ISRAEL DISHONESTY

Isn’t enough that a segment of Islamists are habitually dishonest and promote murder.  Now the Israel government – though the  Shabak (Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet) is not only doing the same thing, but compounding its immorality and dishonesty by seeking to hold its informal agent liable for the action.

Chaim Perlman, a 30-year-old father of three is not being held under arrest on suspicion of killing four Arabs 12 years ago following a wave of terrorism.  A tape of a Shabak agent meeting with Perlman several weeks ago and enticing him to kill Islamic Movement chief Raed Salah was released to the media last week, and quite properly, prompted tremendous criticism of the methods of the Shabak's Jewish section. In another tape, Perlman is heard admitting to having fought physically with Arabs on occasion.

Is fighting with the same as killing?  And more important, were the Shabak agent arrested for the murders he promoted?  Were his informed superiors – the ones who authorized the murders – arrested?  If the matter was national defense, there is no crime.  If the matter is one of promoting murder by a citizen – hence trading on that individual’s Nationalistic instincts in order to commit a murder – than the agent, or agents, involved are the murderers… and should be imprisoned in the deepest hole available … or better … turned over to Islamic authorities (if they have jurisdiction) for punishment.

How is the Shabak handling the matter?  They are preventing Perlman from having any contact with a lawyer – they are effectively denying him the right to self-defense.   The Shabak agents are showing themselves to be the most despicable of  people – even, one might argue, more despicable than the Arab terrorists who commit suicide bombing and murder innocent people -- in violation of the Koran prohibition against the harming of innocents.  On that level, the Israeli Government is no better than the average Imam – neither upholds the laws they are sworn to adhere to.

The answer is simple – set Perlman  free and return him to his family, or arrest the Shabak agents and convict them of their role in planning, or carrying out, murders against residents in Israeli territories.