Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Letters

Israel Shouldn’t Free Killers

Did Israel ask the relatives of those hundreds of Israelis who were murdered by terrorists about their feelings and opinions pertaining to the release of their relatives’ murderers (“Free at Last, Shalit Returns to Israel,” October 18)?

Hypothetically, suppose there were secret recordings of some of those to be released declaring that as soon as they were released, they would return to their nefarious deeds of murdering more Israelis. If anyone heard such a recording of Palestinian prisoners, would he want this exchange to take place? Based upon other releases in the past, some of those released prisoners did revert to their murderous paths.

Gilad Shalit is worth more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners; however, is Gilad Shalit worth more than the dozens of Israelis who are likely to be murdered by the very Palestinians who are now to be released in exchange for HIM? How would you feel if one of these released prisoners WAS TO subsequently detonate a bomb in a crowded Israeli cafe, and your son were one of the dead?

When the Israelis and the Palestinians begin to live in tranquility with each other like the residents of Switzerland, Luxemburg, Monte Carlo, the Netherlands and Belgium live with their larger neighbors, then Palestinian prisoners can be released.

William K. Langfan

Palm Beach, Fla.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.