If these murderous terrorists walk free, how are the relatives of the victims of these terror attacks supposed to feel? What happened to them obtaining justice for the crimes that were committed against them?
By Rachel Avraham
Today, the first phase of the hostage deal that is set to release 33 hostages is set to begin at noon. According to Israel Hayom, the names of hostages included in the first phase of the deal are: Liri Albag (19), Itzhak Elgarat (68), Karina Ariev (19), Ohad Ben Ami (55), Ariel Bibas (4), Yarden Bibas (34), Kfir Bibas (1), Shiri Bibas (32), Agam Berger (19), Romi Gonen (23), Daniela Gilboa (19), Sagui Dekel Chen (35), Iair Horn (45), Omer Wenkert (22), Alexandre (Sasha) Troufanov (28), Arbel Yehoud (28), Ohad Yahalomi (49), Eliya Cohen (27), Or Levy (33), Naama Levy (19), Oded Lifshitz (83), Gad Haggai (73), Avera Mangisto (36), Keith Samuel Siegel (64), Tsachi Idan (49), Ofer Kalderon (53), Tal Shoham (39), Doron Steinbrecher (30), Omer Shem-Tov (21), Hisham Shaaban a-Sayed, and Eliyahu Sharabi.
As an Israeli, I really want all of the hostages to come home, every single one of them and not just 33. I especially feel for the Bibas family, as two of their hostages are under age 5. As a mother, I really cry for the two Bibas babies. The Gazan tunnels are no place for such small children to grow up. Every day those poor children are held there is a grave trauma for them, which should end as soon as possible.
Similarly, after TV documentation emerged of blood flowing between the legs of Naama Levy after she was abducted, causing many to believe she was raped in Hamas custody, I very much worry about the status of her health and want for her to be released as soon as possible. In fact, I fear for the safety of all of the female hostages, as the Israeli Ministry of Health already noted that many of them were sexually abused in Hamas custody.
For a woman, every day of rape and other forms of sexual abuse is equivalent to murder. Hamas is literally murdering these women and girls every day that they hold them in their custody. Naturally, we want this torture to end abruptly. However, the freedom of these people, while very crucial from a human rights perspective, should not come at the price of freeing murderers with Jewish blood on their hands.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote a book titled “Fighting Terrorism: How Democracies can defeat domestic and international terrorism” in 1995. In this book, he wrote: “Among the most important policies which must be adopted in the face of terrorism is the refusal to release convicted terrorists from prisons. This is a mistake that Israel, once the leader in anti-terror techniques, has made over and over again. Release of convicted terrorists before they have served their full sentences seems like an easy and tempting way of defusing blackmail situations in which innocent people may lose their lives. But its ability is momentary at best.”
Netanyahu continued, “Prisoner releases only embolden terrorists by giving them the feeling that even if they are caught, their punishment will be brief. Worse, by leading terrorists to think that such demands are likely to be met, they encourage precisely the kind of terrorist blackmail which they are supposed to defuse.” Fast forward to 2025, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing the opposite of what he himself advised other leaders to do when facing a terrorist threat.
He is releasing 735 cold-blooded terrorists with Jewish blood on their hands, just in order to secure the freedom of 33 hostages, without getting a proper confirmation of life of all the hostages. And by the time that the deal is completed, supposing that everything runs smoothly, which is a big if, 2,000 terrorists will be released in exchange for 98 hostages, of whom over 100 are serving life sentences for mass murder. Indeed, justice for the 98 hostages should not come at the price of injustice for countless other Israelis, who were murdered and injured in terror attacks.
Among the terrorists to be released is Zakariya Zubeidi – commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of Fatah in Jenin, responsible for numerous terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada. In an interview in 2005, he assumed responsibility for the 2002 attack upon the Likud polling station in Beit She’an, which slaughtered six people. He also took responsibility for a bombing in Tel Aviv that killed one woman and injured more than 30 in June 2004.
Another terrorist set to be released is Mahmoud Atallah, serving a life sentence plus 15 years for murdering a Palestinian woman accused of collaborating with Israel. Atallah was also indicted in September for the rape of a female prison guard, the Jerusalem Post reported. Arutz Sheva reported that another prisoner to be released is Majdi Za’tari – from East Jerusalem, sentenced to 23 life sentences and 50 years imprisonment. He is convicted of leading a suicide bomber to an attack on a bus in Jerusalem in August 2003, in which 23 people were murdered.
Ahmed Barghouti – commander of the Fatah military wing in the Ramallah area, serving 13 life sentences, is also set to be released. The Jerusalem Post reported that Barghouti was convicted for orchestrating several deadly attacks, mostly in early 2002, including the bombing at Tel Aviv’s Seafood Market restaurant that killed three Israelis and wounded 30, an attack in Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood that killed a policewoman and wounded nine people, a shooting attack during a bat mitzvah celebration at a banquet hall in Hadera in which six Israelis were killed and 26 were injured, and a bombing on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem that killed two women.
Also among the names of terrorists to be released is Ahmed Obeid – a Hamas terrorist from East Jerusalem, sentenced to seven life sentences for dispatching a bomber for the Café Hillel terror attack in Jerusalem in September 2003, where seven people were murdered and 64 injured. Also set to be released is Adham Yonis – a senior member of Islamic Jihad, serving five life sentences for his involvement in the terror attack at the Sharon Mall in Netanya in 2005, in which five Israelis were murdered and over 40 were injured.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Wael Qassem and Wisam Abbasi, members of the Hamas “Silwan Cell,” will also be released. They were responsible for terror attacks that caused dozens of casualties, including bombings at Café Moment in Jerusalem, the Sheffield Club in Rishon LeZion, and the Frank Sinatra cafeteria at Hebrew University in the early 2000s. And the list goes on.
None of these terrorists are people who should be out on the streets walking around freely. If these murderous terrorists walk free, how are the relatives of the victims of these terror attacks supposed to feel? What happened to them obtaining justice for the crimes that were committed against them? And how is Israel supposed to maintain its deterrence that it fought so bravely to restore following the October 7 terror attack? Eitan Fuld, whose brother Ari was murdered in a terror attack in September 2018, was notified that his brother’s murderer is set to be released and he told Arutz Sheva: “The release of Ari’s murderer hurts. Not because our murderer is more important than the murderer of another family; I am pained by Ari’s loss every day, in the past and in the future. My biggest problem, and everyone else’s, is the next people to be murdered and the net families who will unfortunately join the bereaved families due to this awful deal.”
Indeed, if these people walk free, it will do nothing but encourage the Palestinian terror groups to wage more terror attacks like October 7, thus creating more victims, leading to a vicious cycle where Israeli women and children are abducted, raped, mutilated, and massacred by brutal terrorists, who despite their horrendous crimes are let free in order to liberate hostages. This leaves the State of Israel in a horrific state, without the ability to establish any sort of deterrence. And so the vicious cycle continues, which is why terror appeasement simply does not work and why this hostage deal was a terrible mistake. It is a terrible mistake because while it may free 33 hostages, perhaps all 98 if we are lucky, as the fact it is in phases and we don’t know if everyone on the list is alive makes it questionable whether all 98 will arrive home, it will lead to October 7 being repeated over and over again, so that more terrorists will be released, thus throwing Israel’s deterrence, which Israel fought hard to restore in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, effectively out the window. This is why appeasement to terrorists never works and should be avoided at all costs.
