Now "activists" arrived in Sderot to hand Defense Minister Amir Peretz a letter demanding that he order the immediate evacuation of settlers who legally purchased a home in Hevron.

They could have demanded that Peretz do something to stop the daily launching of Palestinian Qassam rockets from Gaza, but I guess they have much more important things to do.

So it's not just the Muqata which is upset at Peace Now; Sederot residents were furious at Peace Now...and they had to be restrained by the police.

The Sderot residents, for their part, said the arrival of the Peace Now activists to the city was an ‘act of hypocrisy.’

"Where were they when we suffered from the Qassam rockets?" said Alon Davidi, chairman of the Council for Sderot’s Security. "Our real enemy is in Gaza, not among the West Bank Jews."

Peace Now is still clueless as to who the enemy is.

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