“Outrage in Afghanistan” and a similar, almost concurrent, one in Israel. Sheer historic coincidence??
In his Talking Points on “Bill O’reilly Factor” (Fox News), February 13, 2014, the anchor, Bill O’reilly, related to the outrageous release, by President Karzai of Afghanistan, of 65 convicted Taliban terrorists, who have killed or maimed Americans.
In a response comment, posted on the same day at Foxnews blog, I wrote:
“Whence the surprise that Americans have to furiously witness release of Taliban terrorists, who have killed Americans, if only a few months ago Israelis had to furiously witness the American administration forcing the Israeli government release Palestinians terrorists, who have murdered Israelis? (check the two numbers!)”
In this post I detail the two parallel cases, which have surprisingly occurred no more than six months apart.
On August 2013, the Israeli Cabinet agreed on a four-stage process by which 104 Palestinian prisoners will be released as part of a “confidence-building” measure aimed to boost renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. This decision was taken after US Secretary of State John Kerry, in his efforts to persuade the Palestinian side to re-embark on peace talks with Israel, posed two possible (one may say impossible) options for the Israeli government: To cease construction in Jewish villages and towns beyond the green line (Israel pre-1967 war borders) or release Palestinian terrorists, convicted in due judicial process in the Israeli Justice System.
All of the prisoners slated for release were convicted for terrorism against Israel before the signing of the Oslo Accords in September 1993; most were directly involved in the murder of Israelis and many were serving life sentences. On August 13, 2013, Israel released the first group of 26 convicted Palestinians terrorists. Another group of 26 were released October, 30th, and another group of 26 prisoners on December 31st, 2013.
By February of 2014, altogether 78 convicted Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli jails in accordance with the decision of the Israeli government. (a fourth group was slated to be released April, 2014).
On February, 14th, Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered the release of 65 captured Taliban terrorists who were supposed to be tried for crimes against civilians in their own country. These killers have also been linked to the deaths of 32 Americans and allied troops according to the U.S. command. This decision by Karzai was termed by Bill O’reilly “An Outrage in Afghanistan”.
The parallelism, between US conduct towards the State of Israel and supposed consequences to the US, is the subject of several books, published recently, all pursuing a single paradigm: “As America Has Done to Israel…”.
Examples:
McTernan, J. (2008). As America Has Done to Israel. Whitaker House.
Kroening, W. R. (2008). Eye to Eye: Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel. About Him. Revised Edition.
The above current historical coincidence may be just that (or not).
Haim Shore Blog 