Prediction Confirmed: Peres Commutes Sentences of 5 Terrorist Murderers

Two days before Shimon Peres became President of Israel, I predicted:

Releasing terrorist murderers will be easier in the future now that Shimon Peres has been made President by Olmert and company. Leftists don't need to tone down their true desires when they no longer face reelection. See, for example: Jimmy Carter, Avraham Burg and Ramsey Clark.

Yesterday Shimon Peres has done just that: commuted the sentences of five Arab terrorist murderers of a random fifteen year-old. No decision could be more politically unpopular in Israel, which has a large number of Arabs ready to seize any opportunity to murder a Jew for jihad. But he doesn't have to worry about that any more, because he is now completely unaccountable to the electorate. The Presidency of Israel has now joined the Supreme Court as another branch of government now functioning to subvert the power of the Israeli people (see here for a must-read published today on the Supreme Court's constitutional coup). Kadima and Labor, who knew exactly why they gave Peres the pardon power, can feign ignorance:

President Shimon Peres defended his decision Wednesday to cut short the life sentences of the five murderers of teenager Danny Katz, telling critics - including Katz's family - that his decision was based entirely on legal considerations. A statement from Beit Hanassi read: "The president understands the pain of the Katz family, whose son Danny was murdered by evildoers. In accordance with the procedure in effect since the day the country was established, the president is responsible for determining the commutation of a life sentence, and that is after the committee for reviewing life sentences, headed by a judge, submits its detailed recommendations to the Justice Ministry."

Those judges are also appointed by the Leftist oligopoly that rules Israel. Of course, those 'detailed recommendations' will not be available for the public to see.

Peres's comments were in response to claims that his decision was based on political concerns, in an attempt to bring Israeli Arabs into the Kadima-Labor coalition.

Earlier Wednesday, Katz's mother blasted the president's decision and bemoaned the lack of importance awarded to life sentences in the state of Israel.

"The second Peres becomes president, he rushes to release murderers - five murderers, savages, who killed an innocent boy outside his home. We're getting calls from all over the country. They're all saying, 'Better [former president Moshe] Katsav than someone who frees murderers,'" Mira Katz said.

Katz's brother also took to the airwaves to slam the decision, saying that they had heard as far back as two months ago that at least one Arab MK was advocating the fives' release.

Why, exactly, would a Knesset member desire the release of terrorists? Why would his constituency want such a thing?

Danny Katz was 15 in 1983 when he left his Denya neighborhood house in Haifa and never returned. His body was discovered in a cave not far from Sakhnin four days after his disappearance. The five suspects were first indicted in Haifa District Court in 1984 and charged with premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit a crime and kidnapping with intent to murder.

In October 1985, all five - Ahmad Kozli, Samir Hanama, Fathi Guama, Ali Gnaim and Ataf Sabihi were convicted of all the charges against them and sentenced to life plus 27 years in prison each. In the nineties, the five repeatedly requested a retrial, claiming that their confessions were made under physical and psychological pressure.

In 1999, then-Supreme Court president Aharon Barak granted the five the long-awaited retrial, but that resulted in a verdict, handed down in 2002, which upheld their previous conviction.

There is one possibly positive development that can come from this: non-Leftist parties should make adoption of the death penalty for terrorist murderers a campaign issue. It would be wildly popular, particularly given the added reason that death is the only legal impediment to release by President Peres.

See also: Suspicion: Peres Paid for Arab Vote with Leniency to Arab Killers