Pollard inspires: IDF soldiers to say 'Don't release terrorists for me'

Gil Hoffman - The Jerusalem Post - October 11, 2009

Grassroots efforts against a proposed prisoner swap for IDF soldier Gilad Schalit began Sunday when Likud activist Moshe Feiglin announced a new initiative in which IDF combat soldiers will be asked to sign a petition asking Defense Minister Ehud Barak not to release terrorists for them if they were captured.

Feiglin wrote a letter to Barak on Sunday asking him not to negotiate his release should he ever be kidnapped by Arabs. He said that at first, he would start an online petition drive for IDF soldiers to join his call, which he said was inspired by Jonathan Pollard, an American convicted of spying for Israel.

He wrote to Barak that every time the possibility had been raised that Pollard would be released as part of a prisoner swap, Pollard refused.

"What our betrayed hero who is rotting in his cell understands, must be understood by any Israeli citizens as a free person. We must not buy one person's freedom in exchange for risking the lives of many and encouraging additional abductions."