Many more murders were attributed to his Tanzim faction, even though Barghouti could not be personally linked to them. And several of the Hamas terrorists who murdered my fifteen-year-old daughter, Malki, in August 2001 were sheltered by Barghouti himself.
Yes, Hamas and Barghouti have long maintained a close relationship, a fact the Israeli media and government have strikingly ignored, and perhaps even concealed. But Alastair Crooke, a former senior British Intelligence official, recently put it bluntly: “The close relationship of mutual respect between Hamas and Marwan has long roots that pre-date the intifada. Neither, as far as I am aware, has made a policy statement of substance without advising the other in advance.”
In its zeal to free Barghouti, Israel has crossed a sacrosanct red line. Previous prisoner releases have always excluded terrorists with “blood on their hands,” as the famous Israeli expression has it. Now, with no debate and little fanfare, that line has been erased. By anyone’s estimate, Barghouti’s hands are plenty bloody.
In linking Barghouti’s release to Jonathan Pollard’s, the government of Israel is demonstrating gross insensitivity to the pain of terror victims. Can a spy be equated with a mass murderer? Plainly, the strategy is to blunt the protests that such a release would otherwise trigger. Pollard’s release is a popular cause in Israel. Who dares to impede it?
But, I for one, am not that easily bought. I will not sit silent while the memory of my daughter and all the other innocents murdered by terrorists like Barghouti are spat on by our leaders.
Earlier this year, in an interview with Britain’s Channel 4, Barghouti was asked whether he thought he would spend the rest of his days in an Israeli jail. “No, absolutely. I will be free” he predicted. It is up to us to remind him and his active partners in terror that he is mistaken: Israel’s justice system is not a farce. Israelis are not fair game. Terrorists do face retribution, even in Israel.
Unless we speak out, Barghouti will be released and our government will “fail better” than in the past. The consequences will be far grimmer than they were in Tel Aviv last week.