Fwd: COPMA (Citizens Opposed to Propaganda Masquerading as Art).....Re:.Klinghoffer Opera: .NY Times: Terrorists Were "Aggrieved" - Murder Was a"Tragedy"

Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. NY Times Weighs in on "The Death of Klinghoffer" - Ignores Anti-Semitic Lyrics - Describes Terrorists as "Aggrieved" and the Murder as a "Tragedy" Friends, If you find the New York Times to be a friend of Israel and the Jewish people, and if you trust its Editorial Board's opinion, then this editorial from the Times applauding the New York Metropolitan Opera for going ahead with the Klinghoffer Opera in the face of protests that it is an anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist propaganda screed, will be welcome. "The Met Opera Stands Firm, 'The Death of Klinghoffer' Must Go On" But if you know the New York Times for what it is, a consistently biased, anti-Israel publication that routinely soft-pedals terrorism, devalues its victims and, much like the Klinghoffer Opera, falsely depicts the perpetrators of terrorism as freedom fighters, then you will find the Times Editorial strangely comforting and confirmatory of the need for the Protest against the opera on Monday at Lincoln Center to not only go on, but also be strengthened. Note how the editorial describes the opera as "moving and nuanced in imagining a tragedy that gives voice to all sides...." A horrendous terrorist atrocity is, in the Times' parlance, reduced to a "tragedy." The Times editorial doesn't mention a word of the anti-Semitic dialogue in the Opera and completely ignores the following lyrics:   "Wherever poor men are gathered they can find Jews getting fat--You know how to cheat the simple, exploit the virgin, pollute where you have exploited--Defame those you cheated--And break your own law with idolatry." The terrorist tells Mr. Klinghoffer:    "America is one big Jew." These lyrics from the Opera are not portrayed as the ranting of someone who is evil. If that was the context of this hate speech, it would be justified. Rather, this language is depicted as coming from an idealistic victim of Jewish persecution, justified in fighting back against his Jewish oppressors. He is a terrorist, yet the terrorists in the opera are portrayed as freedom fighters. In the language of the Palestinian terrorists:    "We are soldiers fighting a war. We are not criminals and we are not vandals but men of ideals." But the Times is willing to overlook the portrayal of terrorists as idealists, because the Times itself views terrorists through the same distorted moral prism. The message of the Times, like the Klinghoffer Opera, is that terrorists are "not criminals...not vandals but men of ideals." So, let the hijackings, the mass murders, the beheadings, the World Trade Center attacks go on. Why? Because The New York Times says that terrorists are "aggrieved" and their murders are "tragedies." Readers who noted how quickly the Times editorial brushed aside the objections of Leon Klinghoffer's daughters, may also want to take a look at the open letter to the Metropolitan Opera protesters by Judea Pearl, father of Daniel Pearl, who was beheaded by what the Times would describe as people who were "aggrieved" and caused a "tragedy" when they beheaded his son. "To be read at the NYC Rally protesting 'The Death of Klinghoffer'" Finally, it should be noted that the Catholic League has joined the protest against the Klinghoffer rally and described it as not neutral, but rather, "obscene." It urged Catholics to participate in the protest. "'Death of Klinghoffer' Distorts History" Please join the live protest at the Metropolitan Opera this Monday:   Monday, September 22, 2014 4:30 – 6:00 PM Lincoln Center 10 Lincoln Center Plaza Broadway & West 65 Street New York, NY 10023 And please forward this email to all of your friends and associates who may be willing to either attend the rally or send a letter of protest to the manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Peter Gelb, at pgelb@metopera.org. Citizens Opposed to Propaganda Masquerading as Art (COPMA) Robert G. Samet, Chairman Mark H. Lazerson, Vice-Chairman Carol Greenwald, PhD, Treasurer Barbara Leber, PhD, Secretary Jeffrey Ward, General Counsel Ellen Heyman, PhD, Programming Director http://www.COPMA.net info@copma.net  forward to a friend   unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

Shabbat Shabbos Project - October 23-24 2015, October 24-25, 2014 Keeping it Together. Rabbi Warren Goldstein Founder

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Shabbos  Project 2015

Kids in the UK Just Taught The World About The Sabbath in the Funnest Way Possible
http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/kids-in-the-uk-just-taught-the-world-about-the-sabbath-in-the-funnest-way-possible/

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Shabbat Project 2014

The Shabbat Project: Making History
As the sun dips below the horizon on October 24, an estimated one million people worldwide will be participating in this extraordinary initiative. http://www.aish.com/jw/s/The-Shabbat-Project-Making-History.html

The Shabbos Project 2014 Official Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhfe-MZcCjE

The Shabbos Project... Keeping it together! Shabbat.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2mCrWpZr9Q

The Shabbos Project's Most Beautiful Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e02e8BNHzo

Shabbat Project October 24-25  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvCAMzLknEQ Keeping it Together!!!

Keeping It Together https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR4Hr1KoGVY

The Shabbos Project Joins Shabbat.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU5rDq3W76s

Flatbush Community Welcomes Chief Rabbi of South Africa Rabbi Warren Goldstein Founder of the Shabbos Project  http://shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com/2014/09/fwd-flatbush-community-welcomes.html

Shabbat for the Noahide: Rabbi Chaim Clorfene   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Lk3E4-utU

Flatbush Community Welcomes Chief Rabbi of South Africa Rabbi Warren Goldstein Founder of the Shabbos Project

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sherry JCC <sherry@jccmp.org>
Date: Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 10:58 AM
Subject: The Flatbush Community Welcomes...
To: faigerayzel@gmail.com

View online version This email has been sent to faigerayzel@gmail.com, click here to unsubscribe.

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Sincerely,

Robin Ticker
Activist emails sent to my list  are L'Ilui Nishmat Yisrael ben David Aryeh ob"m (Izzy - Kaplan) and Howard Chaim Grief great activists and lovers of Eretz Yisroel, Am Yisroel and the Torah. Yehi Zichronum Baruch.  May their memories serve as a blessing.

Most of these emails are posted on Shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com

Personal emails to individuals will not be posted to my blog. 

UNRWA Guilty Again

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September 18, 2014

From Afsi's (Americans for a Safe Israel)  newsletter.  http://myemail.constantcontact.com/UNWRA-Guilty-Again---Klinghoffer-Protest-Continues-to-Grow---9-22.html?soid=1102887337241&aid=tzjuWp9vLBY

PALESTINIANS RISK DEATH TO FLEE GAZA, WORLD SHRUGS

Recent reports about shipwrecks that killed hundreds of refugees, many of them Palestinians fleeing Gaza, have focused attention on the desperate efforts of some Palestinians to get out of the economic and political hell of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

People pay about $4000 each to be smuggled through tunnels from the Gazan side of Rafah into Egypt and then to the Egyptian coast, where they are crowded onto boats bound for Europe (often to Italy). Once off the coast of Italy or its islands, the refugees are picked up by Italian authorities or the Red Cross.

Last week some 500 people, mostly Palestinians, drowned when a human smuggling ship off Malta was rammed by rival smugglers. On Saturday, another 15 Palestinians died in a shipwreck off the Egyptian coast. 

Evelyn Gordon, writing at Commentary, points the finger of blame for this human tragedy at the U.N. and the international community:

[T]he "international community" has designated two-thirds of all Gaza residents as bona fide refugees, even though the vast majority of them were born in Gaza and have lived there all their lives. And as bona fide refugees, they shouldn't have had to board rickety smugglers' boats in a desperate attempt to reach Europe; they should have been able to apply to the UN for orderly resettlement right from their refugee camps, just as thousands of other refugees do every year. But they can't, because

Palestinians are the only refugees in the world who are denied the basic right of resettlement.

...Whereas UNHCR resettles tens of thousands of refugees every year, UNRWA hasn't resettled a single refugee in its 65 years of existence. On the contrary, the schools it runs for Palestinian refugees indoctrinate them from kindergarten on that there is one, and only one, way for them to end their refugee status: by

"returning" to the towns or villages in Israel that their ancestors fled-which most of them have never seen, and some of which no longer even exist. In short, since Israel would never voluntarily accept all five million "refugees" on UNRWA's rolls, it's telling them that the

only solution to their refugeehood is Israel's destruction.

[T]o continue defining Palestinians as refugees while denying them the basic right to resettlement is unconscionable. And all those Westerners who claim to be so concerned over Palestinian rights should be the first to protest this hypocritical and discriminatory practice.

--
Sincerely,

Robin Ticker
Activist emails sent to my list  are L'Ilui Nishmat Yisrael ben David Aryeh ob"m (Izzy - Kaplan) and Howard Chaim Grief great activists and lovers of Eretz Yisroel, Am Yisroel and the Torah. Yehi Zichronum Baruch.  May their memories serve as a blessing.

Most of these emails are posted on Shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com 

Personal emails to individuals will not be posted to my blog. 

Become Educated! Klinghoffer's murder and Archille Lauro attack and a reason to attack Israel in 2006 is staged to free child killer Samir Quntar.

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Dear Board Members of the Met.  I am sure you don't know the history behind the Archille Lauro attack that led to the murder of Klinghoffer. Because if you did, there is no way you would allow this "performance" of the "Death of Klinghoffer" at the Met. Please become educated.  It is quite horrifying.  To the rest of my readers, what emerges from these articles is that FATAH is anything but moderate!!!!  What is Obama and his administration thinking?????  Is Israel really expected to make peace with these brutal gang of terrorists????

Read this post from beginning to end!!! If this doesn't convince you,  G-d knows what will!!!  Make sure to read the article originally printed in the Washington Post entitled "Prosecute Abu Abbas" 

Prosecute Abu Abbas 

by Smadar Haran Kaiser

http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/middleeast/Prosecute_Abu_Abbas.asp

The world should know what Abu Abbas did to my family.

Smadar Haran Kaiser writes: Abu Abbas, the former head of a Palestinian terrorist group who was captured in Iraq on April 15, is infamous for masterminding the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro. But there are probably few who remember why Abbas's terrorists held the ship and its 400-plus passengers hostage for two days. It was to gain the release of a Lebanese terrorist named Samir Kuntar, who is locked up in an Israeli prison for life. Kuntar's name is all but unknown to the world. But I know it well. Because almost a quarter of a century ago, Kuntar murdered my family.  (read the article in full below)......  The release of this same terrorist is reason for attack on Israel....

Hizbollah says release of murderer who shot father and smashed Israeli child to death is reason for attack on Israel

Archille Lauro attack also staged to free child killer Samir Quntar

July 17, 2006

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1966782,00.html Soldiers 'seized for swop' 12/07/2006 17:07 - (SA) Beirut - Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said on Wednesday that Israel's military assault in Lebanon would not win the freedom on two captured Israeli soldiers, saying they would only be released as part of a prisoner swop. Nasrallah said it would be an "illusion" if Israel thought a military campaign could win the release of the soldiers. "No military operation will return them," he told a news conference in Beirut. "The prisoners will not be returned except through one way: indirect negotiations and a trade." He warned that the Shi'ite Muslim guerrilla group was ready to fight, but was open to any cease-fire proposal. "We have no intention to escalate," he added. He said the captured soldiers were "in a safe and very far place", saying the attack - although planned for a long time - would serve to ease the pressure on the Palestinians in Gaza, where Hamas-linked militants are holding an Israeli soldier seized two weeks ago. "The timing, no doubt, provides support for our brothers in Palestine," he said ------------------------------------------------------ First, thank God for the victory, the Jihad, and the results," he said. "I want to turn to the brave fighters who today fulfilled the promise and therefore this operation is called 'The promise that was kept.' I thank them and kiss their hands. Today is a day of loyalty to Samir Quntar and the rest of the Lebanese prisoners in Israel." http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3274616,00.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=100254 PA Grants Murderer of 4-Year-Old Girl Honorary Citizenship 16:09 Mar 15, '06 / 15 Adar 5766 by Baruch Gordon

The outgoing Fatah regime in the Palestinian Authority voted on March 5th to grant honorary citizenship to Lebanese terrorist Samir Quntar who murdered a 4-year-old Israeli girl and her father.

According to a report from Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), Jordanian terrorist Sultan Al-Ajaluni also received honorary citizenship in the same vote. Both terrorists are serving life sentences in Israeli jails. In 1979 in the coastal town of Nahariya, Lebanese terrorist Samir Quntar [pictured above] murdered Danny Haran and his four-year-old daughter, Einat. Danny's daughter Yael, just two-years-old, suffocated to death while hiding in a crawl space with her mother. Quntar is serving multiple life sentences totaling 542 years in Israeli prison. Smadar Haran, wife and mother of the murder victims, described the murder in the Washington Post in 2003: "It was a murder of unimaginable cruelty… It had been a peaceful Sabbath day. My husband Danny and I had picnicked with our little girls, Einat, 4, and Yael, 2, on the beach. Around midnight … the terrorists burst into our building. Danny helped our neighbor climb into a crawl space above our bedroom; I went in behind her with Yael in my arms. Danny grabbed Einat and was dashing out the front door when the terrorists came crashing into our flat. "I will never forget the joy and the hatred in the terrorists voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades. … As I lay there, I remembered my mother telling me how she had hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. "This is just like what happened to my mother," I thought. .. "The terrorists took Danny and Einat down to the beach. There, according to eyewitnesses, one of them shot Danny in front of Einat so that his death would be the last sight she would ever see. Then he smashed my little girl's skull against a rock with his rifle butt. That terrorist was Samir Quntar." Various organizations in the Palestinian Authority responded with applause to the announcement of granting honorary citizenship to the two terrorists. "The 'Friends of the Prisoners' organization sees the decision, of the present government, to award Palestinian citizenship to two Arab prisoners – Samir Quntar from Lebanon and Sultan Al-Ajaluni from Jordan – an act of Palestinian national obligation and in dedication to the honored history that the Arab prisoners have provided to the Palestinian issue." [Al-Quds newspaper, Mar. 7, 2006] "The Palestinian Liberation Front, through general secretariat member, Dr. Wasil Abu Yusuf, praised the government's decision… to award the imprisoned fighters Samir Quntar and Sultan Al-Ajaluni honorary citizenship as an act of dedication to their struggle and their heroic suffering in the occupation's prisons. [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Mar. 8, 2006] "The Palestinian Popular Committees expressed their appreciation for the government's decision to award the two imprisoned fighters, Samir Quntar and Sultan Al-Ajaluni, honorary citizenship and Palestinian citizenship as an act of dedication to their struggle and their heroic sufferings in the occupation's prisons. [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Mar. 9, 2006] PMW's Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook noted, "Societies measure their heroes in different ways. Some societies honor athletes or performers. Others celebrate caregivers and humanitarian workers. The Palestinians, on the other hand, have consistently chosen to honor murderers as their national icons." Documented evidence shows that PA TV and PA leaders have long seen Quntar as a hero. His picture is repeatedly shown on TV, and he was proclaimed the "model warrior," "brave," and a "leader" and "head" of the prisoners. In an August 15th, 2004 TV broadcast, PA Minister of Prisoners, Hisham Abdul Razeq, defined Quntar as the leader of the prisoners: "The torch of freedom [that] was lifted by our heroic prisoners and headed by the great warrior Samir Quntar... our thanks to you. On August 24th of the same year, prominent PA TV broadcaster Muhammad Albaz told his audience: "A thousand blessings to the warrior Samir Quntar [the audience claps] and to his family in Lebanon and to this hero who was sentenced to 576 years [in prison]. This is the evil, and this is Israeli democracy. On August 18th, 2004, PA TV termed the murder of the father and girl as an act of bravery: "He was sentenced to 542 years in prison for committing the brave Nahariya action in Palestine [note-Israel city of Nahariya is defined as Palestine.] On the same day, Arab demonstrators supporting a prisoner hunger strike singled out Quntar as a model to be followed: "We bless the family members of Samir Quntar, we are with you. He is your son but he is also our son, the son of Palestine. We ask of Allah, that there will be 100 more Samir Quntars, 1,000 more Samir Quntars, 1,000,000 more Samir Quntars, that do and act for the Palestinian issue." The speech was broadcast on PA TV.

Prosecute Abu Abbas by Smadar Haran Kaiser

http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/middleeast/Prosecute_Abu_Abbas.asp

The world should know what Abu Abbas did to my family.

This article originally appeared in the Washington Post.

Abu Abbas, the former head of a Palestinian terrorist group who was captured in Iraq on April 15, is infamous for masterminding the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro. But there are probably few who remember why Abbas's terrorists held the ship and its 400-plus passengers hostage for two days. It was to gain the release of a Lebanese terrorist named Samir Kuntar, who is locked up in an Israeli prison for life. Kuntar's name is all but unknown to the world. But I know it well. Because almost a quarter of a century ago, Kuntar murdered my family.

It was a murder of unimaginable cruelty, crueler even than the murder of Leon Klinghoffer, the American tourist who was shot on the Achille Lauro and dumped overboard in his wheelchair. Kuntar's mission against my family, which never made world headlines, was also masterminded by Abu Abbas. And my wish now is that this terrorist leader should be prosecuted in the United States, so that the world may know of all his terrorist acts, not the least of which is what he did to my family on April 22, 1979.

It had been a peaceful Sabbath day. My husband, Danny, and I had picnicked with our little girls, Einat, 4, and Yael, 2, on the beach not far from our home in Nahariya, a city on the northern coast of Israel, about six miles south of the Lebanese border. Around midnight, we were asleep in our apartment when four terrorists, sent by Abu Abbas from Lebanon, landed in a rubber boat on the beach two blocks away. Gunfire and exploding grenades awakened us as the terrorists burst into our building. They had already killed a police officer. As they charged up to the floor above ours, I opened the door to our apartment. In the moment before the hall light went off, they turned and saw me. As they moved on, our neighbor from the upper floor came running down the stairs. I grabbed her and pushed her inside our apartment and slammed the door.

Outside, we could hear the men storming about. Desperately, we sought to hide. Danny helped our neighbor climb into a crawl space above our bedroom; I went in behind her with Yael in my arms. Then Danny grabbed Einat and was dashing out the front door to take refuge in an underground shelter when the terrorists came crashing into our flat.

They held Danny and Einat while they searched for me and Yael, knowing there were more people in the apartment. I will never forget the joy and the hatred in their voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades. I knew that if Yael cried out, the terrorists would toss a grenade into the crawl space and we would be killed. So I kept my hand over her mouth, hoping she could breathe. As I lay there, I remembered my mother telling me how she had hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. "This is just like what happened to my mother," I thought.

As police began to arrive, the terrorists took Danny and Einat down to the beach. There, according to eyewitnesses, one of them shot Danny in front of Einat so that his death would be the last sight she would ever see. Then he smashed my little girl's skull in against a rock with his rifle butt. That terrorist was Samir Kuntar.

By the time we were rescued from the crawl space, hours later, Yael, too, was dead. In trying to save all our lives, I had smothered her.

The next day, Abu Abbas announced from Beirut that the terrorist attack in Nahariya had been carried out "to protest the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty" at Camp David the previous year. Abbas seems to have a gift for charming journalists, but imagine the character of a man who protests an act of peace by committing an act of slaughter.

Two of Abbas's terrorists had been killed by police on the beach. The other two were captured, convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Despite my protests, one was released in a prisoner exchange for Israeli POWs several months before the Achille Lauro hijacking. Abu Abbas was determined to find a way to free Kuntar as well. So he engineered the hijacking of the Achille Lauro off the coast of Egypt and demanded the release of 50 Arab terrorists from Israeli jails. The only one of those prisoners actually named was Samir Kuntar. The plight of hundreds held hostage on a cruise ship for two days at sea lent itself to massive international media coverage. The attack on Nahariya, by contrast, had taken less than an hour in the middle of the night. So what happened then was hardly noticed outside of Israel.

One hears the terrorists and their excusers say that they are driven to kill out of desperation. But there is always a choice. Even when you have suffered, you can choose whether to kill and ruin another's life, or whether to go on and rebuild. Even after my family was murdered, I never dreamed of taking revenge on any Arab. But I am determined that Samir Kuntar should never be released from prison.

In 1984, I had to fight my own government not to release him as part of an exchange for several Israeli soldiers who were POWs in Lebanon. I understood, of course, that the families of those POWs would gladly have agreed to the release of an Arab terrorist to get their sons back. But I told Yitzhak Rabin, then defense minister, that the blood of my family was as red as that of the POWs. Israel had always taken a position of refusing to negotiate with terrorists. If they were going to make an exception, let it be for a terrorist who was not as cruel as Kuntar. "Your job is not to be emotional," I told Rabin, "but to act rationally." And he did.

So Kuntar remains in prison. I have been shocked to learn that he has married an Israeli Arab woman who is an activist on behalf of terrorist prisoners. As the wife of a prisoner, she gets a monthly stipend from the government. I'm not too happy about that.

In recent years, Abu Abbas started telling journalists that he had renounced terrorism and that killing Leon Klinghoffer had been a mistake. But he has never said that killing my family was a mistake. He was a terrorist once, and a terrorist, I believe, he remains. Why else did he spend these last years, as the Israeli press has reported, free as a bird in Baghdad, passing rewards of $25,000 from Saddam Hussein to families of Palestinian suicide bombers? More than words, that kind of cash prize, which is a fortune to poor families, was a way of urging more suicide bombers. The fortunate thing about Abbas's attaching himself to Hussein is that it set him up for capture.

Some say that Italy should have first crack at Abbas. It had already convicted him of the Achille Lauro hijacking in absentia in 1986. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi now wants Abbas handed over so that he can begin serving his life sentence. But it's also true that in 1985, the Italians had Abbas in their hands after U.S. fighter jets forced his plane to land in Sicily. And yet they let him go. So while I trust Berlusconi, who knows if a future Italian government might not again wash its hands of Abbas?

In 1995, Rabin, then our prime minister, asked me to join him on his trip to the White House, where he was to sign a peace agreement with Yasser Arafat, which I supported. I believe that he wanted me to represent all Israeli victims of terrorism. Rabin dreaded shaking hands with Arafat, knowing that those hands were bloody. At first, I agreed to make the trip, but at the last minute, I declined. As prime minister, Rabin had to shake hands with Arafat for political reasons. As a private person, I did not. So I stayed here.

Now I am ready and willing to come to the United States to testify against Abu Abbas if he is tried for terrorism. The daughters of Leon Klinghoffer have said they are ready to do the same. Unlike Klinghoffer, Danny, Einat and Yael were not American citizens. But Klinghoffer was killed on an Italian ship in Abbas's attempt to free the killer of my family in Israel. We are all connected by the international web of terrorism woven by Abbas. Let the truth come out in a new and public trial. And let it be in the United States, the leader in the struggle against terrorism.

Author Biography:
Smadar Haran Kaiser is a social worker. She is remarried and has two daughters.

-------------------------

MIM: More reason why terrorists must be executed- in 2003 Kuntar (Quntar) was demanded in a prisoner swap. Forcing his release was also one of the goals behind the attack on the Archille Lauro.

Kuntar won't be released

JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

Nov. 7, 2003

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Smadar Haran, whose family was massacred by terroris Samir Kuntar, said on Army Radio Tuesday morning that she refuses to entertain thoughts on the release of her family's murderer.

"I refuse to be another piece of red meat thrown into the gladiator ring by Nasrallah so that he can enjoy the continuing circus of bereaved families he has set against eachother."

Hizbullah's demand for the inclusion in any prisoners' exchange deal of Lebanese Druse terrorist Samir Kuntar has put in doubt the expected prisoner exchange and has drawn a steadfast response from Israeli officials, who maintain that terrorists with Israeli blood on their hands, such as Kuntar, will not be part of the deal.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated to the Likud faction on Monday that Kuntar will not be released from jail as part of the prisoner exchange.

Asked by MK Ehud Yatom why Kuntar was not mentioned specifically in the government's decision, Sharon said, "We agreed a long time ago that Kuntar would not be released."

Sharon said there is still no target date for the
prisoners to return home, but mediator Ilan Biran will soon return to Germany to finalize the plan and decide on a date.

Asked about why Azzam Azzam wasn't included in the
deal, Sharon said that no Egyptian prisoners will be released for that very reason.

The Hizbullah are adamant that there would be no prisoner exchange deal with Israel if Kuntar, who headed the four-man Palestine Liberation Front squad on the murderous attack in Nahariya 24 years ago, is not included.

Bassam Kuntar, the brother of Samir Kuntar, claims Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has personally promised him that his brother was an integral part of the exchange, according to Al Jazeera. Hizbullah officials also claimed that they have a letter from Israel pledging to include Kuntar in future prisoner swap deals. Foreign Minister Shalom has not directly reacted to the report on the letter.

But Shalom has responsed to Hizbullah's demand for Kuntar's release that Israel too had "red lines" it would not cross. "Prime Minister Sharon said that Kuntar's release is out of the question. The murder of a family in Israel is unforgivable. I oppose his release. We have stated in the clearest possible terms throughout the negotiations that Kuntar is not on the list," Shalom said.

"I hope the other side understands that there are limits to the demands they place on us. We have not agreed to release any nationals with blood on their hands," the Foreign Minister added.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's special envoy, Ilan Biran, is to go to Germany in the next few days to put what Israel hopes will be the finishing touches on the prisoner swap the cabinet narrowly passed on Sunday.

By a vote of 12-11, Sharon was able to pass a resolution laying down the principles of the prisoner swap with Hizbullah.

The issue of Kuntar resurfaced after Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah made clear that there would be no deal without Kuntar.

In Lebanon, Hizbullah officials did not formally respond to the Israeli cabinet's decision to proceed with the prisoner exchange deal. However, Hizbullah officials did threaten to kidnap more Israelis if the deal collapses.

Mohammed Fneish, a Hizbullah legislator, "If the pressure cards we have ... are not sufficient to convince the Israeli enemy's government to respect the freedom of our detainees ..., the Hizbullah command will definitely search for means to force the Israeli enemy's government to release our detainees," he told Al Manar TV.

The Israeli defense establishment has maintained the criteria that only Lebanese prisoners involved in attacks against Israeli installations in Southern Lebanon may be included in the exchange list, and not those who perpetrated attacks within Israel.

Lebanese TV on Sunday aired interviews with the relatives of Dirani, Obeid and Kuntar. Kuntar's son told the interviewer that Hizbullah had promised the return of his father, or the entire deal woul not go through.

On Saturday, Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah confirmed an earlier Hizbullah report in Friday's edition of the Lebanese A-Safir daily newspaper in which sources said that the Shiite group would call off the exchange if Kuntar is not included.

"Any swap that excludes any of the Lebanese detainees will not be acceptable to us and will not happen," Nasrallah said during a Hizbullah-hosted Ramadan fast-breaking meal at sunset Saturday, Associated Press reported.

"I say to the (Israeli) enemy government ... that the first name on the list must be Samir Kantar."
According to Israel Army Radio, the Lebanese sources said "Israel's refusal [to release Kuntar] endangers the entire deal since it contradicts the terms of the agreement, which calls for the release of all Lebanese prisoners."

A vicious rampage

Samir Kuntar led the terrorists who infiltrated Israeli territory from Lebanon in April 1979 in a rubber dinghy and beached their boat in Nahariya.

Their aim was to take hostages to delay implementation of the then Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt and demand the release of prisoners held by Israel.

Danny Hadan, 28, and his daughters Einat, four, and Yael, just two, were killed in the attack along with policeman Eliyahu Shahar, who was called to what was originally thought to be a burglary and was shot dead by one of the terrorists.

Shahar's widow, Shula, who brought up their three children alone, has come out strongly against the release of Kuntar as part of any exchange deal. She was 22 and seven months pregnant with their third child when her husband was killed.

Their son, Yakir, who was born two months after the killing of his father after whom he is named, is due to be married in two weeks time.

In recent interviews with the Hebrew press, Yakir said it was impossible for someone who had never known what it was to have a father that a callous murderer should be released and be able to enjoy the rest of his life with his family.

His views were echoed by his mother. "I am totally opposed to the idea that this murderer will be allowed to wander around free," said Shula Shahar.

In an interview with Israel Radio on Sunday she said that noone from the authorities had contacted them about the possibiliy of Kuntar being released, and there had been no prior constultation over the freeing of one of his partners in the Ahmed Jibril exchange deal in 1985.

The two other terrorists were killed by the security forces in the chase after they fled from the Haran family's home, taking Danny and his elder daughter Einat with them as hostages.

Danny Haran and Einat were killed in cold blood by the terrorists. Yael died of suffocation in the arms of her mother, Smadar, who was trying to keep her quiet while they hid in terrified desperation from the terrorists who had invaded their home.

Smadar Haran later re-married and has two daughters from her second husband, psychologist Ya'acov Keizer. She opposed the release of the second terrorist, Ahmad Abarrass, under the Jibril deal and also the fact that Kuntar was allowedd to wed while held in prison.

In recent interviews on radio and in the Hebrew press, Haran (Keizer), said Nasrallah has been conducting a war of nerves against Israel and trying to play families off against one another by "cynical and evil utilization of personal tragedies."

She accused Nasrallah of unbridled extortion in the negotiations conducted via the media that were all part of efforts to boost his own prestige.

Haran said she had voiced her opinions to the appropriate authorities and expressed the hope that the government would find the right balance between humanitarian values and the "red-lines" a sovereign State set regarding its enemies.

Gil Hoffman and David Rudge contributed to this report

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Sincerely,

Robin Ticker
Activist emails sent to my list  are L'Ilui Nishmat Yisrael ben David Aryeh ob"m (Izzy - Kaplan) and Howard Chaim Grief great activists and lovers of Eretz Yisroel, Am Yisroel and the Torah. Yehi Zichronum Baruch.  May their memories serve as a blessing.

Most of these emails are posted on Shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com

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