The implications of Gilad Shalit’s release revisited

After more than five years in captivity, Israeli Defense Force soldier Gilad Shalit was welcomed home on Tuesday.

Shalit was kidnapped by Hamas militants, a Palestinian terrorist organization, in 2006 and after months of negotiations, Israel and Hamas reached an agreement last week to swap a thousand Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit.

While many Israelis are celebrating Shalit’s homecoming, just as many are in mourning — and for good reason. Hundreds of guilty terrorists have been released, and
they are rubbing it in the faces of the families whose lives they destroyed.

In a letter to Haaretz, a major Israeli newspaper, Frimet Roth spoke of her outrage over the release of her 15-year-old daughter's murderer.

Roth’s daughter, Malka, was killed in a Hamas terrorist attack by Palestinian Ahlam Tamimi at a Sbarro pizza parlor in Jerusalem in 2001. And under the authority of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she is now free.

Roth said Tamimi’s appeared in a local TV interview, expressing zero remorse for her crime.

“Would you do it again if you had the chance?” the reporter asked.

“Yes,” Tamimi said.

This sparked a question from Roth.

“I wonder whether PM Netanyahu has heard Tamimi’s statements?” Roth asked in the letter. “Could he possibly have agreed to free an unrepentant, cold-blooded murderer, sentenced to 16 life terms after she publicly committed to murder again?”

Sadly, this outlook of revenge among newly released prisoners is quite common.

Wafa al-Bass, imprisoned since 2005, told The New York Times the Palestinians should “take another Shalit” every year until the remaining 5,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are freed. Al-Bass, who was originally granted entry into an Israeli hospital for treatment, was incarcerated when she attempted to enter the country wearing a suicide bomb vest.  

As happy as I was watching videos of Shalit embrace his father, or as prideful as I felt seeing thousands of people celebrate his homecoming via Twitter and Facebook, I am infuriated knowing hundreds of terrorists are now free to continue murdering innocent civilians.

In my last column on Shalit’s impending return, I questioned Israel’s future plans to release vast numbers of prisoners should another Israeli soldier be kidnapped. Now, it appears the Israeli government might actually reconsider this stance for the future. If so, this law would break with precedent.

Various ministers and members of the Knesset, the legislative branch of the Israeli government, are drafting a bill dubbed the “Shalit Law,” according to Haaretz. The bill includes a recommendation that Israel not release more than one Palestinian prisoner for each Israeli prisoner of war/kidnapped victim.

Shalit’s homecoming and the subsequent release of what will number more than 1,000 prisoners in the next few months means it is imperative the Israeli government seriously debate the implications of such a policy.

This law is harsh and may well be unrealistic, but Israel must reconsider its current policies for the future well-being of its people.

The State of Israel has not established itself on the misguided stance that one Israeli life is worth thousands of others. During the last 63 years, the country has fought seven wars for self-defense and sacrificed thousands of soldiers, including Netanyahu’s brother.   

Indeed, Israel must not lose sight of its responsibility to the rest of its people.

What was done for Shalit’s family was remarkable, but it was neither reasonable nor fair for those who have come before him and for victims yet to come.

­— esalomon@indiana.edu