SubscribeIsrael Trades More Terrorists For Remains
From the Agence France-Press:
A Hezbollah militant plants his group’s flag on a billboard bearing the images of captured Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser (right) and Eldad Regev on the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab village near the Lebanon-Israel border in 2007.
Israel approves prisoner swap with Hezbollah
by Marius Schattner
JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Israeli cabinet gave its green light on Sunday for a prisoner exchange with Hezbollah, even though two soldiers captured by the Lebanese militia two years ago are known to be dead…
Israel is seeking the return of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser or their remains. The two were captured by Hezbollah guerrillas in a deadly cross-border raid on July 12, 2006 that sparked a devastating 34-day war in Lebanon.
At the start of the session, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called on ministers to approve the proposed prisoner exchange even though the two soldiers were dead…
The heads of the Shin Beth internal security agency and of the Mossad foreign intelligence agency had urged ministers to vote against the deal…
The proposed deal has drawn criticism in Israel because it is believed to include the release of Lebanese prisoner Samir Kantar, who is currently serving a life sentence for killing two men and a four-year-old girl in a 1979 attack in northern Israel.
Kantar, a member of the Palestine Liberation Front, was sentenced in 1980 to 542 years in prison.
Olmert said Hezbollah’s goal from the very beginning had been to secure the release of Kantar…
Under the deal, Israel would release four more Lebanese prisoners, and hand over the bodies of eight Hezbollah fighters buried in Israel, an official said. "A certain number" of Palestinian prisoners would also be freed…
On June 1, Israel freed and deported to Lebanon a convicted Hezbollah spy and the Shiite militant group handed over the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in 2006.
Last October, Israel handed over a Hezbollah prisoner and the remains of two militants in return for the body of an Israeli and information on the fate of airman Ron Arad, missing since 1986…
The largest prisoner swap took place in January 2004 when Israel released 400 Palestinians and 31 other people, including 23 Lebanese, in exchange for an Israeli reservist and the remains of three Israeli soldiers.
Once again the Israelis are giving back live terrorists for dead soldiers.
It is an understandable sentiment, of course.
But it’s also a sure way to guarantee still more dead soldiers and civilians.
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6 Responses to “Israel Trades More Terrorists For Remains”
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June 29th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
While the closure for Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev’s families is good, I agree with you SG. It just doesn’t make sense to trade live terrorists for deceased soldiers. I’m afraid you’re right, it will only lead to more dead IDF soldiers.
Our daughter is currently in Israel with an AIPAC campus allies trip. She called this morning and was very distraught about this news. Very sad for Israel.
June 29th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Probably just making sure they retrieve their dead before turning it into a parking lot.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
WHY did that peckerslurp not get shot off that ladder?
June 30th, 2008 at 4:54 am
I think a swap of terrorist remains for soldier remains would be a better strategy. It would definitely let the Muslims know the World means business!
June 30th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Exactly! Give ‘em Kuntar in a body bag.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I don’t think that there is anything “understandable” about wanting to swap live mass murderers for dead soldiers. It is sheer insanity. it is emotion without any reason. And it does nothing to honor the dead soldier’s whose bodies are being recovered. in fact, what it does is to dishonor those soldiers - For at some level, at some point in time, their sacrifices may be traded away to recover some other dead soldiers, who died battling some other terrorists who will later be released to get their bodies back.
This is senselessness at its worst. And if I may dare speak for the dead - I can’t imagine that the dead soldiers would have wanted someone else’s sacrifice to go for nought, simply to get their corpses back.