The government of Israel ,which recently announced that it demands the release of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit before declaring a ceasefire with Hamas ,and the frequent changes it makes to the lists of prisoners with blood on their hands, deserves much contempt in this context.
In the failed war in the north, and also in the war whose cruelty, destruction, and death will be spoken of for many years to come, we sowed fear among Gaza residents while disregarding international law and showing no mercy to civilian lives.
As true patriots we were very satisfied with our heroic and highly moral army. Yet nonetheless, the fighters and their commanders and the people who sent them to battle cannot claim that their hands are clean of blood. So why, for heaven’s sake, don’t you have the courage to free Palestinian prisoners, either with blood on their hands or without, and bring back Gilad Shalit?
During the 2006 war in Lebanon, we dropped cluster bombs that are still exacting casualties to this day. Our well-trained Air Force was able to bomb, destroy, and harm. This was the case in Lebanon, and especially in the Gaza Strip, where the skies are clear and there is no stopping us. We did not shy away from using phosphorous bombs, we did not shy away from using arms vis-à-vis citizens whose homes were razed and who were holding a baby, a suitcase, and a white flag. We fired at frightened pedestrians seeking a shelter for themselves and their families. We razed schools, hospitals, whole neighborhoods, and our victory was complete. We avenged the Qassams fired at our communities and the failure of the war in the north.
Mr. Prime Minister. You and your ministers, your defense minister, and IDF commanders – there is a great amount of blood on the hands of all of you. Your self-righteousness is bogus. The delay in the swap for Shalit is disgraceful. In your eyes our fighters are completely righteous, even though we are the occupiers and oppressors who rob their land, jail them, and eliminate them without evidence or a trial, both wanted Palestinians and innocent civilians who happened to be in the area - and the area is usually a civilian neighborhood. Yet when it comes to Palestinian civilians it is of course a mitzvah to hurt and kill, as the saying goes: “A good Arab is a dead Arab.”
More to come
I will never understand how a government that has been pledging for almost three years to bring Gilad Shalit back home postpones it time and again, while making bogus calculations and scaring the public with the prospect of releasing prisoners. Some of them were given an exaggerated sentence in a bogus trial; the kind of sentence that was never imposed on the killers of Arabs among us. They always like to scare us, so that we shut up. Yet who are those prisoners with blood on their hands that you use to scare us with while keeping our soldier in captivity? They are Arab freedom fighters, just like we had the Stern Gang, a terrorist movement that fought for Israel’s freedom.
How can you speak about peace, for heaven’s sake, when you turned the Gaza Strip into a detention camp? A million and a half men, women and children depend on your good will for food, work, and services. Even in the colonial period they did not engage in the kind of brutality we have adopted today. They are being killed and robbed. This is bogus self-righteousness of a government all of whose branches and loyalists resort to lying, while allowing theft, destruction, and the use of illegal weapons against civilians, and while deceiving us and the world.
Israel is the region’s strongest state, militarily, economically, and in terms of knowledge and research. Yet you do not want peace and therefore you scare us.
Members of the Israeli government and your affiliates, the current and new Knesset members – you should keep in mind that you are the rulers and oppressors that rob the natives. You are the ones who bury the possibility of peace. Don’t pretend to be righteous people who are concerned for the wellbeing of the nation, the soldiers, and all citizens – we do not believe you.
Yet before you go wherever it is you go, in the wake of the elections, secure Gilad Shalit’s release at once. You have no reason to fear the prisoners who will be freed. You are always stronger. What’s more, your cruel assassination method brings better results than what the Palestinian terrorists achieve. And even though you don’t say this openly, the more we know you, and especially the generals among you, we know there is still more to come.