Kuntar envies Israel - but wants to destroy it anyway
Released mass murderer Samir al-Kuntar told Hezbullah's al-Manar television station on Thursday that he 'envies Israel.'
"To tell you the truth, we envy our enemies. The way they care for a body and will go to the end of the world in order to get it back, and how they care for the hostage and will go all the way to return him," Kuntar said in an interview with Hizbullah's al-Manar television network, a day after being released from jail and returned to Lebanon as part of a prisoner swap deal with Israel
...
He also said that during his years in prison he had read "the books of the enemy about the '67 and '73 wars", and had felt that the Arab person had no meaning in these wars. He said he felt disregard for human beings' value in Arab countries, adding that this was manifested in Egypt's attitude toward its MIA's.
Nevertheless, he promised to make himself a 'martyr' for the cause of destroying the Jewish state.
Following are excerpts from an interview with Fatah representatives in the PA Legislative Council Jihad Abu Zneid and Najat Abu Bakr, in which they celebrated the release of terrorist Dalal Al-Maghrabi's remains. They also praised the release of Samir al-Kuntar, and discussed how all 'Palestinian' women and girls wish to be 'martyrs' like Dalal. The interview aired on Palestinian Authority TV on July 16, 2008.
Let's go to the videotape. A transcript follows.
Jihad Abu Zneid: Today has stirred the emotions of all Palestinians and the whole world [towards] a Palestinian woman who was, and still is, a commander and a fighter for the sake of Palestine. Allah willing, we hope that the day is near when the remains of this fighter and martyr, who has been dubbed "the Princess of Female Martyrs" – sister Dalal Al-Maghrabi, will return, Allah willing, to Jaffa, and will be welcomed by Jaffa and by the entire homeland, and we will celebrate our liberation.
[...]
We extend our deepest salutations to that Palestinian mother, to the mother and sisters of Dalal, and to all the female martyrs [who died] for the sake of Dalal and Palestine. I say to them: You have won [this honor]. Becoming the mother or sister of a martyr is an unparalleled opportunity. I wish I could be the mother or sister of a martyr, or even be martyred for the sake of Palestine myself. This would be a great honor. We all wish to die, Allah willing, for the sake of Palestine, and to become brides for the sake of Palestine – all the women and girls of Palestine wish for that. Dalal was a role model, and we were raised on her memory, and on this outstanding Palestinian image of that great Palestinian commander, Dalal, who led the best Palestinian operation for the sake of Palestine and its liberation.
[...]
The first woman to hijack a plane was a Palestinian. The first woman to lead a commando operation against the occupation was Dalal Al-Maghrabi. The Palestinian mothers who bade farewell to thousands of martyrs, knowing that their sons were leaving, never to return, yet they bade farewell to them, knowing that the homeland would be restored before their sons returned...
[...]
We all hoped that the great martyr and leader, the late [Arafat], could be with us today to receive the remains of the fighter, sister Dalal Al-Maghrabi, and to say to her, as he always said: "We are [advancing] along the road, we will remain true to our oath, and we will always renew this oath, for the sake of the martyrs, the wounded, and the prisoners." Whenever he would say to us: "To Jerusalem we march, martyrs by the millions," we would replay: "Yes."
[...]
Today, Abu Ammar, you welcome from your grave these remains. You receive all the martyrs because you were an Emir at the head of all the martyrs. You died for the sake of Palestine, and your soul embraces the souls of Dalal Al-Maghrabi and of all the martyrs. Allah willing, we will continue along the path of the martyrs, and obtain that great martyrdom for the sake of Palestine.
[...]
Najat Abu Bakr: To Samir Quntar, the outstanding commander, who always set his eyes on Palestine... To Samir Quntar, who was liberated from one geographical region, and went to another geographical region, to Palestine... To Samir Quntar, who always united the PLO factions in the prisons, and to whom people listened more than to the Palestinians themselves... I say to him: Congratulations to you, and congratulations to Palestine for your [release], Samir. We pledge to continue calling you son of Palestine, rather than son of Lebanon. To the mother of Dalal, I say that this is the day of Dalal's presence in the soul of every free man. Rest assured, oh mistress of Palestine and of the mother of martyrs, that on this day you have become the mother of all Palestinian mothers. To Dalal, confined in her coffin, I say that no matter how much time it takes, you are the one who has won, even though they kept your body, sentenced your body to a hundred years in the freezer, and charged 50 shekels from anyone who came to see your body in the morgue... Today, you made all the Israeli and Zionist warlords pay the price. Your price is higher than anything they expected. You are present, because while death means absence, martyrdom means presence. Oh leaders of the Zionist enemy, we are here to stay, and you will be gone.
But give them a statereichlet and they will leave us alone.
Six 'Israeli Arabs,' two from the north and four from 'east' Jerusalem, have been arrested and indicted for allegedly setting up an al-Qaeda cell in Jerusalem. One of the six - a student at Hebrew University - has been charged with attempting to assassinate President Bush during his visit here in May.
The group, arrested in a joint Shin Bet-Israel Police investigation, includes two Hebrew University students, one of whom lived in the university dormitories with a view of a helicopter landing pad.
Using a camera, the student filmed helicopters taking off and landing and made contact via the Internet with Al-Qaida elements to discuss bombing one of Bush's helicopters on his visit for Israeli Independence Day.
The six were identified as, Ibrahim Na'ashaf, 22, from Taiba - a physics and computer science student at Hebrew University; Muhammad Najam, 24, from Nazareth - a chemistry student at the university; Yousef Sumarin, 21, from Beit Hanina; Anas Shwayke, 21, from Jebl Mukaber; Kamal Abu Kweidar, 22, from Jerusalem's Old City; and Ahmad Shwayke, 21, from Shuafat. [The first two are from the north and the last four are from Jerusalem. CiJ]
According to security officials, the six created a closed religious terror cell and contacted different Al-Qaida and Global Jihad elements over the Internet.
They were also active in the Temple Mount's Al-Aksa Mosque as well as throughout east Jerusalem.
Investigators found bomb-making instructions on the personal computers of several of the suspects.
In June, two Israeli Bedouins from the town of Rahat were arrested and charged with belonging to an al-Qaeda cell. I wonder how many more 'Israeli Arabs' (let alone Arabs from the territories, who are not citizens of the State of Israel and cannot generally travel freely within 'green line' Israel) are involved in similar activities.
This puts a whole different perspective on another story I ran earlier this week. On Monday, I reported that a 'student' who stole bomb making materials from a Hebrew University laboratory six years ago has been released from jail and wishes to be readmitted to the same laboratory from which he stole the bomb making material. The current director of the laboratory wishes to admit him. Hebrew University is a state-funded university. But don't expect the current re-education minister to step in and prevent the terrorist from being readmitted.
Given that a Hebrew U. student plotted to assassinate President Bush, and that two Hebrew U. students have been indicted for belonging to al-Qaeda, it makes a lot of sense to admit a convicted terrorist to the university to work on a doctorate in a laboratory that has explosive materials, doesn't it?
Assud the Jew-eating rabbit to have his hand amputated?
In case anyone missed it yesterday, MEMRI released a translation of Hamas' Jihadi Television's 'kids show,' Tomorrow's Pioneers, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on Friday, July 11, 2008. In the 'episode,' Assud the Jew-eating rabbit is Tempted by Satan to steal and is sentenced by children viewers to have his hand chopped off.
Let's go to the videotape. A transcript follows and I'll have a comment at the end.
Assud the bunny: In the name of Allah, I hope my dad doesn't see me. God, make him go on sleeping, while I take one or two bills. There's his stash of money... Man, there is so much money here... No, I must put it back. Stealing is forbidden.
Satan: No, no... What are you doing, Assud? No, Assud, I promised you that nobody would see you or know about this. Take one or two bills. Don't be afraid, Assud.
Assud: Okay, I'll just take one... Actually, I'll take two.
Satan: No, take three.
[...]
Voice of girl: Assud, you were wrong to follow Satan, who is the source of all problems. In addition, you caused problems between your parents. You have no right to cause such a great problem. Don't you know that stealing leads to Hell. The Prophet Muhammad said: "If my daughter Fatima had stolen, I would have chopped off her hand." If you were in Saudi Arabia now, they would chop off your hand. Allah said in the Koran: "As for a thief, male or female, cut off their hands: A punishment by example, for their crime."
[...] [...]
Child TV host Saraa: What do you think about what Assud did?
Asmaa: It was wrong, because "as for a thief, male or female, cut of their hands."
Assud: Oh my God! You say that my hand should be chopped off, Asmaa?
Asmaa: Yes.
Assud: You think my hand should be chopped off?
Asmaa: What?
Assud: You want my hand to be chopped off?
Asmaa: Yes.
[...]
Nur: The Prophet Muhammad said: "If my daughter Fatima had stolen, I would have chopped off her hand.
Assud: So if Saraa were to steal, her hand should be chopped off, right?
Nur: No.
Assud: When you were little, didn't you ever steal a shekel or something?
Nur: No, because Allah is watching me.
Saraa: Nur, do you think we should go ahead and chop off Assud's hand now?
Assud: No, no. Saraa, I'm begging you...
Nur: Saraa, he has repented and promised never to do it again, then that's it.
Saraa: Well, if we don't chop off his hand, maybe we should chop off his ear?
Assud: No, please, no, I'm begging you...
Note that when asked whether Saraa should have her hand chopped off if she were caught stealing, the child says no. That is also characteristic of 'Palestinian' society. You will never find the children of the people in charge - say Ismail Haniyeh or Mahmoud Zahar (the two main Hamas leaders in Gaza) - acting as suicide bombers. Years ago, the IDF intercepted a phone conversation in which the wife of a Hamas leader (sorry, I forget who it was) was asked to send her son to commit a suicide bombing. She refused and said that was for the lesser people to do and not for her son. The tape was broadcast on Israel Radio so that we would all see that the 'Palestinians' are not so willing to 'sacrifice' their own children - only the children of others.
Video: Hezbullah still withholding information on Ron Arad
One of the things that Israel was supposed to get in the 'terrorists for corpses' exchange was information about IDF navigator Ron Arad, who was shot down over Lebanon in 1986, and from whom Israel has heard nothing since 1988. This video includes interviews with friends of Arad and IDF intelligence officers about what they conclude from what was delivered. There are also some details about the picture above. You may recall that I asked if the writing was Arabic or Persian - it turns out that it's both.
Video: Kuntar swears allegiance at Mughniyeh's grave
One last video of the despicable Samir al-Kuntar. This is him speaking at a 'military ceremony' that was held at the grave of Hezbullah terrorist Imad Mughniyeh.
For those who don't understand the Hebrew subtitles, Kuntar "swears to God" that the five of them (he and the four Hezbullah terrorists standing with him) will continue in the same path until they reach the 'status' that Allah granted Mughniyeh (i.e. 'martyrdom').
This really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but it has not been reported by any of the other media here.
Reader Hutzpan reports that Israel's Channel 9 television (Russian language station) reported that 'Israeli Arabs' were handing out pitot and candies at Haifa University to celebrate the release of mass murderer Samir al-Kuntar. Similar celebrations were held in 'east' Jerusalem, Jaffa and other Arab villages throughout the country.
As a lawyer, I know that my best referrals always come from satisfied clients. That's probably true in other businesses as well. And given that acting as a 'mediator' in a lawyerly function, it's probably not all that surprising that Hamas is on the verge of deciding to fire their lawyer (Omar Suleiman and the Egyptians) and to hire Hezbullah's lawyers: the Germans. After all, the Germans just got Hezbullah a great deal (live terrorists - including one with 'blood on his hands' in a major way) for two dead Israeli soldiers. Hamas is still holding a live Israeli soldier.
Several Hamas officials have been quoted over the past 24 hours as expressing deep disappointment with the way the Egyptians have been handling the Schalit mediation effort.
"The Egyptians have proved that they are unable to put enough pressure on Israel to accept our demands," one Hamas official reportedly said.
Another Hamas official said his movement was under the impression that the Egyptians "were on Israel's side more than on our side."
"We were expecting our Egyptian brothers to represent the interests of all Arabs in the talks over Schalit. But the Egyptians don't seem to care about us," he said.
a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), or "appropriate dispute resolution", aims to assist two (or more) disputants in reaching an agreement. Whether an agreement results or not, and whatever the content of that agreement, if any, the parties themselves determine — rather than accepting something imposed by a third party. The disputes may involve (as parties) states, organizations, communities, individuals or other representatives with a vested interest in the outcome.
that mediators
use appropriate techniques and/or skills to open and/or improve dialogue between disputants, aiming to help the parties reach an agreement (with concrete effects) on the disputed matter.
and that all parties must view the mediator as impartial, welcome to the Middle East, where everyone gangs up on Israel. But of course, Hamas will never tell you that:
"The main reason why the deal with Hizbullah succeeded was because the German mediator was objective and fair," the Hamas editor wrote. "The Egyptian mediators conducting the indirect talks between Hamas and Israel are not honest. The Egyptians are trying to fulfill Israel's demands by exerting pressure on the Palestinians and exploiting their bad conditions resulting from the siege."
No. The main reason the deal succeeded is that Israel has a weak and inept government in power. And in that respect, Hamas does not have time to reach a deal, because hopefully that government will be gone soon.
And for those who doubted that Wednesday's shameful exchange increased the price for Shalit, consider this:
Hamas was not in no rush to resolve the Schalit case, Hamdan said. "We want a just and fair deal that would give us what we want."
He said the lesson to be drawn from Wednesday's prisoner exchange was that Israel could no longer impose conditions.
"If we remain firm, we will be able to achieve our goals," he said. "We can achieve victory over this enemy."
Asked if Hamas planned to "up" its demands following the Israel-Hizbullah agreement, the Hamas official said: "This deal gives us a chance to ask for more. I can't say that we will up our demands today, but we will certainly not accept anything less than what we have asked for." Hamas is demanding that Israel release 1,000 security prisoners, in stages, in a deal for Schalit.
As far as Hamas is concerned, there's no longer any distinction between those terrorists who have blood on their hands and those who do not. For those of you who thought that this week's spectacle was sickening (and that's probably all of us), there may be much worse ahead.
Israel won't hunt down Kuntar as long as Olmert's in power
A story in Thursday's New York Sun claims that Israel's security services have warned released mass murderer Samir al-Kuntar that he should 'sleep with one eye opened' (Hat Tip: Hot Air).
"Every terrorist who committed an act of terror against Israel, especially someone like Kantar, who killed a little child and two other people, is a target," an official said.
Another security official told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper: "Now that he is out of jail, we have no obligation towards Kantar, a loathsome murderer whose accounts will be settled in the end."
Those are empty threats - at least as long as the Olmert-Barak-Livni-Yishai government is in power.
The goal of the Olmert-Barak-Livni-Yishai government is to bring about the negotiated establishment of a 'Palestinian' statereichlet. That goal would be harmed be killing Kuntar because he is now a hero to the 'Palestinians.' While previous Israeli governments would have been indifferent to the political fallout from killing a Kuntar - because they realized that deterring terrorism is more important - Olmert is a gawky klutz when it comes to anything military. He doesn't have the you-know-what to have Kuntar killed - just like he didn't have it to finish what he started in Lebanon two summers ago (yes, he actually believed that he was going on a rescue mission to find Goldwasser and Regev and not to start a war - that's why things happened the way they did).
Just like he didn't go after Nasrallah on Wednesday night when everyone knew he would have the opportunity.
If Olmert is replaced by someone with more swagger (not Livni, who is as much of a pacifist as Olmert, but certainly Netanyahu, Barak or Mofaz), that would be a different story.
For those wondering how I could say that given that multiple Israeli governments went after the perpetrators of the Munich Olympic Massacre, please consider that:
1. Olmert is the only Prime Minister in the country's history who was not a high ranking officer in the military.
2. Most of the Munich perpetrators were killed off before the 1982 Peace for Galilee operation (now known as the First Lebanon War), after which Israel started negotiating for hostages rather than thinking of ingenious ways to try to release them.
3. Olmert is the only pacifist ever to lead this country.
The EU on the 'Palestinians:' 'Not In My Back Yard'
The EU seems to have caught the NIMBY (NotInMyBackYard) syndrome when it comes to the 'Palestinians.' Israeli leftist Yossi Beilin is taking a survey in which he asks countries, "let's just say that tomorrow morning there's a 'settlement' between Israel and the 'Palestinians' that does not include a 'right of return' for 'Palestinians' to annihilate Israel demographically. And let's say - let's just say - that there are 'Palestinians' who don't want to live in their current Arab countries, who would like to go to a third country. In those highly theoretical circumstances, how many 'Palestinians' would you take?
Beilin said that Europeans have never given a "clear picture" of how many refugees - if any - they would be willing to absorb as part of a future peace accord, and that no "affirmative answer" has been received on the issue until now.
EU spokeswoman Christina Gallach said Thursday that it was premature to respond to such a proposal at this time.
"This is not something that has entered into the pipelines of practical considerations, and I am not aware of specific discussion of this issue," she said in a telephone interview from Brussels.
"The EU will be ready to continue to contribute in a clear manner to the final status of peace agreement as negotiations continue," she said.
She obfuscates just like Billy Jeff Clinton, doesn't she?
When she's not writing novels for the masses, Naomi Ragen, who lives on the next mountain over from mine, writes political commentary. On Wednesday, she published this article summing up quite well what it felt like to be an Israeli and to watch mass murderer Samir al-Kuntar released in exchange for two black boxes containing the mutilated remains of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev (Hat Tip: Mrs. Carl).
Oh, you will hear the boosters of the Israeli government sigh.
What can we do? We are civilized and they are not. We care about our soldiers and their families.
No, I'm afraid you do not. If you cared, then you would have a death penalty for people like Kuntar, so that they too can be released in caskets. And if you cared, you would be intelligent enough, seeing our soldiers brought back to us dead, to have put a bullet through Kuntar and then turned him over to his friends.
Civilized is a euphemism for weak and helpless. Civilized is not a moral value, because we all know what Western civilization is capable of. Concentration camps. Civilian round-ups, the gassing of children. All this under the banner of laws and policemen and governments. On the other hand, the moral thing to do to a tried and convicted murderer like Kuntar is to spill his blood, because he has spilled the blood of others. That may not fit in with current civilized niceties, but let no one say it is immoral.
When it comes to immoral, to release Kuntar to a hero's welcome and the opportunity to murder others is on the top of the scale.
My government, the Israeli government, arranged this. They let it happen. They oversaw it and implemented it.
I am deeply ashamed to be an Israeli today. And I'm not very proud of being a Jew either, if this is how a Jewish country behaves. To lead the world in ever more despicable acts of appeasement is nothing to be proud of. The torch we always carried, the "light unto the nations" has been blown out by the hot-air of our politicians.
If we cared about our soldiers, we would not be showing our enemies that kidnapping and terrorism pay. We would not be setting the stage for the next murderous terrorist raid and hostage standoff. We would be passing laws with a mandatory death penalty for convicted terrorists with blood on their hands, as well as their accomplices. We would be making these laws retroactive. Then, we would be cutting off all water and electricity to Gaza until Gilad Shalit is released. If that didn't work, we'd begin executions within one week, increasing the number convicted terrorists facing firing squads with each passing day until Gilad is returned to us safe and sound. And if that didn't work, we would begin daily bombings of Gaza, with the same number and frequency of attacks that our own city Sderot has suffered over the past three years from the Gazans. Not civilized? Perhaps. But moral. Extremely moral.
Hezbullah mutilated Goldwasser's and Regev's bodies
I suppose this should not come as a great surprise.
Former IDF Medical Corps and Chief Military Rabbinate officials have noted the tragic expertise Israel has gathered in years of conflict, but remained shocked by what they saw yesterday at the Rosh HaNikra border crossing.
Rabbi Yisrael Weiss, former Chief Rabbi of the IDF, who was present during the transfer of the fallen soldiers yesterday, said that "the verification process yesterday was very slow, because, if we thought the enemy was cruel to the living and the dead, we were surprised, when we opened the caskets, to discover just how cruel. And I'll leave it at that."
Former IDF Chief Medical Officer Brig. Gen. (reserve) Dr. Hezi Levi noted this morning that only extensive procedures could verify the exact series of events following the soldier's capture, including whether or not a gunshot wound Regev received to the head was caused by terrorists' "confirming the kill" of the fallen IDF soldier.
I'm surprised they didn't hold a car swarm around the humvee and play catch with body parts, despicable slime that they are.
Bush capitulates: US to establish 'interests section' in Tehran
London's al-Guardian reports on Thursday that President Bush has capitulated to the Iraq Study Group - and to pacifists Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates - and will announce the opening of a US 'interests section' in Tehran over the next month.
The Guardian has learned that an announcement will be made in the next month to establish a US interests section - a halfway house to setting up a full embassy. The move will see US diplomats stationed in the country.
The news of the shift by Bush who has pursued a hawkish approach to Iran throughout his tenure comes at a critical time in US-Iranian relations. After weeks that have seen tensions rise with Israel conducting war games and Tehran carrying out long-range missile tests, a thaw appears to be under way.
The White House announced yesterday that William Burns, a senior state department official, is to be sent to Switzerland on Saturday to hear Tehran's response to a European offer aimed at resolving the nuclear standoff.
...
The state department has been pressing the White House for the last two years to re-establish diplomatic relations with Tehran by setting up an interest section.
The state department is keen that the move should not be interpreted as a sign of weakness.
Burns is to sit at the table with Iranian officials despite Bush repeatedly ruling out direct talks on the nuclear issue until Iran suspends its uranium enrichment programme, which is a possible first step on the way to a nuclear weapon capability.
A frequent complaint of the Iranians is that they want to deal directly with the Americans instead of its surrogates, Britain, France and Germany.
Al-Guardian sees this as Bush trying to help out McCain by undercutting Obama.
Sending Burns, who left Washington last night, to Geneva and the establishment of an interests section undercuts one of the main planks of foreign policy advocated by the Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, who argues for direct negotiations with Iran.
The White House has been working in tandem over the last month with Obama's Republican rival, John McCain.
The 'interests section' would have to be approved by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but he has already said he would agree and Iran has a similar setup in Washington.
This story was actually broken by the Washington Post more than three weeks ago.
So why am I calling it 'capitulation?' Because the odds of the US approving a strike against Iran's nuclear weapons capability with its own diplomats sitting in Tehran are probably somewhere between slim and none. When the WaPo story broke three weeks ago, DEBKA noted that opening an 'interests section' would allow the Bush administration to "wash its hands" of any Israeli plan to hit Iran's nuclear facilities. Regarding sending Burns to Switzerland, DEBKA reported on Wednesday night:
Our US sources confirm that this step distances the Bush administration still further from Israel’s policy position, which calls for the curtailment of Iran’s drive for a nuclear bomb by all means, including military action. It leaves Jerusalem alone in the arena against Iran on the nuclear and other security issues, such as Hizballah, Syria and the radicalized Lebanese government.
...
This new White House orientation has thrust Israel to the outer edge of its Middle East policy in favor of placing its most extreme enemies at the center. Prime minister Olmert, foreign minister Tzipi Livni and defense minister Ehud Barak find their foreign policies bankrupted.
The indirect peace talks Olmert initiated with Syria through Turkey are now revealed as a smoke screen which he laid down unwittingly to cover Washington’s pursuit of a secret rapprochement with Tehran and Damascus.
If DEBKA's analysis is correct, this is not good at all.
At Israel at Level Ground, Dave Bender, who covered the Second Lebanon War extensively from the front, has a retrospective that includes many screen captures from Israel Television's coverage of Wednesday's events.
There must be a proper closure for the families, resolution of the awful consequences of the war, as far as Hizbullah... and vengeance against them and their supporters; yes, accurate, timely and incisive vengeance for Israel against its enemies, in this debacle. There will be, I pray.
Here in Israel we've been crying all day long, but Thursday's Arab media have been mocking Hezbullah's claims of victory.
"The Radwan deal," the headline of Ashark Alawsat on Thursday cynically ran, "cost Hizbullah over $7 billion, more than 1,200 dead and 4,500 wounded Lebanese citizens."
The paper referred to the exchange by the name given to it by the guerilla group. Radwan was the nom de guerre of Imad Mughniyeh, Hizbullah's terror mastermind who was killed several months ago. While Hizbullah blamed Israel for the assassination, Israel maintains it was not involved.
The Saudi paper Al Wattan pointed out that Hizbullah has yet to disarm and that UN Resolution 1701, which ended the war, has not been implemented.
In Lebanon, Al Anwar carried an editorial piece which said it was "shameful to see members of the government in Beirut join the celebrations of Hizbullah."
Obviously, all of the above are correct. But Hezbullah doesn't care what happened to Lebanon, and it has no interest in disarming or implementing any other parts of 1701 (I wonder what parts al-Wattan had in mind). And therefore, the fact that government representatives took part in Hezbullah's celebrations is a victory for Hezbullah - and a loss for Lebanon.
It would have been nice if Ashark (which is a pan-Arabic daily published in London) would have pointed out that the 'Palestinians' have also paid a heavy price to put themselves in the position to extort the release of their murderers by Israel, but that would be asking too much.
Kuntar gives Nazi salute; Al-AP says he 'gestures'
Here's a picture of Lebanese mass murderer Samir al-Kuntar at Wednesday's 'victory rally' in Beirut. And here's Al-AP's caption:
Samir Kuntar gestures as he symbolically breaks through makeshift prison bars during celebrations for his release in Beirut.
You make the call.
UPDATE 6:43 PM
Here's another picture of Samir al-Kuntar from Wednesday's 'celebration' (Hat Tip: Boker Tov Boulder):
And here's Al-AP's caption:
Released prisoner Samir Kantar salutes people as he arrives to pay his respects at the grave of slain top Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, July 17, 2008. Five Lebanese prisoners who were set free as part of a prisoners swap between Lebanon and Israel prayed Thursday at the grave of Mughniyeh, pledging to follow his footsteps.(AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Wednesday's New York Times included an appalling, sickening article in which the 'gray lady' attempted to turn Lebanese mass murderer Samir al-Kuntar - who bashed in the head of 4-year old Einat Haran HY"D with a rifle butt - into a victim of a 'difficult childhood' (Hat Tip: Memeorandum). In the process, the Times also pretends that Kuntar landed on the beach in Nahariya in the middle of the night 29 years ago intending to have a barbacue or a cup of tea with its residents rather than inteding to murder as many Jews as possible.
That raid went horribly wrong, leaving five people dead, a community terrorized and a nation traumatized. Two Israeli children and their father were among those killed.
Note that the Times says "five people dead." But Kuntar was only responsible for four murders: Policeman Eliyahu Shahar and Danny Haran, who were both shot by Kuntar, 4-year old Einat Haran, whose head Kuntar bashed in with a rifle butt, and 2-year old Yael Haran who suffocated while hiding from Kuntar in a crawl space. The fifth person who died that night? One of the terrorists. In the despicable leftist universe of the New York Slimes, the terrorists and their victims are all the same.
As far as what Kuntar planned to do that night in 1979 that went 'horribly wrong,' here's his own trial testimony from 1980.
“I reached Nahariya beach at 2:30 in the morning,” he testified on January 6, 1980. “We tied our boat to a rock. We had instructions to avoid opening fire, to take hostages and bring them to Lebanon. I was commander of the cell. I planned to knock on the door at one of the houses. Majeed and I walked towards the building. I told him to ring the bell but not to speak, because I planned to speak English with the people living there. When we went in, Majeed buzzed one of the apartments, and Majeed spoke to the woman in Arabic and she answered him in Hebrew. He made a mistake and she didn’t open the door.
“I then heard the sound of a car driving up and stopping… I opened fire, then we went up to one of the apartments, where we pulled out a man and a girl so we could take them with us. I decided we should take the girl with us to ensure we’d stay alive, and then return her from Lebanon to Israel via the Red Cross.
The deaths of the hostages were something that lawyers would describe as foreseeable, and something for which a court in just about any country in the world would hold Kuntar criminally liable even if he had not murdered them himself. But in fact, he did murder them himself.
In court, prosecution witness no. 4 testified that he saw Danny Haran stand up and shout, “Cease your fire, don’t shoot. My little girl is here.” Immediately thereafter he saw Danny shot by Kuntar. Testimony was also given in court by a doctor who ruled that Einat’s death had been caused by a direct blow with a blunt instrument, something like a stick or a rifle butt.
...
“Kuntar went over to Einat Haran and hit her head twice with the butt of his rifle, with the intent of killing her,” wrote the judges in their verdict. “The other defendant also struck her head forcefully. As a result of the blows, Einat suffered skull fractures and fatal brain damage, causing her death. They murdered the hostages - a helpless father and daughter, in cold blood.” They wrote in the sentence, “By these acts the defendants reached an all-time moral low… an unparalleled satanic act… the punishments we are about to impose on the defendants cannot begin to match the brutality of their actions…”
But what's more appalling about the Times' piece is that despite the crime's brutality, the Times makes an effort to paint Kuntar as the victim of a 'difficult childhood:'
Mr. Kuntar was born to a Druse couple on July 20, 1962. His parents soon divorced, and his mother died when he was a boy. His father left to work in Saudi Arabia, leaving Mr. Kuntar in the care of his second wife, Siham, in Abey, a mountain village 18 miles southeast of Beirut.
Neighbors remember him as a quiet child. But as the eldest son without a father at home, he was difficult to control, they said. He stopped attending school when he was 14, a former teacher said.
Lebanon’s civil war was just erupting at the time he left school, and many boys from troubled families were drawn into the conflict.
“He never told me when he was going or where,” Mr. Kuntar’s stepmother said in a 2006 interview. “He disappeared for days.” She said that she soon discovered that he was training in the camps of militant groups.
“I used to tell him to study, don’t get involved with this, but I was not too strong,” Mrs. Kuntar said. “His father wasn’t here.”
Mr. Kuntar fell in with Marxists, the family says, but his political convictions were never very strong.
“He switched a lot from one group to another,” said Bassem, his younger brother, reached Monday by telephone in Beirut. “He wanted to be a part of a military operation against Israel. For him this was the goal.”
The family said that in 1975 Samir Kuntar fought briefly in Beirut where he met Muhammad Zaydan, better known as Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestine Liberation Front in the city at the time. Mr. Kuntar joined the group the next year. (Mr. Zaydan’s most notorious exploit was the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro in a bid to gain hostages to exchange for Mr. Kuntar.) In 1978, Mr. Kuntar went to the Israeli-Lebanese border after Israel invaded southern Lebanon in March of that year. His stepmother and brother said Mr. Kuntar returned deeply affected by the deaths he had witnessed.
In early 1979, Mr. Kuntar disappeared again. His family did not learn of his whereabouts until the Israelis announced his capture in Nahariya after a shootout that left two of his colleagues and a policeman dead.
And you thought after 19 wealthy Saudis murdered 3000 Americans on 9/11 the US media would drop the 'poor terrorists' meme? Not the Times....
On Wednesday, Israel returned mass murderer Samir al-Kuntar, four Hezbullah terrorists captured in the 2006 war with Lebanon and some 200 bodies of Arab terrorists, some of whom had high profiles. In return, it received two black boxes with the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev HY"D, both of whom (contrary to what at least one blogger posted) were apparently killed in the attack on their humvee two years ago. Israel also received another black box with body parts from the Second Lebanon War, and information of missing IDF navigator Ron Arad that showed nothing new.
In Lebanon, this 'exchange' touched off an orgy of celebration. Let's go to this CNN videotape, and then I will have a lot more.
Writing at Pajamas Media, Lisa Goldman, who has visited Lebanon and has many Lebanese friends, says that not everyone in Lebanon was happy about yesterday's events.
In fact, there is ample evidence to show that not all Lebanese are cheering the return of Samir Kuntar.
The prisoner swap is not the whole deal, just the final clause. Conveniently forgotten are the reams of gory appendices in a much larger and bloodier contract written out almost exactly two years ago, with all of Lebanon as collateral. Indeed, the full audit is still ongoing.
How much is the Resistance’s pledge worth? Add to the two Israeli bodies the bodies of 1,200 Lebanese civilians, nearly 400 of them children under the age of 13, sacrificed by Hezbollah to secure Kantar’s return. Add to that the 4,400 wounded civilians, of whom almost 700 are permanently disabled. Add to that those killed and wounded, most of them children, by the cluster bombs still littering large swaths of South Lebanon. Add to that the billions of dollars in destroyed homes, infrastructure and livelihoods.
In the final tally, Kantar - whose alleged taste for violence far exceeds the remit of the typical heroic freedom fighter - is a very expensive man. For make no mistake, his release is the sole profit weighed against the thousands of Lebanese dead and wounded. The four other Lebanese prisoners to be released were themselves captured on his account during the July War, and the number and names of the Palestinians to be freed are entirely at Israel’s discretion.
So Kantar will be freed, and Hezbollah’s word is once again proven to be Lebanon’s bond. We hope and pray that any Lebanese prisoners still held in Israeli jails come at a cheaper price in the future. If each is as expensive as Mr. Kantar has been, they may find themselves heroically repatriated to a desolate wasteland.
And rather than comment directly, Lebanese blogger Jeha posts a poem that “welcomes” a “child killer.”
While Lebanon celebrates becoming “the first Arab country in the Israeli-Arab struggle to close its detainee file,” as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah put it in a July 3 speech, many Lebanese still languish in Syrian prisons.
The exact number of prisoners and detainees is not known, and Syrian authorities have a history of keeping silent on the issue. During the civil war, approximately 17,000 people disappeared. Following the war, the arrest and disappearance of those expressing opposition to Syria’s continued presence was common.
Unfortunately, countries don't do business with bloggers - they do business with other countries. Noah Pollak (who has also been to Lebanon) points out at Contentions that for the Lebanese state, support for Kuntar was across the board. Even Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who has been rumored to have met with Israelis, came out to greet mass murderer Kuntar yesterday.
Today, Lebanon’s March 14th movement cast itself into an abyss of moral depravity that the bloc’s supporters — myself included — never thought possible. The exchange this morning of bodies for terrorists between Israel and Hezbollah presented March 14’s leaders with what should have been an easy choice: applaud the return to Lebanon of a grotesque child-murderer; say nothing; or denounce him and Hezbollah’s freelance deal-making, which made his return possible.
Two of March 14th’s leaders — Fouad Siniora, the Sunni prime minister of Lebanon, and Walid Jumblatt, the leader of Lebanon’s Druze, both of whom are embraced as American allies — have answered that question not just by acquiescing to the return of Samir Kuntar, whose sadistic butchery of an Israeli family in 1979 is infamous, but by celebrating his arrival as a great victory for all of Lebanon.
Beirut Spring tries to explain Jumblatt's support for Kuntar as being a reflection of Lebanese politics:
So why is Mr. Jumblat, the darling of Washington –and the only major Lebanese politician who publicly denounced Hezbollah’s “militia” as terrorists– risking his and Lebanon’s international reputations by so effusively embracing Mr. Kuntar and by instructing his loyalists to celebrate his release?
The answer lies in the Druze community which he leads and to which Mr. Kuntar belongs. (To all those of you who though he was a Shiaa, correct your notes)
Mr. Jumblat realized back when Hezbollah invaded Beirut and attempted to invade the mountains, that the small Druze community could be facing an existential threat from the Shiaas, who in taking their cue from Mr. Nassrallah’s very public and harsh denouncement of Mr. Jumblat, have come to look to the Druze as a Judeo-American fifth column. In Samir Kuntar, Mr. Jumblat saw a powerful symbol to remind everyone of the “Druze’s history in Arab resistance”, as he told the BBC’s Bennett Jones.
By this posturing, Mr. Jumblat can strike two birds in one stone: He can undermines the perception of Shiaa monopoly on resistance and reduce the heat on his community, and he can open the door for a potential electoral alliance with Hezbollah in the upcoming elections (a far fetched wish, but can’t stop a politician from dreaming).
Sorry, but no. If Lebanon wants the support of the 'international community,' it should have nothing to do with the 'resistance,' a euphamism for the struggle against Israel's existence. If Jumblatt is pandering to the 'resistance,' he doesn't deserve American support.
Pollak believes that Siniora's and Jumblatt's depraved behavior ought not to go unnoticed in the United States. He argues that the US ought to re-evaluate its commitment to the 'March 14 coalition.'
All of this is not just disgraceful, but should trigger nothing less than a crisis in U.S.-Lebanon relations. If being a safe haven for child-murderers is something the Lebanese prime minister considers a “national goal,” the United States should reevaluate its support for Lebanon’s government, which both rhetorically and symbolically has made itself an ally of Hezbollah in defining Lebanon as a state which exults in terrorism against Israel. Such a crisis in relations will not happen, of course, and it is perversely ironic that on the same day the Lebanese government was popping corks with Hezbollah, the Bush administration announced an increase of over $32 million in aid to the Lebanese army.
If anyone reading this happens to be a reporter who attends State Department briefings, I'd be real curious to hear what Condi's spokesperson has to say about Siniora and Jumblatt joining in the celebrations. It ought to make the US reconsider its support for March 14 - at least until it has a real change in attitude.
Lost in the shuffle: 'Peace partner' sentences two more 'collaborators' to death
This kind of got lost in the shuffle of the 'terrorists for corpses' exchange earlier in the week. Our 'peace partners,' the 'good terrorists' of Fatah, have sentenced two more 'collaborators' to death for cooperating with Israel - the only 'crime' that's taken seriously in the 'Palestinian Authority.'
This is the second time in less than three months that a PA court imposed the death penalty on Palestinians accused of collaboration.
In April a PA security court in Hebron sentenced Imad Saad, an officer in the PA's National Security Force, to death by firing squad after finding him guilty of providing Israel with information that led to the killing of four Palestinians involved in terrorism.
The two men sentenced Tuesday were identified as Wael Saed, 27, and Muhammad Saed, 22, both from Yatta near Hebron. The latter was sentenced in absentia after the court was told that he had fled to Israel.
The three-judge court ruled that the two men would be executed by a firing squad for passing on information to Israeli security forces. But the judges did not say whether Palestinians had been killed as a result of the defendants' actions.
...
The verdict cannot be appealed. However, it does require the approval of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who, under pressure from human rights organizations, has never authorized any of the death penalties. Nonethless, some have been carried out.
At least 65 Palestinians have been sentenced to death by various PA courts since 1995. Most of the defendants were accused of collaborating with Israel. However, only 13 have been executed by hanging or firing squad. Many others were killed while they were in detention, the hospital, on their way to court, or even while they were inside courtrooms.
How civilized. There's a picture of a previous execution at the top of this post. The lady in the bag is the 'collaborator's mother.
For those of you who have been too lazy to follow the innumerable links I have posted to the story of how Samir al-Kuntar destroyed the Haran family, now I have it on video (Hat Tip: NY Nana). Let's go to the videotape.
Al-Jazzeera sympathizes with mother of mass murderer
This is truly a sick video.
Al Jazeera's Rula Amin - who is at Beirut International Airport - met the family of Dalal al-Mughrabi, the Palestinian Fatah terrorist who led the Coastal Road Massacre in 1978. Met isn't the word: She tries to get you to sympathize with the family of the 'symbol of the 'Palestinian struggle.''
Her remains were received on Wednesday by Hezbullah, along with almost 200 other terrorists in the 'terrorists for corpses' exchange with Israel.
As you watch this video, notice also the 'guest list' for the 'official celebration' of Samir al-Kuntar's release at Beirut Airport: The commander of UNIFIL. The German ambassador to Lebanon. The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon. The Arab countries' ambassadors to Lebanon. All of Lebanon's cabinet members, including President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Fouad Saniora.
All under the auspices of the Lebanese government.
Too bad Israel's government doesn't have the courage to disrupt the 'celebration.'
I haven't been posting much video today, because frankly I find it too painful to watch. Hezbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah has toyed with Israel and with the feelings of his victims' families, taking sadistic pleasure in causing them pain. Instead of expressing remorse or respect for the dead soldiers and their families, Hezbullah's 'celebration' is decorated with posters celebrating the pain and suffering the organization has caused to the Israeli people.
The 'celebrations' haven't started yet, because Israel stalled the process of identifying Goldwasser's and Regev's bodies so that Kuntar and the four prisoners from the 2006 War would arrive in Lebanon late in the day. Here's a videotape of the preparations. It's enough to absolve any Israeli of any guilt he or she might feel about what happened to Lebanese 'civilians' two summers ago.
What was precedent-setting about Wednesday's 'terrorists for corpses' exchange was not so much that Israel released live terrorists for dead bodies. Israel has done that before, although this is the first time that no live bodies were included in an 'exchange.' The key to this 'exchange' was the release of Samir al-Kuntar, and it's why Hezbullah agreed to make the 'exchange' with 'only' five live terrorists rather than the hundreds that are - unfortunately - normally included in these kinds of deals. Kuntar's release decimated Israel's claim that it will not release terrorists with 'blood on their hands.' With all the talk over the last several months of the Olmert-Barak-Livni-Yishai government trying to change the definition to allow an exchange to be made for Gilad Shalit (pictured), changing the definition is likely no longer relevant. There are very few 'Palestinians' in Israel's jails who committed crimes as heinous as Kuntar's. With Kuntar's release, it's no longer a question of the definition of 'blood on their hands.' The entire term may no longer be relevant. That change was not lost on Fatah or Hamas.
"Israel must pay the price, and learn to pay the price for an exchange," said [Hamas leader Ismail] Haniyeh, referring to kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit. "There is a captive Israeli soldier. Thousands of our sons are in prison. We want to end this as quickly, even faster than, the Israelis, but let them meet our demands," Haniyeh said.
In Israel, not surprisingly, there has been a backlash against the exchange.
MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud) condemned the release of Kuntar and the other terrorists, calling it a "tragic".
"This is a tragic end for the families [of the soldiers], and it is also a very bad end for Israel's fight against terrorism," said Steinitz in a Tuesday morning Channel 2 interview. "The celebrations of the terrorist organizations in Lebanon - and they have reason for celebration - conclude two years of a failed Israeli battle against terrorism."
Steinitz underscored the growing strength of Hizbullah as a factor in the terror group's ability to manipulate Israeli policymaking. "Hizbullah has come out of these two years stronger military and stronger politically. With our help, Hizbullah has mislead us for two years regarding the condition of the abducted soldiers, as to whether they are dead or alive.
"We have become the only country in the West and perhaps in the entire world, which is ready to release terrorist murderers in exchange for bodies and body parts," he remarked. "This is a dangerous precedent… and I must say that the entire country has derailed."
Steinitz also indicted the Israeli press for contributing to national derailment: "The media has a part in this," he charged.
"Even in difficult situations, there remain principles. And our leadership…must lead, and not be led by the public or by the media, and not even by the families [of the POW's]. And when you lead, there are long term factors of national security to be taken into consideration.
"A prize was awarded today to terrorism. It reflects a general policy of surrender to Hizbullah and to Hamas in Gaza. We have given Hamas a de facto authorization to continue to rearm and build itself into a Hizbullah II in Gaza," Steinitz concluded.
Former Defense Minister Moshe Arens echoed the anti-swap deal sentiment, deeming the decision to release the terrorists a "complete lack of judgement" and calling the Olmert cabinet's deal a "mistake that is forbidden to make," as it encourages the enemy to kidnap more soldiers.
There has been public as well as official outcry in Israel at the prisoner swap.
Shifra Hoffman, founder of Victims of Arab Terror International (VAT) organization, said her group “strongly condemns the government of Israel for agreeing to release Samir Kuntar, the bestial child killer and other Arab terrorists with ‘blood on their hands.’ This obscene exchange with Hizbullah, has, in effect, murdered the Jewish victims twice, and has opened the door for future terrorist attacks by Arab killers, who see that they have nothing to fear in perpetrating these horrendous acts on innocent Israeli men, woman and children.”
Hoffman added in a Tuesday interview with INN that Hoffman added in an interview with INN that in its decision to release the Hizbullah murderers, the Israeli government is acting against the express opposition of military and security experts.
Please note the paragraph I highlighted above. As much as I have been critical of the Goldwasser and Regev families over the past few days, I cannot really blame them for their actions. Any of us who were - God forbid - in the same position, would have done the same to try to get our loved ones released. But the government is to blame, because the government is supposed to have the public interest at heart and is not supposed to place the interests of individual families ahead of the public interest. The result of today's 'exchange' means that the price for Gilad Shalit is going to be higher - much higher - and you can bet that this government is going to pay it. And you can rest assured that Shalit, Goldwasser and Regev will not be the last soldiers kidnapped.
Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for the Gaza-based umbrella terror group Popular Resistance Committees [Shalit's kidnappers. CiJ], told Ynet Wednesday that the completion of the deal "even after the images of the Israeli soldiers' coffins, proves that kidnapping soldiers will continue to be the most efficient, favored and ideal way to release Palestinian prisoners, particularly those defined by the enemy as having blood on their hands."
Yet another bitter legacy of the Olmert-Barak-Livni-Yishai government that is likely to be with us for some time to come.
If it's any small consolation fellow Israelis, Bret Stephens noted in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal that negotiating over hostages is a global phenomenon:
This is more than just a problem for Israel. With its July 1976 raid on Entebbe, Israel demonstrated there was an alternative to negotiating with terrorists. That didn't mean that every hostage rescue attempt would end happily. But it did offer the possibility that, eventually, hostage takers would realize they're in a bad business.
Instead, business has boomed. In Iraq in 2005, Germany paid $5 million for the freedom of a kidnapped aid worker. The results were predictable. As Britain's Guardian reported last year: "Because it is known that the German government – like those of Italy and France – is willing to pay ransoms, the 'value' of German kidnap victims has risen in the Middle East." The three German tourists recently kidnapped by the Kurdish PKK are only the latest "beneficiaries" of past German largess.
Maybe it's par for the course that European governments should act this way: The notion of moral hazard is nearly as alien to them as that of national honor. It's a different matter when Israel behaves the same way, not only because it is the prime target of attack, but because, in the face of terrorism, Israel still defines the standard of democratic courage by which the rest of the free world must, sooner or later, measure itself.
If Israel is no longer prepared to hold the line, will America be far behind?
Israel Radio reports on its mid-day Wednesday newscast that Israel's purported 'peace' partner - 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen - has issued a statement in which he praises the 'exchange' between Israel and Hezbullah. Abu Mazen also has sent his congratulations to the family of the murderer Samir al-Kuntar.
On Wednesday afternoon, Abu Mazen's 'good terrorists' from Fatah have scheduled a parade to celebrate the release of the body of 'Palestinian' terrorist Dalal al-Mughrabi, who was responsible for the Coastal Road Massacre in 1978.
I'm taking a break from blogging for an hour or two because I am having trouble suppressing my gag reflex.
/I wonder if Condi Rice is going to congratulate Kuntar too.
As most of you will undoubtedly have heard by the time you read this post, Israel received two black coffins on Wednesday morning that likely (and at this writing it's not yet confirmed) contain the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev HY"D (may God avenge their blood). Israel Radio has just reported that there are celebrations and candy distribution in the Gaza Strip - which pales by comparison to what will happen in Beirut later Wednesday. Hamas released a statement Wednesday morning that said that Hezbullah has proven that Israel will release 'prisoners' with blood on their hands, and that Hezbullah and Hamas have succeeded in bringing Israel to its knees.
Many of you have asked how Israel could be going ahead with this 'trade.'
Haaretz pundit Shmuel Rosner, who is definitely on the left of the political map, thinks he knows why this happened. He argues that the 'trade' is the result of Israel's 'national psyche.'
For better or for worse, this is mostly a product of the Israeli psyche. Its force was too strong for Olmert, the struggling, soon-to-be-ousted, leader to resist—but it was also stronger than popular, commanding Ariel Sharon. Sharon once agreed to an outrageous deal in which an Israeli colonel, who also happened to be a drug dealer, returned home in exchange for the release of 450 Lebanese prisoners. [A deal I have criticized on this blog in the past. But even then, no one knew that Tenenbaum was a drug dealer until he actually was released. We were told that he was a high-ranking army officer who was being 'tortured' into revealing IDF secrets. When he was released, most of us expected him to be in a wheelchair because the stories going around the country said Hezbullah had broken his kneecaps after an escape attempt and that he could no longer walk. And none of those Lebanese prisoners was a terrorist with blood on his hands. Kuntar was supposed to be released in the second phase of that deal, but Hezbullah never supplied the goods on Ron Arad. They didn't supply them this time either, except Olmert and his 'government' are so pathetically weak that they overlooked it. CiJ]
The leaders can hardly claim that the public will not support them. The heartbreaking fate of the families tends to overwhelm more hard-to-define long-term strategic considerations.
It is no wonder that the head of Mossad, Meir Dagan, was the most visible opponent of the newest deal, while the military's chief of staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, supported it. Ashkenazi is charged with sending warriors into battle; it is his responsibility to assure every Israeli family that its sons and daughters are in good hands and that they will not be abandoned under any circumstances.
So, it is easy to distinguish between the "calculated" and the "emotional" approaches to hostage deals. The Dagans, who see mostly the downside of these deals—that they provide an incentive for more kidnappings and potentially send released prisoners back into the fray—and the Ashkenazis, who think about the families' suffering and the moral responsibility of their command.
But these are false distinctions. Israel is a society in which everyone knows everyone, in which every soldier's fate matters to every citizen. It is a society that demands that every young man and woman perform military service, a society in which a state of war is a 60-year habit, in which national solidarity is always an existential question. For such a society, looking into the eyes of the father or wife of a kidnapped soldier and telling them that the price is just too high is something no leader is able to do. So, in the case of Israel—a country with a never-ending need for public trust in the military—the "emotional" can be the most "calculated" approach of them all.
If this 'trade' is the result of the 'national psyche,' Israel is in deep trouble. This 'national psyche' is the same 'national psyche' that blurted out the following to the Israel Policy Forum on June 9, 2005 to justify turning the IDF against Gaza's Jews:
"We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies, we want that we will be able to live in an entirely different environment of relations with our enemies."
The speaker, of course, was the current Prime Minister, Ehud K. Olmert. Is Israel's 'national psyche' that bad? Is it that defeatist? I'd like to believe that it is not. But much of the country at least thinks along the same lines as Olmert, even if they're not as downright passive as he is. And while I firmly believe that had the IDF Chief Rabbi been given the time to investigate and conclude that Goldwasser and Regev were dead before the cabinet vote (he was stopped in the middle by the cabinet vote), the 'exchange' would never have passed, I must also acknowledge that Israel's 'national psyche' is currently so demoralized that much of the country will likely countenance this deal despite the fact that we are trading a brutal murderer for two dead bodies. The proof? I can point to three data points:
1. The despicable, conniving Olmert remains in office despite his total failure in Lebanon two summers ago, and the only prospect of removing him from office is because of his own corruption and not because he is a bad leader or because he failed in Lebanon.
2. The 'opposition' leader, Binyamin Netanyahu, doesn't seem very interested in deposing Olmert. Last week, I met with someone who worked as a political consultant on Netanyahu's 1996 campaign against Shimon Peres. He said that in 1996, Netanyahu wanted to be Prime Minister. Today he doesn't. Netanyahu is in the 'peaceniks' pocket - just like Olmert. I wrote the following nearly a year ago.
But does Netanyahu understand that Fatah is the enemy? Does Netanyahu want to stop Olmert from reaching that agreement? Or would he prefer that Olmert reach the agreement and then that he, Netanyahu come to power 'facing' a fait accomplis? From his actions this week, Netanyahu seems to think that it's not Fatah - but Feiglin - who is the enemy, and that he'd just as soon let Olmert reach an agreement with Abu Mazen.
In this week's Likud primary, Moshe Feiglin garnered just over 23% of the vote. Instead of being gracious and trying to co-opt Feiglin into a strong nationalist coalition,
Released mass murderer Samir al-Kuntar told Hezbullah's al-Manar television station on Thursday that he 'envies Israel.' 
