A letter from Bibi
As Israeli-Palestinian negotiations about to resume, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu writes an open letter to the Israeli people…outlining the difficulties of decision-making.
The Prime Minister wrote:
Following is the text of an open letter to the citizens of Israel from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the proposal to resume the diplomatic process, which will be submitted to the Cabinet today (Sunday, 28 July 2013):
Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu
“From time to time, prime ministers are called on to make decisions that go against public opinion – when the matter is important for the country.
In order to make decisions that are supported by the public, there is no need for prime ministers.
At the present time, it seems to me that it is very important for the State of Israel to enter into a diplomatic process. This is important both in order to exhaust the chance of ending the conflict with the Palestinians and in order to establish Israel’s position in the complex international reality around us.
The major changes in our region – in Egypt, Syria and in Iran – not only place challenges before the State of Israel but they also create considerable opportunities for us.
For these reasons, I believe that it is important for the State of Israel to enter a diplomatic process that will continue for at least nine months – in order to check if it is possible to reach an agreement with the Palestinians during this time.
But even with all of the importance that I ascribe to the diplomatic process, I was not prepared to accept the Palestinians’ demands for withdrawals and freezes as preconditions for entering negotiations.
Neither was I prepared to accept their demand to release Palestinian prisoners before the start of negotiations. I did agree to release 104 Palestinians in stages after the start of the negotiations and in accordance with the circumstances of their progress.
This is an incomparably difficult decision, it is painful for the bereaved families and it is painful for the entire nation and it is also very painful for me.
It collides with the incomparably important value of justice.
It is a clear injustice when depraved people, even if most of them have sat in prison for over 20 years as in this case, are released before they have finished serving their sentences.
The decision is difficult for me seven-fold because my family and I personally know the price of bereavement stemming from terrorism. I know the pain very well. I have lived with it every day for the past 37 years.
The fact that previous Israeli governments have released over 10,000 terrorists does not make it easier for me today, and did not make it easier when I decided to bring back Gilad Shalit.
Gilad Shalit’s return home entailed an incomparably difficult decision for me – releasing terrorists. But I believed that the value of bringing children back home needed to overcome this difficulty.
People in positions of leadership need to choose between complex choices and sometimes the necessary decision is especially difficult when most of the public opposes it.
Thus I decided to end Operation Pillar of Defense after the elimination of arch-terrorist Ahmed Jabari<http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Terrorism/Palestinian/Pages/Ahmed_Jabari.aspx> and after the severe blows the IDF dealt to Hamas and the other terrorist organizations.
I made the decision to end the operation even though most of the public supported continued action, which would have required entering the Gaza Strip on the ground. As Prime minister, I thought that the goal of deterrence had been mostly achieved by the determined actions that we carried out.
Today, almost one year after the end of Operation Pillar of Defense, we are witness to the quietest situation in the south in over a decade. Of course, this quiet can fray at any minute but my policy is clear on all fronts: We will, as much as possible, foil threats against us in a timely manner. We will react strongly to any attempt to harm our people.
In the next nine months, we will consider whether there is a Palestinian element opposite us that, like us, truly wants to end the conflict between us.
Such a conclusion will be possible only under conditions that will ensure security for Israel’s citizens and ensure our vital national interests.
If we succeed in achieving such a peace agreement, I will submit it to a referendum.
Such a fateful decision cannot be made by a close vote in the Knesset.
Every citizen must be allowed to directly influence our future and our fate on such a crucial issue.
The best answer we can give to those same base murderers that sought to defeat us through terrorism is that in the decades that they sat in prison, we built a glorious country and turned it into one of the most prosperous, advanced and strongest countries in the world.
I promise that we will continue thus.
Yours,
Benjamin Netanyahu.”
It seems a large price to pay in order to talk.
Millions of eitzes, critical comments, “informed”opinions shall follow. Torrents of oberhuchem groisse Moishe shall entertain the websites, but, to mine, I could not have hoped for a more balanced, more dignified, a statement made more in the true Judaic respect for each living and soul searching Jew who has passed through our millenia of complex existence.
Tachles: nine months is a good starter. No concessions of the territorial kind, but, mostly, the dignified reliance on a people, a country that stands strong on its feet.
Excellent start to………….we shall see………………..
I do have my own ideas, plans, ouvertures and conclusions and I am sure they coincide 100% with Bibi’s.
104 murderers who have Jewish blood on their hands in exchange for talk and nothing more is sheer lunacy and brands PM Netanyahu as a lunatic in search of a mind. What is this man thinking about if he can release the murderers of children in exchange for nothing but talk. Is Jewish life so cheap these days that we can allow this from happening?
If life is so cheap in Israel and if the Government does not care about its citizens, why would anyone in their right mind want to visit, invest, or live in Israel.
Tourists who want to visit Australia should have the ability to live and visit here in peace, and not be afraid of being kidnapped, or worse be murdered. Certainly there are neighborhoods in Australia that might be considered unsafe for the average tourist, but feel rest assured that the Australian Government along with the municipal councils will make every effort to guarantee one’s safety. This cannot be said of Israel, where the Government does not care enough to protect its citizens.
Do not dispair Cody, look I found for you the cute little towns of Grundarfjordur and Akureyrl, smack in the middle of Iceland. Clean, quiet, Municipal Council of the year awards and as far away from that shocker, Israel, where a normal man cannot feed birds while sitting on a park bench because of bombs, rockets and skateboarders who do not dispose of their cigarette butts properly, not to mention popcorn falling out of overloaded buckets on the footpath as people pass by laughin’ aloud scaring the birds about to be fed, yak…………..
This has been my latest assessment of the Middle East Peace Process.
“The decision is difficult for me seven-fold because for my family and I personally know the price of bereavement stemming from terrorism. I know the pain very well. I have lived with it every day for the past 37 years”.
It collides with the incomparabily importance of justice.
As an outsider I can say no other than your Prime Minister has and is the right person at the right time.
I recently made the exact reference to this in a discussion with a Rabbi, with me concluding, what mother doesn’t protect their child, of which there was no response.