The hostage/prisoner exchange and ceasefire between Hamas and Israel is now underway. While Israel is eagerly hoping for a swift return of all the hostages kidnapped by Hamas, other terrorist groups, and Palestinian civilians on October 7, 2023, little press coverage is being devoted to the significant sacrifice Israel has made to achieve their return.
Israel has agreed to the release of almost 2,000 prisoners, including at least 735 terrorists. This is alarming given that 82 percent of the 1,027 terrorists Israel exchanged for Gilad Shalit in 2011 committed more terrorism after achieving their freedom. And the most infamous of those was Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack.
Eighteen of the 735 terrorists have been convicted for orchestrating the deaths of 270 people combined. In descending order of number of lives killed:
- Mohammed Abu Warda, a Hamas terrorist, orchestrated suicide bus bombings in Jerusalem that killed a total of 45 people. He was sentenced to 48 life sentences.
- Wael Qassem, Wassam Abbasi, and Mohammed Odeh, members of the Hamas “Silwan” terror cell, collectively orchestrated terror attacks on a café, a club, and a university in Jerusalem and Rishon LeZion that killed 35 people combined.
- Abdullah Sharabati, Majdi Zaatari, and Samer Alatrash orchestrated two terror attacks on buses in Jerusalem that killed 30 people total: one that killed 23 people, seven of which were children, and a second that killed seven.
- Omer Al-Zaben, a leader of Hamas’s military wing (Al-Qassem Brigades) orchestrated attacks that killed 27 people in total. He was sentenced to 27 life sentences.
- Sami Jaradat, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader, orchestrated a terror attack on a Haifa restaurant that killed 21 people, including four children.
- Thabet Mardawi, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader, orchestrated an attack that killed 21 people during the Second Intifada.
- Ramadan Mashahra orchestrated a terrorist bombing in Jerusalem that killed 19 people.
- Shadi Amouri, a leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, orchestrated a car bombing at the Megiddo Junction that killed 17 people.
- Nour Jaber orchestrated terror attacks that killed 16 people total, including 12 in Hebron and four in Atzmona.
- Ahmad Barghouti orchestrated terror attacks that killed 12 people in total. These included: “The bombing at Tel Aviv’s Seafood Market restaurant that killed three Israelis and wounded 30, an attack in Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood that killed a policewoman and wounded nine people, a shooting attack during a bat mitzvah celebration at a banquet hall in Hadera in which six Israelis were killed and 26 were injured, and a bombing on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem that killed two women.” Barghouti was serving 13 life sentences and was a commander and weapons supplier of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (aligned with Fatah).
- Mohammed Amoudi orchestrated a suicide bombing of a shawarma stand in Tel Aviv that killed 11 people.
- Ali Safuri of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad orchestrated terror attacks that killed a total of 9 people.
- Zakaria Zubeidi of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades orchestrated terror attacks that killed 6 people in Be’et She’an. He escaped prison in 2021 before being incarcerated again.
- Mahmoud Attallah murdered a Palestinian woman and was later accused of raping a female guard while in prison.
While Israel has rescued the first of hopefully many more living hostages, it has done so at a steep cost to its national security. Multiple arch-terrorists, responsible for multiple murders each, will soon roam free and be poised to attack the Jewish State once again. Only with the complete destruction of Hamas and other terror organizations will Israel know peace.
READ MORE from Steve Postal:
New Syria Embracing Education of Hate
In the Final Stretch, Biden–Harris Administration Continues to Undermine Israel
New Syria Doubles Down on Jihad
The post To Rescue Its Own, Israel Pays Very Steep Price appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.
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