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At Large
Tough Call
Some of the worst murderers alive today were exchanged for Gilad Shalit.
The exhilaration of seeing Gilad Shalit returned alive to his family in Israel after half a decade in captivity is nonpareil. These are the rare moments when we get to claw back some territory from the grasp of evil.
Yet the morality of trading a thousand Palestinian prisoners for one soldier is shaky indeed. Many of these were just losers arrested for varying degrees of lowlife-hood, people who might be better placed sponging off their parents than eating free food supplied by the Israeli taxpayer. They are thrown in to the deal to give it some bulk, like the plastic packing bubbles in the shipping box which all but smother the item being retailed.
Sadly, however, the kidnappers could not be bought off so easily. They demanded and received some of the worst murderers alive today. I was a few blocks away, visiting in Jerusalem, on the day in 2003 when Doctor Applebaum of Shaarei Zedek was blown up with his daughter at a sidewalk cafe in the Emek Refa’im neighborhood. She was to be married the next night and her father, originally of Detroit, invited her out for a farewell coffee, never imagining they would leave together on a final journey.
Her beautiful white bridal gown was resewn into a curtain and hung in the Tomb of Rachel. At least the Biblical Rachel managed to spend fifteen married years with Jacob and to leave two children as her legacy. All that is left of Nava Applebaum is that curtain with its broken promise of a future built on purity.
Now her murderer can walk free and laugh at those naïve Jews who unleashed him again on the world. He is joined by the man who found an Israeli girl walking alone and cut her heart out of her chest. Another member of this group ran his truck into a crowd of soldiers at a bus stop, killing seven and wounding more than twenty. There is the female conspirator of the man who blew up Sbarro’s Pizza thirty days before September 11; she says she is happy that Israeli children were killed by their operation.
All in all, these are the Who’s Who of the Middle East terror world. Any famous incident that you can recall where people were killed and the bomber did not blow himself up is represented by a newly released perpetrator. This is like declaring an amnesty for Charles Manson and Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy, all on the same day.
The families and friends of all the victims whose killers were traded take personal offense. Some are bothered by the fact of the exchange; others could have swallowed it if the government had consulted them… or at the very least, notified them in advance. My grim conclusion is that they are in the right, even if the joy of Shalit’s return should not be diluted by that calculation.
The Talmudic law sets a limit of ten-to-one for most ransoms as a strategy to limit future kidnappings. I suspect that when families can afford to pay, they are likely to honor this rule in the breach. The most famous case of a Jew who prevented his coreligionists from paying an exorbitant ransom was Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg (1215-1293), who died as a captive in the Tower of Ensisheim.
Here a greater issue obtains. By freeing unrepentant killers we are endangering new generations of potential victims. Certainly the saving of one life today cannot justify creating the potential for more violent deaths in the future. Sherri Mandell, mother of the brutally murdered Koby, is right to protest the deal.
But these are tough calls to make and one can hardly fault the Israeli government, even if a strong legal argument could be made that the sovereignty of a government does not include the right to free convicted killers for diplomatic considerations. These are the awful Sophie’s Choice situations which are the product of our unredeemed existence and the lack of courage on the part of civilized societies to fight evil to the death.
As the second part of the Sukkot holiday (“the holiday of our joy”) begins on Wednesday night, we can be grateful to have one of the good guys back in the fold. There is some balm in Gilad after all! And we can pray for an age of enlightenment and decency where we are not called upon to be more tough than kind.
About the Author
Jay D. Homnick, commentator and humorist, is a frequent contributor to The American Spectator. He also writes for Human Events. Here he speaks at the Rally for Religious Freedom in Miami on June 8, 2012.
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Ben| 10.20.11 @ 6:19AM
Very bad deal...Cowardly capitulation to terrorism. I thought Bibi was stronger and wiser than this.
Jack in Wi.| 10.20.11 @ 7:40AM
Menachem Begin. Itzak Shamir, David Ben Gurion, Ariel Sharon, and many other Israeli's were and are blood on hands terrorists and mass murderers. The Mossad is a worldwide terrorist and assassinatin squad. Hizballah and Hamas were puffed by the Mossad as way to undermine the secular Palistinian groups the PLO and FATAH. How did that work out?
The British Defense Minister Dr. Liam Fox and his boyfriend have been outed as Mossad moles working to drag Britain into a war with Iran. It is a huge scandel in England, completley ignored in our controlled press. How many of the shills calling for attacks on Iran in america are Israeli moles?
Let us hope that with Shalots release, sane Jews and Arabs somehow work out a just peace. The Book of Leviticus tells both Jews and Muslims to treat the aliens among you as you treat yourselves. It also tells them to love your neighbor as yourselves. The Ten Commandments aply to all people. It is time for all the children of Abraham to get with God's program and live in peace.
Lee Ghume| 10.20.11 @ 1:32PM
Shalots release? The bad guys released an onion? What the l.
Jack in Wi.| 10.20.11 @ 3:54PM
I was just making onion soup. thus the mis speelling.
Alan Brooks| 10.20.11 @ 8:57PM
"I was just making onion soup. thus the mis speelling."
Jack was just making matzoh brei with onions for his Jewish wife. He disses like he does because he wants to keep all the Jewish women for himself.
Alan Brooks| 10.20.11 @ 8:59PM
No, Dave:
Jack loves Jews- he wants all the good Jewish women in his bed- not ours.
Get it? Jack is a JEW-LOVER!
Dave Williams| 10.20.11 @ 2:49PM
Jack, you anti-Semitic little turd, the fact of the case is this: if Arabs would lay down their arms, there would be peace in the Middle East. If the Israelis lay down their arms, there would be no more Israel.
Go peddle your hateful bile somewhere else.
Jack in Wi.| 10.20.11 @ 4:01PM
Who is asking the Israeli's to lay down their arms? I am asking them to live in peace. Israel was founded by terrorists and is has been led by terrorists for all it's existence. To call the Palistinians terrorists is like the pot calling the kettle black.
The people here who regularly call for expulsion and nuclear genocide against theArabs and other Middle East people, ought to forget about reminding people about the Holocaust. What you are proposing is far worse, is far worse then anything Hitler ever did.
Mike D.| 10.20.11 @ 5:18PM
Who is asking the Israeli's to lay down their arms?
You are! "Ending of the Jewish" means just that.
Jack in Wi.| 9.9.11 @ 9:42AM
"The only solution for Israel Palistne is the ending of the Jewish state and making Israel Palistine one country where all religions and peoples are equal"
Jack in Wi.| 9.9.11 @ 12:07PM
"Israel was never ever a viable idea. That is why is has always needed vast outside support. That support is ending Israel is a worldwide pariah"
Jack in Wi.| 9.10.11 @ 1:58AM
With all due respect: Israel with all it's nuclear weapons, crazed leadership, the Samson option, the Masada complex and its control of most of OUR government is a terrible black cloud on the world. I don't see any light coming through that darkness.
Jack in Wi.| 10.20.11 @ 7:35PM
I wrote that and agree with it. There should be no Jewish state. Dozens of Christian states are gone now, at the insistence of the Jews. Why the hell should I as a Christian support a racist, Jewish theocracy on stolen land in Palistine? Israel as a Jewish state does exist, even if I don't like it. I hope that a peaceful solution, can be found but doubt it. I believe the only real solution is the one that Jews have used for thousands of years to get by with their neighbors. That is too be useful members of the community, who mind their own business.
No group was more outspoken against Apartheid in South Africa or segregation in the USA then the Jews. It is time for, in my opinion, for the same solution in the Middle East. That is an integrated, unitary, state with equal rights for all Jew, Christian, and Muslim. Any solution that brings peace to this conflict is prayed by for me everyday.
Alan Brooks| 10.20.11 @ 9:02PM
Yeah, you want Israel to end so ex-Israeli women will come to Wisconsin, sleep with you, and make you matzoh ball soup twice or more a week.
Jack in Wi.| 10.20.11 @ 11:16PM
Alan: A lot of Israeli's have moved to the USA. I believe the last figure I saw was about 1/2 million. I lived in a heavily Jewish neighborhood, for many years, and knew a few. Most had married American Jews who didn't mind visiting Israel but didn't want to live there permanently. The Milwaukee Brewers have an Israeli Jew who is one of their stars. His name is Ryan Braun. He is probably the greatest Jewish ballplayer since Sandy Koufax. His family left Israel when he was young.
Timothy L. Pennell| 10.20.11 @ 6:46AM
I don't think you understand. They are out there CHANTING for "More Shalits". You've just, basically, announced that it's "Open Season" on Israeli Border Guards.
ONE MAN is not worth 1,000 Terrorists. They are already vowing to return to their Life's Work, and their only pleasure in life: KILLING JEWS.
What will you say to the loved ones of the NEXT Jewish Family, who is Slaughtered in their beds, their baby girl's THROAT slit? What do you say, as you look into their tear filled eyes, when they confront you with the facts that this Terrorist was IN YOUR PRISON, and you LET HIM OUT?
Why would any Palestinian stop Murdering Jews, now? Why? They know that they just have to spend a little R&R in one of your little jails, and, pretty soon, his buddies will grab one of you, and, before ya know it, he's the Toast of the Town, back home, and tomorrow "Hunting JEWS Season" starts again. I read that one of their WHORES was vowing to KILL JEWS.
There's a saying in Sports. You never let your opponent "HANG AROUND". When you've got him down, you step on his neck.
You've let the Palestinians HANG AROUND. You gave back the Sinai. You've been "NICE". See where its gotten you.
The 1st time they hit your Country with Rockets, you should have ANIHILATED them. But, you didn't. So, they did it again. And, they did it again. And again, and again, and again.
How many Jews have been MURDERED, because you haven't had the COURAGE, to do what had to be done? So afraid of "World Opinion". So afraid of the opinions of a world that BLAMES YOU, for all the problems in the world. If only you would just DIE. Then everything would be all right.
So, you let them Hang Around.
And, now they're coming. Their coming to kill you, again. And, when you stop that attack, they'll come again. And again, and again.
It's time to STEP ON THEIR NECKS. Time to FINISH IT.
But, first, it's time to get your story straight. You wanna say just the right words, when the next bus full of KIDS, becomes an INFERNO, because YOU let him go.
C Smith| 10.20.11 @ 11:16AM
JERUSALEM, Oct 13 2ooo (Reuters) - Israeli Hani Avrahami phoned her husband to check that he was safe as he travelled through the West Bank on the way to the army base in which he served as a reserve soldier. But instead his killer answered the call. 'We are now slaughtering your husband,' said the voice that answered Yossi Avrahami's mobile telephone…. Vadim Novesche had been married only a week to his wife Irina when he was killed by the mob. She too, was trying to reach him by phone in the last moments of his life. ``I said 'Vadim?' and they hung up the phone,'' she said.
But this won't go on for ever:
I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land" (Joel 3:2).
Harry Hunter| 10.20.11 @ 7:02AM
Keep the littlee fish in prison as currency for future exchanges. Kill the big ones on conviction. Then they can't be released to kill again.
RT| 10.20.11 @ 8:01AM
Harry, my understanding is that Israel doesn't have the death penalty, with Adolf Eichman being the sole exception.
I don't understand it, frankly. Once found guilty by the court many of those listed in this article should have been executed - it's the right thing to do, in my opinion.
TrueBlue| 10.20.11 @ 1:30PM
Easy solution, take no prisoners.
Doctor_X| 10.20.11 @ 7:04AM
I feel sorry for Gilad Shalit , he will never be able to live a normal life because of what his country did. He will be blamed if anyone is killed by the 1,000 terrorist released in his name.
Nemo| 10.20.11 @ 7:06AM
The British in India sewed Muslim criminals up in pig-skin before hanging them. It was a very effective deterrent.
GriffMN| 10.20.11 @ 11:39AM
Or better yet, crown them with pig guts and crucify them in plain site of their satanist population.
Clinton| 10.20.11 @ 8:36AM
It seemed one GOP contender would release all the GITMO detainees for the release of 1 hostage.
BLITZER: Could you imagine if you were president…and there were one American soldier who had been held for years and the demand was al Qaeda or some other terrorist group, “You got to free everyone at Guantanamo Bay” – several hundred prisoners at Guantanamo. Could you see yourself as president authorizing that kind of transfer?
CAIN: I could see myself authorizing that kind of transfer but what I would do is I would make sure that I got all of the information. I got all of the input, considered all of the options. And then, the president has to be the president and make a judgment call. I can make that call if I had to."
What's shocking is the Kossaks at the Daily Kos and leftists at Think Progress are to the right of Cain. How could Cain get to left of these flakes?
In Townhall.com Guy Benson carrying water for Cain wrote, "Cain disavowed his previous answer: 'I misspoke.' He said the posture he inadvertently advanced would represent negotiating with terrorists, which he opposes. He went on to say the original question went by too fast for him to properly internalize and answer.
This is a relief, and it's nice to hear a politician say, 'I was wrong.' Still, these sorts of missteps are magnified when you're in the Big Leagues."
Just another misunderstanding by the most inexperienced Presidential contender since 2008's Democrat nominee.
TrueBlue| 10.20.11 @ 1:32PM
Better to admit you made a mistake and move to correct it, than pretend you're perfect and nothing you ever say or do is wrong.
Stuart Koehl| 10.20.11 @ 8:43AM
It should not have been a tough call at all. Gilad Shalit was a soldier, and soldiers are paid to risk, and in some cases, sacrifice their lives for the common good. When he was captured, that was just part of his job. The onus then was on Hamas to treat him in accordance with the laws of war, not for Israel to bend over backwards and do somersaults to get him back. Cold strategic reasoning says that Israel should not have negotiated with Hamas or offered any concessions for his release, because it gives Hamas leverage over Israel and sets a precedent for future abductions. Rule number one of hostage negotiations: never let the other guy know how much you care.
But Israel is a democratic countries, and democracies often have trouble abiding by cold strategic reasoning, because, ultimately, most people think with their hearts, not their heads, and in a democracy, the majority usually gets its way. The majority of Israelis felt the life of one Israeli was worth making a deal with the devil. That reflects well on the Israelis' reverence for human life, but not so much on their ability to see clearly.
Naturally, this outlook has been shaped by the Shoah, as well as by Israel's small size and population, which makes it in some ways like an extended family rather than a country. But just because it is understandable, does not make it right.
Herb| 10.20.11 @ 9:04AM
We are all less safe now because of this, no matter where we happen to live.
Harry the Horrible| 10.20.11 @ 9:29AM
Well, I'd argue that one Israeli life is worth a 1000 Palis.
Of course I'd turn it around and kill a 1000 Palis every time they murder an Israeli.
Nina| 10.20.11 @ 9:45AM
This may sound hateful, but good. Now they have bulls eye's on their heads and fair game to be shot instead of coddled in Gitmo by the very people they hate. US soldiers. Hopefully, while they are strapping bombs on their backs they detonate prematurely.
C Smith| 10.20.11 @ 11:00AM
"Some of the worst murderers alive today were exchanged for Gilad Shalit." So what's new for the nation that still follows the commands of Leviticus 19:33-34:
"And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God."
“If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat….” (Proverbs 25:21). These are not empty words. Unlike Islamic nations who use the Palestinians as expendable pawns, Israel is committed to give to those in hunger. When Gaza crossings were closed by terrorist attack, or when Hamas refused to allow life-giving supplies to their own, or when Palestinians failed to cooperate in humanitarian efforts, Israel alone shouldered the burden. The IDF even investigated the viability of coastal air and sea drops of emergency provisions. One particularly effective Israeli food delivery system has been a 220-meter long conveyor belt circumventing the key Karni Crossing.
“… and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink” (Proverbs 25:21). On occasion when Palestinians fled from Gaza into the desert, IDF soldiers have opened their tanks and tossed them water bottles.
“Thou shalt love him as thyself” is the motto Israeli doctors follow without partiality as they treat both the Palestinian terrorist and his victims. However, some have understandable qualms: "I don't mind servicing wounded Palestinian patients because that's what we were taught to do, but it does bother me when the television news reports detail how many Jews were killed in an attack and the Palestinian patients break into cheers."
Paul Kotik | 10.20.11 @ 11:15AM
There would have been occasion for joy and inspiration had young Shalit earnestly refused and resisted being released under these terms. That would have been heroic.
Didn't our own John McCain refuse early release from North Vietnamese captors ?
Dave| 10.20.11 @ 11:20AM
Nuke Palestine and be done with them. They don't want peace anyway.
GriffMN| 10.20.11 @ 11:33AM
Send in the Mossad to execute this satanic garbage.
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.20.11 @ 11:57AM
Mr. Homnick,
Please pass this little tid-bit to the IDF, though I'm sure they are already doing it.
Put lone soldiers out as bait, and then shoot the would-be abductors to rags. Do this systematically.
Franco| 10.20.11 @ 12:41PM
Shaky morality, yes, but the Israelis did the right thing. They saved one life at the risk of risking who knows how many future casualties, but in heavenly terms that's not the point.
You save one life, you just saved the entire world. Very Jewish thinking.
Moe Blotz| 10.20.11 @ 1:44PM
Palestinians have no shortage of murderers and scalawags who will commit mayhem on Israelis. Releasing 1,000 prisoners back into that hell-hole will not increase the chances of another attack. With all Israeli young adults obligated to military service, one young man held as captive is the son of every parent in Israel. 1,000 worthless prisoners in exchange for one son of Israel is a fair trade.
Paul Kotik | 10.20.11 @ 2:25PM
The argument that the enemy is already trying as hard as he can, and therefore no step that one takes can increase his effectiveness is tempting but doesn't square with experience. Individuals are not all the same. These 1,000 + released detainees are experienced terror actors who have now enjoyed the terrorist equivalent of Harvard Ph.D. program. Israeli prisons provide these people with the one critical opportunity they lack when at large, to congregate and interact at length, repeatedly and in complete safety - something that their op sec denies them while at large. Gitmo graduates return to the battle and are far more dangerous than they were as freshman. Alas, so do the Arabs detained and released by Israel.
No good will come of this. The conduct of the Shalit family, Shalit himself, and the sector of the Israeli public that joined in the prostration and begging before Hamas for 5 years has set a new low standard for national resolve. Hamas and the other terror masters have scored a tremendous victory, and everything in the history of this conflict shows that Arab gains are followed by increased violence.
POST American| 10.20.11 @ 11:52PM
----Nice piece on ULSTER East.
NOW, could we get a smidgen of coverage
on the broad daylight, 4 decades on
--Bush Sr --Clinton --Bush Jr ---Obama
CFR-RIIA/ Milner-ROT-child and Rockefeller
sellout, TREASON and anabling of the
awesomely, unabashedly genocidal,
bankster installed ---RED Chinese regime?