The government, President Peres and members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee are weighing the likelihood of pardoning many of the youths involved in the opposition to the 2005 Disengagement in which the Gaza Jewish community was uprooted. Most of those slated to be pardoned will be minors and those who committed “light crimes,” numbering an estimated to be about 200.

During the expulsion, 6,000 arrests were made and 700 criminal indictments were filed, 600 for minor offenses and 100 for more serious violations of  the law. Of that number, 200 were against minors. A pardon would end the legal process against them, as well as erasing the event from each person’s record.

While the move does give the appearance of a forgiving attitude on the state’s part, many right-wing activists call it a “slap in the face”, explaining that the government has and continues to pardon tens and tens of terrorists while Jewish security prisoners continue to rot in prison, with the president and others unwilling to entertain a pardon for them.

Just last week, a request was given to Rav Ovadia Yosef Shlita on behalf of a number of Jewish security prisoners, asking the former chief rabbi to please present their case to President Shimon Peres.

A letter was also sent to President Peres by family members of the Merkaz HaRav victims, explaining they are among the many feeling the pain of Arab terrorism, asking that the president extend a measure of mercy to the Jews who acted out of pain and concern in light of ongoing and increasing Arab terror.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)