[To obtain the report mentioned herein, contact the Law Institute for the Study of Terror and for Rendering Assistance to Terror Victims, at: zeevlaw@walla.com ]

With an Israeli government ministerial committee set to decide which Palestinian terrorists to free as a gesture to Abu Mazen, a new study shows that half of released Arab terrorists return to commit acts of terror.

A booklet published by journalist Boaz HaEtzni and others includes warnings and protests by public and military figures who say that releasing prisoners is dangerous from several standpoints:

  • It places the lives of Israel’s citizens in certain danger
  • It harms the IDF’s deterrence effect
  • It strengthens both the motivation and capabilities of the terror organizations
  • It weakens Israel’s moral stance against terrorists and those who shelter them.

“From 1985 until now,” the booklet states, “Israel has released thousands of Palestinian terrorists in various prisoner exchanges. Not one of them underwent a test to determine if he will continue to endanger us or not.”

“We have gathered some of the results of past prisoner releases,” HaEtzni explained, “and we show that waves of terrorism have been ignited as a result. According to authorized data, some 50% of the released terrorists returned to terrorism after their release.”

“Our purpose in publicizing this report,” he says, “is to warn those who release terrorists that every other terrorist to be released is expected to endanger us again!”

“Those who must make this decision,” the booklet states, “should be aware that the eyes of women, children, babies, elderly, new immigrants and IDF soldiers who were murdered by terrorists released by Israel will be upon you. If the government hadn’t decided to release them, and if the President had not signed their pardon, and if the Supreme Court had not refrained from preventing the release, these people would have been with us today.”

Though the public and ministerial debate is focused on the question of whether to release murderers or not, many relatives of terror victims say no terrorists at all should be released. Aryeh Bachrach, whose 18-year-old son Ohad was murdered by Arab terrorists almost a decade ago, says there is no difference between terrorists who have murdered and those who did not succeed in their goal.

“Our organization [Almagor] has lists of terrorists released without ‘blood on their hands’,” Bachrach said, “whose hands became full of blood afterwards. If they have no blood on their hands, it means they didn’t succeed the first time, and they’ll simply try again.”

The ministerial committee comprises Ministers Sharon, Mofaz, Peres, Olmert, Netanyahu, Ramon, Livny, and Ezra.

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