by Hagit Rosenbaum, Besheva newspaper, translated by Hillel Fendel.
In exchange for the dozens of Israeli hostages cruelly captured and held by Hamas, Israel released three times that number of terrorists – women and minors (as if it makes a difference to their victims). While none of them actually murdered Jews, some of them came quite close to doing so, and only miraculously are their victims still alive.
Hagit Rosenbaum of the BeSheva weekly interviewed a Jewish mother of the Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood in Jerusalem, in light of the release of a female terrorist who tried to stab her to death before the eyes of her four children. The attacker, 16-year-old Nafouz Jez Aref Hamed, was sentenced to 14 years in prison, but served only two of them before the hostage-terrorist deal came along.
"When they originally told me that she was on the list of terrorists to be released," Moriah Cohen said, "I refused to believe it. Even now, I still can't believe that she has returned and is living right here in the neighborhood. It is terribly frustrating, as well as scary. I had to sit with my children and try to calm them down. I had to find a way to help them overcome their fear, even though there is really no way, since she's no longer in jail and is right here. Today they refused to go outside to the car even for a minute unless I went with them. They were with me during the attack and they saw everything."
Cohen asks: "Why couldn't they at least have demanded that she not return to her home? Why can't they nullify her citizenship? To return her to her home right opposite the children whom she almost murdered – it's insane!"
With the help of the Honenu civil rights organization, Moriah Cohen has begun a campaign to bring about the distancing of the would-be murderer from her home forever. "We will do everything we can so that we will not have to see her and that she should not frighten us and disrupt our routine," said Moriah.
The campaign has been partially successful thus far. Following a request/demand by Honenu, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court issued a temporary restraining order forbidding the young terrorist from coming near Mrs. Cohen or children, and from making any contact with them. Another hearing will soon be held on permanent restrictions.
Honenu continues to demand that this small step be expanded, and that the police do whatever necessary to ensure the security of the Cohen family.
Two other Jews - shot at and injured moderately-to-seriously by a young Palestinian terrorist almost a year ago – asked that "their" terrorist not be freed. Yaakov Moses and Moshe Hass, who are still undergoing procedures for their full recovery, asked PM Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant to remove his name from their lists of terrorists to be released. They were unsuccessful, however, and the terrorist – whose legal proceedings had not yet even begun – was released. Atty. Chaim Bleicher of Honenu demands that the authorities give more consideration to the victims of terrorist crimes when deciding whom to release – and how to release them.