Just before we wrap ourselves once again in the feeling of mutual guarantee and embark on the 'Avraham is still alive' campaign, we must not forget the heavy price we paid in the last deal, a price that cost us dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries.
There was logic in silencing the affair, there is logic in quiet negotiations, and it would be right even if a deal for his release does not come to fruition.
In the coming days, we will be exposed to an orchestrated campaign that will appeal to all of our emotions, a campaign that will remind us how difficult life in captivity is, a campaign that will link the silencing of this case to the color of the missing person's skin.
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Don't let this campaign influence your consciousness. Don't let vested interests convince you that he must be released at all costs.
It's not for nothing that Haaretz newspaper put massive pressure on the censors to publish the news. "Not out of love for Mordechai, but out of hatred for Haman" - they are simply interested in another terrorist release deal.
We have no moral right to release hundreds of murderers for a man who knowingly surrendered himself to Hamas. We have no empathy for civilians who cross the border time and time again.
Did you go in there on your own? Leave the same way.
I pray for Avraham's well-being, I strengthen his family, I hope he returns safe and sound in body and soul, but I equally hope that not a single murderer is released in his place. The blood of thousands of Israelis is no redder than his blood.
Remember the criticism and self-flagellation we inflicted on ourselves after the reasons for Tenenbaum's release became clear to us. Avraham Mengistu is not Gilad Shalit, he is Tenenbaum.
We pray for his well-being, strengthen his family, and hope he returns home safe and sound. But not at any cost.
Clarification: This article would have been written in exactly the same wording even if it were an Ashkenazi or Mizrahi Israeli, ultra-Orthodox or secular, right-wing or left-wing.
Anyone who knows me knows how connected I am to the Ethiopian community in the city of Rishon LeZion, and how much I work on its behalf.
Don't take it there.
