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Special Report
A Season of Rejoicing
Galid Shalit is finally back among his people.
Like many of the millions of people who kept vigil, I am glad that Gilad Shalit is home after being held hostage by Hamas for nearly six years. As the father of a son who serves in the Israel Defense Forces, I am especially happy for and grateful to Gilad’s parents. They created an international vigil for their son from the day he was abducted. Even when his homecoming seemed as distant to them as Joseph’s did to his father Jacob, they turned hope into action and held politicians to their word. And now, on the eve of Simchat Torah, the holiday celebrating the conclusion of the reading of the Torah, Gilad is reunited with his family and his people.
To be sure, there is near universal debate and doubt about the merit of releasing a thousand Palestinian prisoners, some of whom committed the worst terrorist acts in Israel’s history. My son had reservations too. But (as I quickly pointed out to him!) prisoner exchanges are part of the diplomatic currency in the Middle East and Israel has made them in the past to get soldiers and spies home whether they were alive or dead. Many rightly viewed the deal as keeping faith with Israel’s pledge to never leave a soldier behind. As veteran intelligence reporter Hirsch Goodman wrote: “If Shalit had been abandoned, more than a human life would have been thrown away. Israel’s morality would have gone with it, as would the core of the military code that makes the Israel Defense Forces the fighting force it is.”
Moreover, such deals are part of a broader policy of rescuing or defending Jews through military action when it is possible, though risky, because it would not only endanger Israeli lives but also possibly “trigger” reprisals. It has included the Entebbe Raid, the bombing of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981, the attack on Syria’s nuclear facility in 2007, and the Mossad’s 2008 assassination of Imad Mugniyeh, a top Hezbollah leader and mastermind of the 1994 Argentinean Jewish Center bombing that killed 85 people.
In this regard, while Gilad’s return was not a foregone conclusion, Israel’s “friends” and the international community made both his rescue and homecoming more difficult and unlikely than it should have been. Gilad’s captivity was long and brutal thanks to the willingness of the media and of other nations to treat Hamas as the victims and Israel as an occupying nation guilty of war crimes. The price for his return only went up after the Obama administration pressured Israel to drop demands for Shalit’s release in exchange for the reopening of border crossings in Gaza.
Meanwhile, leftist American Jews like Peter Beinart and J Street’s Jeremy Ben-Ami were both late and largely indifferent to Gilad’s plight.
Gilad’s ordeal was perpetuated by the refusal of Israel’s “friends” to acknowledge that in returning land it won in battle and releasing prisoners who did it harm, Israel has sought to balance the need for security, the sanctity of life, and the desire for peace. Such isolation is the result of Israel being surrounded by those who regard the Iranian-backed terrorists who kidnapped Shalit as victims deserving a state of their own.
It is offset by this consolation: Many Americans and Christians who have stood by the Jewish state gathered yesterday in Jerusalem with Jews and Muslims to celebrate Gilad’s parents and welcome Shalit home. They know that his homecoming is yet another z’man simchatainu — season of rejoicing — in an enduring promise to a people and the world.
About the Author
Robert M. Goldberg is vice president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and founder of Hands Off My H ealth, a grass roots health care empowerment network. His is new book, Tabloid Medicine: How the Internet is Being Used To Hijack Medical Science For Fear and Profit, was published last month by Kaplan.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (70) | Leave a comment
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Jack in Wi.| 10.19.11 @ 6:59AM
This country has suffered millions of casualties over the years. We also had many hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war. The Israeli's can't stand 100 soldiers killed in Lebanon or one soldier as a prisoner of war.
I hope this finally leads to a just peace in the Middle East. I doubt that is on the agenda. The British Defense minister and his boyfriend have just been exposed as Israeli moles working for an attack on Iran. This huge story has been totally ignored by the media in this country, where the same thing is happening all over our goverment.
Stuart Koehl| 10.19.11 @ 7:10AM
Go back to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and try not to believe what you read in British papers.
Jack in Wi.| 10.19.11 @ 12:55PM
The racism and hate that comes out on this site is truely disgusting. No wonder Israel is the most hated country in the world.
Occam's Tool| 10.19.11 @ 12:58PM
Yes, and most of the racism and hate is from you, Jackboot Jack.
Mike D.| 10.19.11 @ 1:15PM
Truly disgusting Jackass? Thats quite a mouthful coming from our resident ZOG-Elders of Zion-Anti-Semite nutcase racist.
Jack in Wi.| 9.10.11 @ 10:04AM
"Whatever good individual Jews have done in the world pails in comparission to the bad of the last 200 years. Atheism, communism, Socialism, Nuclear Weapons, expansionist Zionism, and nuclear blackmail"
Its easy to spot Jackboot in a room Mr. Goldberg, just look for the guy with the metal salad bowl on his head thats hooked to wires connected to the infinate universe.
Occam's Tool| 10.19.11 @ 5:30PM
No, Mike, "Truely" disgusting, from a college educated History major.
Jackboot Jack is as effective in debate as a marshmallow condom.
Mike D.| 10.19.11 @ 2:35PM
Yeah, Idiot, the most hated country in the world. Do you even check this shit you spew out, or does it just come naturally from your anti-semitic paranoa complex. Isreal is the second leading supplier of military technology to China, you Remember China? Oh, Isreal has extremely close ties to India one of its major allies and those two consist of a large chunk of the world's populations. We can go on and add Singapore, Philipines(Isreal has a large population of Filipinos), West Germany, UK, and dozens of others who trade regularily with Isreal. The only people who hate Isreal is YOU and the Muslims who can't defeat them. You really are a geo-political dimwit aren't you.
videos | 2.18.12 @ 9:48PM
Choose this day whom YOU will serve, and leave me out of your phony arguments.
the permanent newbie| 10.19.11 @ 8:55AM
Wow, what a bunch of weaklings those Israelis are! Can't handle casualties like us tough Americans!
Hey, Jack, do you have a son in the service? I do; his unit is being shipped out next month, and I know exactly how those Israeli parents feel. Yeah, I'm weak and scared. But Jack is big and brave, as one can only be when "millions of casualties" and "hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war" are just abstractions, and one can sleep soundly at night knowing that others are poised to make terrible sacrifices on one's behalf. Keep on taking without giving, Jack darlin'! (Now watch as Jack angrily claims to be a retired Marine sergeant, with two sons in the SEALs and a daughter in the Rangers. These free-riders on others' pain always assert something like that.)
Paul Kotik | 10.19.11 @ 10:59AM
The sentiments are real.
However, foreign and security policy must never be guided by sentiment, only by cold calculation.
business | 2.18.12 @ 9:52PM
Not that he has a chance for the nomination.
Occam's Tool| 10.19.11 @ 12:54PM
Dear Jack:
Yup, the Israelis care for their own. More than we do. That makes them weak in your eyes, when they are not overly strong and bullying.
Incidentally, the Israelis, in establishing their State after the Holocaust killed more Jews than all the Americans who have died in ALL the wars in US history (from a MUCH smaller population base), proceeded to lose 1 percent of their entire population in the war of Independence.
You really are an idiot, aren't you, Jack.
Timothy L. Pennell| 10.19.11 @ 6:17PM
Are you kidding me? You just called Jack an IDIOT.
What happened to everybody being "Human beings"?
Margie| 10.19.11 @ 8:15PM
Don't ya know?
It all depends on who is using the terminology.
bebek | 2.18.12 @ 9:53PM
I didn't leave the Republican Party, it left me!
Stuart Koehl| 10.19.11 @ 7:06AM
While one should not have been indifferent to the plight of Gilad Shalit, exchanging more than 1000 convicted terrorists for his return was not a sign of the depths of Israeli compassion, but a fundamental strategic error in Israel's war against Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist groups.
I realize that after the Holocaust every Jewish life is precious, but that is precisely why this exchange should never have happened. It tells terrorists precisely what they need to do to gain leverage over Israel; it rewards intransigence.
The first rule of negotiation--for anything--is not to convey to the other side how much you want what they have. Shalit was a soldier, and soliders need to be prepared to sacrifice their lives for their country. While getting him back would gratify Israel, Israel should never have indicated how much it would be gratified, nor should it have surrendered its principles and its strategic objectives to do so.
Never negotiate with terrorists, ever. If they kill yours, kill theirs. If they take yours hostage, kill theirs. Wreak havoc upon them until they cry uncle, no matter what the cost to one's self, but never, ever negotiate with terrorists, even to get back a nice boy like Gilad Shalit.
Occam's Tool| 10.19.11 @ 12:48PM
Oh no, Stuart. If this exchange is important for the morale of the IDF, it needed to happen.
But then kill 20,000. Bomb Gaza City until it upsets Jack, and makes Obama crap in his pants. THAT's the way to demonstrate to scum that this crap never pays.
Skippy| 10.19.11 @ 4:10PM
I still don't know why Israel doesn't set a date; drop the leaflets; issue the announcements; and then use all the contested areas and refugee camps as permanent artillery ranges.
Occam's Tool| 10.19.11 @ 5:18PM
Because of the influence of people like Jack.
P.Smith| 10.19.11 @ 7:08AM
It is nice that this Shalit kid is home, but Israel has made a huge mistake in letting that many reprobates out of prison. Many of these so called Palestinians were involved in the massacre of Israeli citizens and should have gotten the death penalty. It would have been far more honorable to have gone into Hamas territory and just taken the kid back.
At the very minimum Israel should have stipulated that if any of these goons are caught on the field of battle, or are involved in any terrorist behavior, they would immediately face the firing squad.
WRTolkas| 10.19.11 @ 8:00AM
One Israeli Soldier in exchange for one-thousand worthless rag-tops. Sounds like an equitable exchange to me.
Don H.| 10.19.11 @ 1:33PM
How many of those released yesterday will kill Israelis tomorrow? One, ten, fifty? That is the real price of this trade. You can be sure those released terrorists are not going back to farming or the bakery. Prisoner exchanges should only be done when hostilities are at an end.
Teaghan| 10.19.11 @ 8:36AM
Do you all not think that something else is happening here? Something behind the scenes that we are not privy to?
canuckistani| 10.19.11 @ 12:48PM
I hope so. Bibi and merry band of idiots have done zero for the long term prospects of Israel as an idea or a nation.
Occam's Tool| 10.19.11 @ 12:50PM
Well, Canuck, you just want to see Israel weaker, so your comments are really not useful. I think the Israelis should burn down Gaza City.
canuckistani| 10.19.11 @ 5:04PM
Nope, I want to see them stronger with neighbors not willing to kill themselves for the photo ops.
Continual building pokes the US in the eye, they've already abandoned the Turkey relationship, and are making stuff up about Iran. This does not strengthen Israel, it isolates it. You and I both know it will crumble under its own weight without support.
Occam's Tool| 10.19.11 @ 5:23PM
Canuckistani,
OK. I see your point. Here's the conceptual flaw, however (no ad hominem of flakiness)---it doesn't matter what Israel does. Israel could abandon ALL of its settlements tomorrow. The Palestinians would still be blowing themselves up and killing.
They hate Jews. They want to kill Jews. By the way, the Iranian threat is very real. Israel is a 1 bomb to destroy country.
Therefore, since NOTHING the Israelis do will make their neighbors like them because they are religiously commanded to kill Jews, the solution is for Israel to make it VERY expensive for their neighbors to attack them.
Remember---in 1949 the Israelis had NO settlements, and no military superiority over their neighbors. Did that result in peace for the Israelis?
Mike D.| 10.19.11 @ 8:38PM
Heres the PLO and their concept of living with Isreal and what Palestinians are and its been their creedo since:
Way back on March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:
The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.
For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.
Google AMIN AL-HUSSEINI, a truly evil person.
Occam's Tool| 10.19.11 @ 5:29PM
No, I don't see Israel crumbling under its own weight. I see it being backstabbed though. Interesting that you called me sick when you were the one joking about never paying "retail" to get back one starved soldier. That's despicable and typical of you.
bluecollarbytes| 10.19.11 @ 8:48AM
Gilad Shalit, normally svelte...now physically-'wasted', provided a sharp contrast to the well-fed well-treated palestinian thugs Israel let out by the hundreds.
ncatty| 10.19.11 @ 9:18AM
I noticed that also.
Occam's Tool| 10.19.11 @ 12:55PM
Correct. The Israelis are fighting scum who deserve no consideration, just bullets.
Timothy L. Pennell| 10.19.11 @ 9:13AM
Mr. Goldberg, you are a fool. One man, for a thousand Terrorists? What do you say to the Families of these terrorists' NEXT VICTIMS? Do you tell them that it's Okay? That, it was WORTH IT, to let the guy who just butchered their loved ones, and 999 more of them, because you got ONE GUY back, in return?
I suggest you stock up on LAVA Soap, or whatever abrasive Soap, you people have over there. I'm thinking that, come soon, you guys who made this Deal with the DEVIL, are gonna have a LOT of BLOOD on your hands.
WRTolkas| 10.19.11 @ 11:14AM
Dear Mr. Pennell,
I read your remarks often, and I am always impressed by your intuition and grasp of the subject. This time, I must disagree. I admire the political courage of releasing the terrorists for one soldier. Maybe that is our weakness: we value life where the coin of the terrorists is death. I hope that in the future we can pay them back in full.
Paul Kotik | 10.19.11 @ 11:31AM
Political courage? Come again? Bibi caving in to the Israeli media and hopeychangeniks? How's that political courage? What??
Political courage is doing the right thing for the country's existential strategic interests even when the majority of the citizenry has been swept away by passing sentiments it will later regret. That is, precisely the opposite of what has occurred in this case.
Timothy L. Pennell| 10.19.11 @ 3:18PM
Go get the New York Post. The ANIMALS in GAZA, are CHANTING for more Israeli Captured Soldiers.
It's PEACE through STRENGTH. Not, peace through trading 1000 Terrorists, for ONE GUY.
The Israelis should have made the Palestinians a FOOTNOTE in History, a long time ago. Like, the Philistines, whom the Romans named them after.
This capitulation has only made things WORSE.
You'll see.
Occam's Tool| 10.19.11 @ 12:56PM
Tim,
apparently this is part of the Israeli "no man left behind" thing that makes a conscript force the equal of almost all volunteer forces (well, except for ours) in the world.
But the Israelis need to crank up the casualties in gaza City. A Lot.
Timothy L. Pennell| 10.19.11 @ 3:17PM
Go get the New York Post. The ANIMALS in GAZA, are CHANTING for more Israeli Captured Soldiers.
It's PEACE through STRENGTH. Not, peace through trading 1000 Terrorists, for ONE GUY.
The Israelis should have made the Palestinians a FOOTNOTE in History, a long time ago. Like, the Philistines, whom the Romans named them after.
This capitulation has only made things WORSE.
You'll see.
Paul Kotik | 10.19.11 @ 10:19AM
The Israeli leadership and the Israeli people have tragically miscalculated. Rather, they have not calculated at all - they have allowed sentiment to set foreign and security policy.
The entire Gilad Shalit affair, from his inexcusable capture through his parents' public prostration of themselves, their people and their State, to this day, has been a testimonial to Israeli weakness. With this prisoner exchange Israel has bountifully rewarded those who murdered and abducted Israeli citizens, assuring a future with much more of the same. It's as if one tossed a biscuit and a "Good boy" to the dog when he's pooped the carpet. Should one expect the dog thereafter to studiously refrain from pooping the carpet?
It was a mistake. A terrible, tragic mistake. One readily understands and empathizes with the sentiments which drove it, but wishes rather to have shared in a steely resolve to persevere in the painful but correct policy of no appeasement, no negotiation, no surrender. It is this sort of resolve that we in the West have not demanded of our leaders for decades, and it is for precisely this that democracies need leaders rather than mere administrators.
It was only today that I learned from an Arutz Sheva article in Hebrew that Gilad Shalit is also a French citizen. Well. That goes a long, long way toward accounting for his conduct as a soldier and that of his parents. Surrender follows confrontation as surely as the cheese course follows the entree, n'est-ce pas?
TrueBlue| 10.19.11 @ 12:45PM
That's why you don't take terrorists prisoner. Shoot them and be done with it.
The Big Kahuna| 10.19.11 @ 11:06AM
One Israeli soldier for a 1000 stinking Arabs? Thats what I call good deal for Israel.
canuckistani| 10.19.11 @ 12:52PM
Perhaps not.
If one of the 1000 kills another IDF member, then the deal wash a washout.
Dumb deal. They should have been handed over to the PA, and as test of their "statehood", have them tried for crimes there. That would have been a solid manoever by Bibi et al.
Occam's Tool| 10.19.11 @ 5:27PM
Canuck: The PA would never have tried them. You seem to be missing the point: the Palestinians are gangsters ruled by gangsters.
OLDRAY| 10.19.11 @ 11:41AM
Robert Goldberg is surely a nice man , but a fool to support this indecent exchange. This surely wii lead to many Israeli dead and wounded . It will encourage terrorism against Americans in the USA and endanger free societies world wide. The trade is a plus for terror and STUPID.It is certainly a victory for Hamas.
Cpm| 10.19.11 @ 12:21PM
The Palestinians have succeeded in establishing their worth as a ratio vis-a-vis Israeli to Palestinian as 1:1000. You would think they would want it closer to 1:1 but I guess they have an inferiority complex.
canuckistani| 10.19.11 @ 12:49PM
No, they learned from the Israelis, never pay retail......
Occam's Tool| 10.19.11 @ 12:51PM
Aand, that's at least the ratio of Palestinian deaths that should be established per Israeli soldier killed.
canuckistani| 10.19.11 @ 12:53PM
Sick. You have lost all dignity.
Occam's Tool| 10.19.11 @ 5:24PM
No, Canuckistani. I am simply being mathematically precise. I want to win.
Occam's Tool| 10.19.11 @ 5:26PM
The point, dear sir, is to win. The Israelis are fighting scum who will CUT OFF THREE MONTH OLD BABIES' HEADS. And I'm the sick one?
Skippy| 10.19.11 @ 4:14PM
Bomb; burn; bulldoze; bury.
The best possible future for the Palestinians.
Or they can go to their Arab neighbors houses and beg for mercy.
Makes no difference to me.
Paul Kotik | 10.19.11 @ 1:42PM
I once did a statistical analysis of casualty histories that suggested that Israeli terror + combat casualties were minimized by by maintaining a kill ratio of 50 Arabs to 1 Israeli.
cicero| 10.19.11 @ 2:09PM
If Isreal wishes to survive as a nation where they are, they will have to push the Arabs out of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. That includes maintaining control over the Golan Heights.
If the Arabs want to destroy the Jewish nation, all they need do is continue on as they are doing. They will overwealm the Jewish population. If they have enough time, they will develope nuclear weapons, and will use them.
How sad.
A.C.Guard| 10.19.11 @ 3:50PM
Rejoicing ? Yes, by the terrorists and those who support them. This was a strategical error by Israel as those that have been released will come back to kill and kidnap more Israelis. If you are willing to wage war, as Israel must, then you must be prepared to have soldiers killed and captured never to be returned unless Israel is willing to go all out and defeat, without interruption by America or any other country, her adversaries. That would require the use of nuclear weapons which it seems Israel won't use unless faced with total defeat.
Dan | 10.19.11 @ 4:00PM
I don't think I've read a more naive justification for the Shalit deal.
Tassie| 10.19.11 @ 6:27PM
My husband and I wish Gilad all the best. He has a wonderful family and country and should be very proud of both. God bless him.
amatör seks | 10.19.11 @ 7:30PM
wow vaia, vostede o camiño de volta, eu eu eu
POST American| 10.20.11 @ 2:50AM
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irresolvable conflict --such as Germany,
Berlin, Cyprus, Viet Nam and Korea.
ENTIRELY unknown in history before
Masonry got into the act---"
-ALAN WATT
(essential online coverage
of the CON)
-----ROT-childs n' Rockefellers
------------SACHS Co-borgs n' wreckdom worship
--------------------just keep a goin'...
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