Netanyahu shouldn’t be trusted on terror

Not many can say, as we can, to the family of Asher Natan, “I know how you feel.”

Asher was the 14-year-old boy murdered in the Shabbat massacre in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov. Our Malki was 15 when she was murdered in the Sbarro massacre of 2001.

We know that their pain will never heal.

We and the Natans are members of that exclusive club which everyone dreads joining: bereaved parents.

Our unique experiences after Malki’s murder have been painfully illuminating. They made us aware of how vacuous the promises of our leaders often are.

A champion of such utterances is our new prime minister. His declamations after the Neve Yaakov terror attack have likely reassured many a rattled and frightened Israeli.

But my husband and I know they are only empty clichés.

“Our response will be strong, swift and precise,” Netanyahu said, adding that his government would act “powerfully against terrorism.”

We fear that what may in fact be “swift” will be the release of many terrorists from prison.

Because this is the same man who ignored our pleas in 2011 to keep our Malki’s unrepentant murderer, Ahlam Tamimi, sentenced to 16 life sentences for the deaths of 15 men, women and children, in prison.

Instead, at the urging of his wife, Sara [“How challenging is it to be Israel’s First Lady?”, BILD, June 10, 2012], he released Tamimi along with 1,026 other convicted terrorists, among them hundreds of murderers. That egregious mistake became known as the Shalit Deal.

My daughter Malki was murdered in the massacre at Jerusalem’s Sbarro pizzeria six weeks after this photo was taken at a family celebration in 2001. (courtesy)

Several of the terrorists released then, including our Malki’s murderer, promptly resumed their terrorist activities. Some of those claimed still more innocent Jewish lives.

Don’t be fooled by Netanyahu’s bluster. Better to judge him by his actions.

Reports are that he is on the verge of another mass terror prisoner release to appease Hamas and win the release of two Israeli hostages.

Remember these facts when you next hear our prime minister raging about a terror attack. His words are empty.