Victims of Arab terrorism are part of the silver platter on which we were given the Jewish state. Every person who chose to live in this country paid a price, be it mentally or physically, for the hatred of our enemies, is a sainted martyr for Israel's existence and its strength. The fallen were murdered in veritable crimes against humanity – infants, women, elderly and youth murdered in exploding buses; families targeted with gunfire or firebombs or rock attacks while driving down the road; family members murdered at home while peacefully sleeping.
European countries, as well as others, are trying to hamstring Israel's defense efforts to protect the State of Israel and its citizens from the threats of terrorist organizations and terror-supporting nations. How terrible it is that the current backlash against Israel is coming from the exact same place from where the Holocaust had sprung. The level of support they have been able to recruit against Israel, at times from among Israelis themselves, is quite alarming.
But Israel's leaders must not be deterred by these phenomena. Their primary obligation is to protect the people in Zion that congregated here after the horrific Holocaust, following 2,000 years of exile.
In recent years, the imperative of bringing terrorists to justice has been enfeebled, and this is extremely taxing for the victims and their families. Terrorists with blood on their hands have been released from jail, and many have reverted right back to terrorist activity. The Almagor Terror Victims Association, which, since its founding in 1986, has fought steadfastly against light sentences for terrorists, against their outrageous prison conditions and against their release, has consistently demanded the death penalty for terrorists. This punishment already exists in military law and must be implemented. We expect promises to be fulfilled.
Furthermore, the association demands that Israel stop releasing terrorists from prison. Most of them go back to terrorism and their release undermines Israel's power of deterrence and encourages more terrorism.
The government has seen the report compiled by the Shamgar investigative commission on captive soldiers, which criticizes Israel's practice of lopsided prisoner swap deals, and it must adopt its recommendations and legislate laws that will limit the number of murderers that can be released in future prisoner exchanges. The legislation will send a clear message of Israeli resolve to the dozens of terrorist cells looking to abduct Israelis and use them as bargaining chips to secure the release of terrorists.
These cells aspire to the success of the 2011 Schalit deal, in which 1,027 Palestinian terrorists were released in exchange for Cpl. Gilad Schalit, who was captured by Hamas in 2006.
Future legislation needs to represent measures that will prove to terrorists that the war on terrorism has moved up a notch. We expect that the declaration that "our long arm will reach them and they will be appropriately punished," often repeated by statesmen at memorial services and at grave sites, will soon take on a new meaning.
