A Postscript to Releasing Terrorists

Prof. Paul Eidelberg

The government’s releasing terrorists as good will gestures to Muslims and Arabs has never brought Israel or the world one step closer to peace. To the contrary, such gestures reward terrorists and therefore encourage terrorism everywhere.

The only way to deal with terrorists is to punish them—and so severely as as to discourage further acts of terror.

You cannot negotiate with terrorists, with those who want to destroy you. What is there to negotiate about—the process or date of your destruction? When people plan to destroy you, you must destroy them—period.

To release terrorists—murderers and would-be murders—is to destroy justice and the sense of justice. It is to erase the distinction between good and evil. It is to erode the morality of one’s own people—especially youth.

Moreover, by releasing terrorists the government becomes complicit in murder. Indeed, such a government violates international law.

Finally, if a government makes it a policy of releasing terrorists as good will gestures to their terrorist leaders, that government ceases to fulfill its first and foremost function: to protect the lives and liberties of its people. Such a government ceases to be legitimate. Such a government forfeits the loyalty of its citizens. Such a government must be removed and, if conventional means are not available, unconventional means must be employed.