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Comment and Opinion

Alon Ben Meir – 18/10/2011

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The decision on the Gilad Shalit deal is behind us. The cabinet, the body with the authority to make such a decision, gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a large majority to carry out the deal. The decision obligates us all. Each of us shares Noam and Aviva Shalit’s joy with all his heart. The Shalits are noble people, and it’s hard to imagine their horrible suffering over the past five and a half years – and that of Gilad, the Israeli soldier returning home.

But the joy is mixed with great sorrow – sorrow over the release of hundreds of terrorist murderers, who by law and justice should have ended their lives behind bars. And there’s sorrow for the difficult feelings and suffering of thousands of Israelis whose dear ones were brutally murdered by these terrorists. Today they feel that justice has been violated. The entire nation needs to hug Aviva and Noam Shalit tightly, but our mutual responsibility requires us not to ignore the harsh feelings in hundreds of Israeli homes – homes whose families lost their dearest ones in the murderous terror attacks.