Tony Blair, the Middle East envoy for the Four Great Powers, told an interviewer that PM Olmert has already made a deal with Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestinian Arab Authority. While Olmert, the lame-duck prime minister, has no authority to sign agreements, he still can cause a great deal of trouble for Israel and for the next prime minister by making verbal agreements.  

           Many wonder exactly what Olmert is attempting to do. Maybe his actions are a form of revenge against Israel for rejecting him and forcing him to resign over his alleged criminal activities. How sad that the police do not arrest and incarcerate him to stop him from selling Israel down the river in his last month as prime minister.

      At the same time, Defense Minister Barak, for his own political reasons, has been allowing Hamas terrorists to carry out daily rocket attacks against Israeli towns with impunity. No serious response is made by Israel, except for daily statements of, “Nu, Nu, Nu, you had better stop.” Hundreds of rocket shells have been fired by Hamas, but little has been done to stop the terror.

     With elections in the offing, Barak seems to want to prove that he is a liberal and a “man of peace.” He has even agreed to send a million shekels to Gaza banks without first demanding a stop to the shelling and the release of Gilad Shalit. How dumb does Barak think the Israeli electorate is, and how much damage can he cause before the coming election?

      The latest Olmert action is the freeing of Arab terrorists as a “confidence-building” measure. Why we want to give more confidence to Arab terrorists is unclear. Abbas has clearly stated that there will be no peace until all Palestinian prisoners are released. What is Israel receiving for the released prisoners?

      I checked the website to see the identity of these 288 Arab prisoners “without blood on their hands.”  Sadly, their only reason for being released is that they failed to murder Jews the first time around. The list is available and here are some of the crimes they committed:  

     “Attempted murder of civilians” – he failed. 

     “Setting explosives without a permit” – he missed.

     “Throwing firebombs, shooting at civilians” – and missing them.

     “Throwing firebombs, attempted murder” – he only maimed children.

       “Setting explosives to murder” – but failing.

       “Selling weapons and setting explosives” – it seems that he missed.

       “Shooting a weapon illegally, attempted murder” – but he only wounded civilians.  

       The crimes are similar for every one of the terrorist prisoners to be released as a “good will gesture.” It seems that Olmert is saying, “Let’s give them a second chance!”

      A second chance to do what?  

      Where are our modern Maccabees?

      Happy Chanukah to all!                                       

Comments may be sent to dov@gilor.com.