Just a short time ago Israel received the bodies of two kidnapped IDF reservists in exchange for releasing five Lebanese terrorists.
I can’t do anyhting but shake my head. This is not a fair trade. Israel gets two bodies while Lebanon gets five terrorists that will be lauded as heroes in their homeland.
Sometimes it seems Israel is her own worst enemy.
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Wait, were these Israeli soldiers killed in captivity? I’m confused by the use of the word kidnapped, as to me that implies they were initially taken alive.
Also, wasn’t it the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier that began the hostilities in Lebanon approx two years ago? Same guy(s) or no?
As for the fairness of the trade, I get what you mean Kevin, but my guess is that this is in some form the Israeli version of ‘no man left behind’ in that they treat their soldiers with honor rather than as simple cannon fodder.
Paul,
These were the same two soldiers that set off that conflict. They were killed in captivity.
And I honor "no man left behind" but this is different. Israel is handing a moral victory to its enemies.
Part of the trade consisted of Israel returning many of Lebanon’s dead. That should have been the deal alone. Exchange dead for the dead.
But Lebanon gets its dead, and five terrorists held captive, and all Israel gets is two bodies? Lebanon gets to celebrate the return of five "heroes" and all Israel gets is to mourn her dead?
This isn’t right.
Agree Kevin, I was just speculating on the ‘why’.
Are there any details on their cause of death, I googled and info was pretty thin. Just wondering if they were executed or tortured to death in captivity or something disgusting like that.
I guess though, when there is a murderous Canadian kid crying in Gitmo the international left has more important things to concern itself with.
It is not clear to me from reading this particular story that the Lebanese soldiers were terrorists. The unfortunate reality of an organization as large as Hezbollah is that while it is a terrorist organization, everyone in it is not, and there are many fools who are members of it.
The Israeli government apparently considers them POWs, not criminals. Knowing how they operate, if they thought these guys were terrorists and not just combatants they probably would not have released them just in exchange for bodies.
Dean,
The article calls the five terrorists. So, that’s what I went with.
John,
“Just wondering if they were executed or tortured to death in captivity or something disgusting like that.”
I can’t find it but I know I read somewhere that identification of the bodies took so long because they were mutilated.
Oh, I read it but I didn’t see that.
Dean,
Google “sami kutnar”. Or better yet, go to israelmatzav.blogspot.com
Yeah, Kutnar is a monster.
These exchanges are extremely controversial in Israel. Check out this op-ed in the Jerusalem Post. Trading live prisoners for dead ones discourages Israel’s enemies from keeping their POWs alive. It also tends to bite Israel back in the end.
The Israelis should have machine gunned their captives – especially Sami Kutnar – and traded their bodies for the dead Israelis. That would have at least prevented them from striking in the future.
Israel is a different country from the United States with its own customs, interests, and politics. This trade wasn’t a solo act by the unpopular Olmert government—there was substantial domestic political pressure on the government to do this.
The picture of the widow grieving on the front page of the Chi Trib this morning was just heartbreaking.
Hard to see how this won’t encourage more hostage taking, apparently without need to even keep them alive.
Shit, the Hez can just start robbing graves and trading them for live prisoners it seems.
Read this description of Kuntar’s crime. First, however, remove all throwable objects from your immediate area.
A start at a fair trade might be returning the terrorists in the same condition as the Israeli soldiers.
Gaah.
Is a proper burial incredibly important in their culture? I am not sure if it is, but the only reason I could see them making such a trade would be to ensure they get their proper rights. In any case if they were dead I can’t see why else Israel wouldn’t have told them to get bent.
It is interesting to note that the average Israeli tends to be considerably less hawkish than American Jews and other friends of Israel in America. Possibly because they have to live there.
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