Israel must free Jewish terrorists to 'balance' Shalit deal, minister told Netanyahu

Ha'aretz ^ | 10/12/2011 | Barak Ravid

[Lattero]

Aside from debating whether or not to vote for a prisoner exchange deal that would set Gilad Shalit free, several members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet offered several lines of action Israel could take following the deal's execution.

Standing head and shoulders above most were Interior Minister Eli Yishai of Shas and his party member Meshulam Nahari, who said Israel should consider releasing Jewish terrorists who carried out attacks against Palestinians.

"It's the right thing to do as part of the balances in Israel's society," Yishai said, adding that such a move would not "undo the releasing of hundreds of [Palestinian] prisoners, but it may sweeten the bitter pill."

Other offers that came during Tuesday's dramatic cabinet meeting were to change Israeli law as to allow sentencing terrorists who had murdered Israeli citizens to death, thus increasing the legal deterrence against such acts.

Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor vehemently opposed the offer, saying: "I don't think we should be rushing toward extreme ideas."

[Lattero]

Releasing 1,000 terrorists for one soldier sounds like an "extreme idea" to me.

[texanred]

I didn't agree with trading 1,000 terrorists in exchange for a prisoner. Releasing 1,000 more on top of it - Jewish or not - doesn't sound better. Doubling down on terrorist releases sounds bad all around. I can't even begin to think of a way to make this sort of abandonment of justice and criminal punishment palatable.

[Optimist]

Catch ....
Release ....
Track .......
then............

Blow em up real good

[JerseyHighlander]

You are trapped inside a Westerners’ mental cage in regards to the linguistics here.

Inside the minds of militants in the region:
1. No such thing as a terrorist.
2. No such thing as justice.
3. No such thing as criminal.
4. Punishment is dealt out by the victor, to the weakest first.

There is a reason Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, Bashir, and the California Supreme Court empty out the jails periodically.

[PapaBear3625]

I didn't agree with trading 1,000 terrorists in exchange for a prisoner. Releasing 1,000 more on top of it - Jewish or not - doesn't sound better.

Allowing a 1000-1 ratio just guarantees that capturing Israeli hostages will be a priority for the Palis.

As hard as it might be, the needed response is to accept Gilad Shalit as a casualty of war, and start executing Palestinian terrorists after interrogation.

[texanred]

Agreed. But democracies are loathe to do such things.

[texanred]

But Israel IS a democracy with a rule of law that recognizes terrorism, justice, crime, and punishment. If they sell that out for expedience or to piss off a few Palestinians I would not really see no reason to support them further.

I only support them now because they are the only outpost of democracy (hobbled and malformed as it is) in the ME.