MK Shaked attacks U.S. pressure to release terrorists

Bayit Yehudi MK Ayelet Shaked has released a scathing open letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, for pushing the Israeli government to release convicted terrorist murderers.

In the letter, Shaked—who recently called for the death penalty to be implemented for terrorists—wrote that:

“In light of the current situation that you have brought about, I feel that I cannot be bound by the restraints of ‘politically correct’ wording, and I therefore will allow myself to convey my following message to you in the most straightforward fashion.”

She continued:

“By forcing Israel to capitulate to terrorism by releasing murdering terrorists with so much blood on their hands that the U.S. would never dream of releasing if it was their own citizens murdered—you are not only being extremely hypocritical, but are actually dabbling in experimentation and gambling, by putting me and my children’s lives at risk.”

Shaked also attacked the U.S. administration for forcing Israel to release convicted murderers, whilst keeping former Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard in jail.

“You forcing us to release terrorists with blood on their hands is made all the more absurd, cynical and vicious by the fact that your country refuses to this day to release Jonathan Pollard from jail, despite the unprecedented term he has served thus far,” she wrote.

“Mr. Secretary: the price of releasing over a hundred convicted murderers will be borne by my family and my people, not by you. How will you carry the burden of the terrible price toward which you are leading us?”

She continued, “You forced us into peace talks during a period of time that the entire Middle East is in chaos, without realizing that by doing so, you have foolishly put us in an impossible situation in which we cannot and will not make any concessions.” 

By “raising expectations to a dangerous level” in this way, Kerry is threatening “to cause the whole region to spin out of control,” she claimed.

Shaked ended the letter with a word of “advice” for Kerry.

“The past four years in Israel have been as quiet and peaceful as ever. Therefore I suggest you perform your job in a much more effective and relevant fashion by focusing your attention on Syria and Egypt, where people are actually being slaughtered.”

MK Ayelet Shaked was elected as member of the Knesset for the Jewish Home in the 2013 Knesset elections, and currently holds fifth place on the party’s list.