Israel re-arrests prisoners freed in Shalit deal, making sure the swap doesn’t repeat itself. Illustrative. By Joshua Spurlock.
The last time Palestinians kidnapped a young Israeli, Gilad Shalit, they received over a thousand prisoners freed in a massive exchange. This time, Israel is doing the exact opposite: They’ve re-arrested more than four dozen of the terrorists released for Shalit as part of their operation to rescue three teens kidnapped last week.
The IDF Blog reported that 51 prisoners exchanged for Shalit were among those arrested on Tuesday night—bringing the arrest total to approximately 240 as part of a major crackdown on Hamas and other terrorists. Hamas is believed to be behind the kidnappings of the Israeli teens.
In addition to arrests, the IDF Blog also reported that they have found hundreds of weapons hidden by the Palestinians in the Judea and Samaria region (the West Bank). A separate report noted that as part of their efforts to rescue the teens, Israel is also working to reduce Hamas’ capability carry out further attacks from Judea and Samaria.
Tuesday night alone saw dozens of Hamas terrorists arrested. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the efforts of the Israeli security forces in a press release, while making it clear Hamas would suffer consequences for the abductions of the teens.
“We are in the midst of a wide-ranging operation. It will yet include many actions against the terrorists that attack, murder and kidnap Israeli citizens and want to destroy the State of Israel,” said Netanyahu. “We are fighting terrorism and Hamas will continue to pay a heavy price for abducting Eyal, Gilad and Naftali, the three youths who were on their way home to their parents.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, June 18, 2014)