PA’s Abbas congratulates Kuntar’s

family on his release

Samir Kuntar, the terrorist recently released by Israel as part of exchanged of jailed Arab terrorists for the two corpses of kidnapped Israeli servicemen, has expressed his desire to murder more Jews. Kuntar, of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), had been serving multiple life terms following his capture in Nahariya in April 1979 when he and other PLF terrorists seized Danny Haran, 28, and his 4-year old daughter, Einat, in their home and removed them to the Nahariya beachfront where Kuntar shot Danny Haran in front of his daughter, then drowned him in the sea to ensure he was dead, before smashing the 4-year-old’s skull with a rock and crushing it with the butt of his rifle. Danny Haran’s wife, Smadar, managed to hide her with her other daughter, 2-year-old Yael, whom she accidentally suffocated in an effort not to betray their whereabouts while hiding in another part of their apartment when her husband and other daughter were seized by Kuntar.

Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas last week congratulated Kuntar’s family   (Ze’ev Ben-Yechiel, ‘Prisoner Swap: Israel Mourns, Hizbullah and PA Celebrate,’ Israel National News, July 16, 2008). Kuntar was rapturously received and honored in Lebanon upon his release and vowed to return to terrorism against Israel. In an interview, he said, “If you are asking whether I killed Israelis – I did, Allah be praised … I am proud of this, and Allah willing, I will get the chance to kill more Israelis” (Future TV, July 22, 2008, translation in ‘Released Lebanese Terrorist Samir Al-Quntar Vows to Fight Under Hizbullah: Allah Willing, I Will Kill More Israelis,’ Middle East Media Resource Institute, July 23, 2008). In another interview, Kuntar also said that, “There is a disease in this region called ‘the state of Israel,’ which we refer to as ‘the plundering entity.’ If we do not put an end to this disease, it will follow us, even if we flee to the end of the world. So it’s better to get rid of it” (Al-Jadid TV, July 18, 2008, translation in ‘Released Lebanese Terrorist Samir Al-Quntar Vows to Fight Under Hizbullah: Allah Willing, I Will Kill More Israelis,’ Middle East Media Resource Institute, July 23, 2008).

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “Prime Minister Olmert and his government made a grave error releasing Kuntar and other terrorists. In this latest disastrous release of terrorists, the government dropped even the pretence that those being released had no blood on their hands, the old formula by which the Israeli public has been consistently misled into thinking that releasing terrorists poses no real danger to their lives.

“The ZOA has consistently opposed the release of Palestinian Arab prisoners by Israel, not merely because doing so provides excellent incentives for kidnapping more Israelis and thus freeing more terrorists held by Israel, but because, as the Almagor Terrorism Victim’s Association report has clearly shown, such exchanges have been proved in the past to result in further massive loss of innocent Jewish life – something that is easy to predict given the brazen, unrepentant and vicious intentions expressed by Kuntar since his release. Tragically, more innocent Jews may well be murdered in the not too distant future by some of the terrorists Prime Minister Olmert has decided to release this week.”