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| Newly married terrorists, Ahlam Tamimi and her cousin Nizar al Tamimi |
A prime case in point involves Arnold and Frimet Roth, whose 15-year-old daughter, Malki, was murdered along with 14 others when a suicide bomber struck the Sbarro pizza restaurant in downtown Jerusalem on Aug. 9, 2001. Ahlam Tamimi, a Palestinian woman who transported both the bomb and the bomber to the restaurant, was subsequently captured and sentenced to 16 life terms in prison.Also released as a result of the Shalit deal is Nizar al Tamimi, Ahlam Tamimi's cousin--and fiance--who was serving a life sentence for the murder of a Jewish resident of the West Bank in 1993.
In October 2011, as part of the deal in which 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were exchanged for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who spent more than five years in Hamas captivity, Tamimi walked free. Now living in Jordan, Tamimi has become a celebrity in the Arab world, hosting her own weekly show on the Hamas satellite TV station, Al Quds. In between extolling the virtues of “martyrdom attacks” against Jews, she celebrates her own monstrous achievement; on one famous occasion, when she learned that she had enabled the killing of eight children at the Sbarro restaurant, and not three as she had previously thought, she turned to the camera wearing a broad grin of pride.
Cohen writes that the Roths and their supporters have been ignored:
- Six months before the Shalit deal, the Roths and their many supporters implored Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to consider the release of the unrepentant Tamimi as part of any exchange. Netanyahu, they say, did not respond then.
- Netanyahu did not respond when the Roths challenged Netanyahu's claim that the families impacted by the Shalit deal had been sent a letter explaining the government’s position. The Roths insist they could find no evidence that such a letter had been sent.
- The Roths were originally told that Nizar al Tamimi’s release, conditioned on his remaining inside areas controlled by the PA, would never result in his entering Jordan. Now they are told al Tamimi was allowed to enter Jordan on the condition that he does not return withing 5 years.
What kind of logic could justify the Israeli government not only releasing two unrepentant terrorists--but also allowing them to break the terms of their release and making it possible for them to marry and raise a family of their own?
When asked by Cohen to explain, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev explained the principle behind the government's actions.
“Israel does not have a problem with terrorists leaving,” he said. “It’s easier for us when hardcore terrorists actually leave. Their ability to hurt us in the future is much more limited.”Arnold Roth, wrote to Cohen and countered:
If they want terrorists out of the country, why did they explicitly restrict more than 100 of them, including Nizar al-Tamimi, to the area controlled by the PA? That’s a decision they took in October 2011. Since they made that decision then, why did they change it now? And without any announcement? And without consulting any of the victims?Israel's lack of consultation with the victims of released terrorists is a growing concern and an increase cause of tension.
Ben Cohen writes on the steps Netanyahu can take towards dealing with the open sore created by the release of terrorists with Jewish blood on their hands:
It is against this charged background that the Roths are demanding answers. The Israeli government can, of course, say that it is providing answers; but the problem with those answers is that they raise even more painful questions. Clarity is needed, and that’s why Prime Minister Netanyahu should finally sit down in person with Arnold and Frimet Roth.Technorati Tag: Israel and Ahlam Tamimi and Nizar Al-Tamimi.
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