By Aviad Glickman, Ynetnews.com
Israel on Sunday responded to a petition filed with the High Court of Justice by the Almagor Terror Victims Association and three bereaved fathers against the impending prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas.
“As part of an agreement with Hamas, which would allow the return of soldier Gilad Shalit to Israel,” the State said in its response, “there is a possibility for the release in principle of about 450 prisoners whose names are being delivered by Hamas, and whose release is being examined in detail in accordance with different considerations and based on rationales of security and values.”
The State added, “It should be stressed that contrary to the release of prisoners as part of a gesture and/or diplomatic agreement, this is an incident of bargaining, which can be seen as an ongoing terror attack, as part of which negotiations are being held to reach the lowest price possible as far as the State of Israel is concerned.”
The State went on to detail the second stage of the deal: “As a gesture to the Palestinian people, some 530 additional prisoners selected by Israel as slated to be released. The list of these prisoners has not been formed yet and no criteria have been set on this matter.”
The bereaved parents asked why the State was not publishing the criteria for a prisoner release as part of the impending swap deal with Hamas and why it won’t stop using military censorship for free publication of reports about the deal and negotiations in a way that would allow an unbiased public dialogue on the matters requiring a decision before the deal’s implementation.
The State responded that “the sides have explicitly promised the foreign mediator, as a condition for the negotiations, that the details of the negotiations would remain discreet, in order to allow him to hold effective negotiations between the sides, which would not be run through and by the media.”
Attorney Anar Helman, who is in charge of High Court petitions at the State Prosecutor’s Office, and Deputy State Prosecutor Gilad Shirman noted that past experience shows that when details of negotiations are published by the media, “this leads to a radicalization of positions on the other side, which makes it difficult to bridge between the sides and badly damage, and many even thwart, the possibility of realizing the entire purpose of the negotiations, i.e. returning the kidnapped soldier alive and well to his home and country, as soon as possible.”
The State’s representatives added that “the military censorship is authorized to ban the publication of a certain new item, when it reaches the conclusion that publishing that item would most probably substantially damage the possibility of returning soldier Gilad Shalit.”
They noted, however, that it was important to have a public dialogue on the matter and that censorship would not prevent a public dialogue. The State noted that contrary to what can be understood from the petition, anyone living in the country who has been exposed to the media in the past few weeks had to be aware of the serious public dialogue taking place.
“If and when the deal is formed, all the considerations and relevant information will be brought to the government for its consideration,” the State said in its response. “All the considerations which guided the elements who took part in forming the deal will be taken into account, including considerations of security and values.”
The State called on the petitioners to include Shalit’s parents in their appeal so that they could present their stand on the matter, “as they may be directly hurt if the petitioners are given what they are asking for in the petition.”
The High Court is expected to discuss Almagor’s petition on Monday, as well as a petition filed by Knesset Member Yaakov Katz (National Union), asking that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak publish the recommendations of the Shamgar Committee, which was appointed to discuss the principles for negotiating the release of hostages.
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we have had releases in the past and the arabs do not keep their end of the bargain. For some reason they get away with it. we never know what the politicians are agreeing in the background – AGENDAS. May Hashem Yitborach bless and protect Gilad and all other missing soldiers.
#8- maybe some of these prisoners arent terrorists, but many of them ARE who were arrested for acts of terrorism in Israel. and also in July of 2008 Israel made a switch for 2 israeli soldiers for Palestinian Prisoners, and the 2 soldiers came back dead, so then what was the point???
the terorists you let the more jews will get killed c”v
what about 2 or 3 jews who do not know that they are going to die bc of all this 70% of terrorists go back to terror make that 980 soo what does that signal. all on the head of this gilad shalit and the government
and besides a soldier is a soldier how much more so then a old rabbi from the 1300s albeit a holy one there is no common sense is there any remorse or shame for the children and pepole whos lives hang in the balance bc of a jewish soldier this is wrong
they said one jew is more important than 980 palestinians…
they dont know wath they do…
You have absolutely NO idea what you talking about. Among those who will , chas veshalom, be released there are the terrorists who were responsible for the attack in Lel Haseder at the Park Hotel (30 Jews died), for the attack in Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem (20 people died), in the Matza restuarant in Haifa (15 people died) and there’s much more. So please don’t speak about what you don’t know. This is a very painful desicion for us, it’s not as imple as you make it.
According to the rabbonim you will probably ask they will say that you shouldn’t even serve in the army. Also you can say it is against halacha when you have no idea if these ‘prisoners’ are terrorist or not. Maybe they are stone throwers or stole a car and therefore should for sure be exchanged fo rthe life one yid who has gone through so much.
I think you are too quick to judge about things you clearly have no idea about.
#6, #3 and #1 are right, one jew is worth 980 palestinians, but it isn’t safe to have 980 Palestinian terrorists (or even not) roaming the streets of israel, and you shouldn’t do it because then there are gonna be many more israeli soldiers captured for ransom in returned for their prisoners, and even if israel does release those palestinians, who says shalit’s gonna be returned alive anyway??
you have to ask rabbanim
this is a very tricky situation
on the one hand a jewish life is worth everything that we can possibly give but the palestinians are taking way too much advantage
When it comes to ”PIKUACH NEFESH” LOGIC DOES NOT HOLD ANY GROUND.
Yes, one jew is worth more than all those animals but releasing them will encourage Hamas to kidnapp more soldiers. So what have we accomplished.
So let’s not get so excited , but rather follow Halacha which is the only option that works.
why did they let them go for 1 jew
i bet u read the allgimeiner! 🙂
Great article written by Dovid.
Except not a fair comparison… that was the rabbi’s choice!
Gilad would have to choose to do that…
Israel — like the jewish community — needs to raise the money. In this case, negotiate the exchange for Gilad’s return! and it should be soon with Moshianch!
As long as Gilad Shalit will be safe and healthy with his family it doesn’t matter, nothing else counts. And besides, these prisoners freed today will be back in jail tomorrow so what’s it to ya…
moshiach now.
I couldn’t imagine being the captive nor the parent of such a captive. But trading a soldier for a few prisnors is ok. But such HUGE #’s?
Beware of your happiness on this. Never was the Rebbe happy with the concept of trading many for 1 Yid. The Rebbe clearly said, once you make huge consessions … the numbers will rise .. and C”V add to the desire to kidnap more Yidden G-d forbide.
The Rebbe spoke of the Mahram of Rottenberg.
lt’s true.
Each Yid is worth a lot. No matter if he is Frum, or not religious. Hashem is always on our side.
i agree with 1 and 3
bring the Neshomalah back to am yisroel
It should be pointed out that the 980 being release are not “terrorists” any more than the hundreds of millions of other Arabs in the Middle East. These are street thugs that Israel rounds up on its incursions into the West Bank and Gaza in order to be used as bartering chips for just these types of situations. Releasing these rock-throwers will not make Israel any less safe, and suggesting that you should not save a Jewish life for the hypothetical possibility of other lives being lost is outrageous. Israel must bring Gilad home and do its best to defend… Read more »
are we on hashem’s side ????
This is against halacha– think of the story of the Maharam of Rottenberg- he didnt let the Jewish community pay a huge ransom for his release, because then the goyim know when they want easy cash they just kidnap another rav.
Same story here– the Arabs will just kidnap another soldier and bargain with the Govt, and within a short amount of time a couple thousand terrorists will be roaming around Israel.
(This is why soldiers started signing things saying that if they c”v are kidnapped, that Israel should not release terrortists in exchange for them.)
bring gilad home enough is enough anything for one jewish life,hashem is on our side thats all that counts
not even dont compare
that is very true but 980 more palistinians on the street is not very good for Israel
why should we have to give 980 becasue we are worth so m,uch more then that junk!
it just shows – One Jew is Worth 980 Palestinians…