Israel not ruling out releasing Kuntar
Unbelievably, Israel is still considering releasing terrorist murderer Samir al-Kuntar in exchange for kidnapped IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. Talk about encouraging the next kidnapping....Kuntar, the longest-serving confirmed Lebanese prisoner in jail in Israel, is serving multiple life terms for the killing of three members of the Haran family and that of policeman Eliyahu Shahar in a raid on Nahariya in 1979.For those who were wondering about my comments that were adverse to last week's demonstration in Tel Aviv for the kidnapped soldiers, maybe now you understand them.
Last month, relatives of Kuntar, who comes from a Druse family outside Beirut, urged the Goldwasser and Regev families to press Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to agree to an exchange, and some relatives of the Israeli pair have called on the government to do "whatever it takes" to bring home the two soldiers.
A senior Israeli source said on Sunday that Israel intended to ensure the implementation "to the letter" of UN Resolution 1701, which includes, in its opening, non-binding paragraphs, unlinked references to "the unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldiers" and to "settling the issue of the Lebanese prisoners detained in Israel."
Asked whether Israel might free Kuntar in an exchange deal, the senior source did not rule this out, but said Israel would have to ascertain exactly "what is being offered." He declined to elaborate, but it is possible that this may have been a reference to the possible inclusion in a deal of information on missing Israeli airman Ron Arad.
Israel has previously shown a readiness to free Kuntar in the context of a deal involving news about Arad. Indeed, it was reported that Kuntar would be released in the second phase of a German-mediated prisoner deal with Hizbullah in 2004, in exchange for information on Arad. That phase of the deal was not implemented.
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Shlomo Goldwasser said recently: "I think that anything is justified to release my son... Those who sent him there have to bring him back and pay any price." He added: "I don't want to go into this business of Samir Kuntar or others. They have to pay a price to bring my son back."
Benny Regev, Eldad's elder brother, said that getting back "two young men that can build their lives here" was "more important than Samir Kuntar, although he is a murderer."
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:12 AM
2 Comments:
If you go here you will find the complete story (which, if you have never seen it, is worse than what you probably imagine). She would prefer - understandably and justifiably - that Kuntar be put to death, and she definitely does not want to see him released.
Dave,
There technically is capital punishment in Israel. But it is only for Nazi war criminals and the only person ever executed was Eichman. If there were capital punishment here, it is far more likely that it would have been imposed on Yigal Amir (Rabin's assassin) than that it would be imposed on Samir al-Kuntar.
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