Olmert did his job
Prime minister had Israel’s long-term interests in mind when he said ‘no’ to Hamas
Even if Hamas toughened its positions after it saw the outpouring of support by the Israeli public and leaders at the Shalit protest tent in Jerusalem, in essence the group’s demands have not changed. A leopard cannot change it spots. The Hamas list presented in the previous summer included 450 arch-terrorists; 450 arch-terrorists whose hands are drenched in Israeli blood remained in the list demanded by Hamas in Cairo last night. The gesture of releasing about 1,000 lighter security detainees to Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Mubarak certainly did not change.
Hamas, which believes in eliminating Israel, was and remains a reckless murderous organization that plays with the feelings of one family seemingly, yet in fact plays with the emotions of the entire Israeli nation.
Therefore, it is easy to understand Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin and former Shin Bet Deputy Director, special emissary Ofer Dekel, when Hamas’ “chief of staff” Ahmed Jabari negotiates with them via the Cairo mediators.
We can understand their inability to accept a list of Palestinian terrorists who do not regret the murder of innocents. If every Israeli with a heart, including the ministers sympathizing with the Shalit family at the protest tent, could be in Cairo for a moment, perhaps Mina Tzemach’s Yedioth Ahronoth poll would show the opposite results: A total of 69% would object to the release of the arch-terrorists.
Last night, when Diskin and Dekel returned from Cairo in an Air Force plane and expressed unequivocal objection to Hamas’ impossible demands, Olmert was forced to do what any prime minister who bears Israel’s security on his shoulders would have to do under such circumstances. A moment before he hands over power to Netanyahu, he had to take one of the least popular decisions in his life.
Not at any price
It’s not that Olmert did not want to bring Shalit back home; he simply couldn’t. Olmert, who has the mind of a level-headed lawyer and the warm Jewish heart of the redeemer of prisoners, very much wanted Gilad to return, but not at any price. Certainly not at the price of capitulating to this terror group, which abducts, murders, fires rockets at Israeli citizens, and yet has the nerve to demand the release of hundreds of people who killed us mercilessly.It’s very possible that the prime minister’s decision will join the list of his failures in the eyes of Israel’s public opinion, which had been hostile to him since the Lebanon war. However, Olmert did precisely what anyone who works for us should have done: He was not led by a broken-hearted nation in the face of the Shalit family’s terrible pain; rather, he used his mind and looked at the long-term interest of millions of Israeli citizens. He did not surrender to the pain of the Shalit family, which placed its tent outside his Jerusalem home and was even hosted by his wife in his living room.
Indeed, the redemption of prisoners is an important Jewish mitzvah, as clearly articulated by our sages. However, this important mitzvah comes with a proviso: Prisoners should only be redeemed for a fair price. This is what Olmert needs to tell his ministers if they harshly criticize him. This is what he will have to tell Aviva, Noam, and members of the Shalit family, who will be slamming him publically. Israel’s citizens elect a prime minister in order to utter such difficult words.
Roni Sofer is Ynet’s political correspondent
