All's Fair in Love, War and Terrorism

Nothing better illustrates the un-level playing field faced by Israel and the asymmetrical warfare being waged against her by her enemies than this: Israel, earlier today, exchanged 5 Hezbollah prisoners including one, Samir Kuntar, who had been convicted of murdering 2 men and a 4-year old girl back in 1979 in exchange for two Israeli soldiers… two dead Israeli soldiers.

Two soldiers whose ultimate fate the Israelis did not even know until the television crews captured the arrival of the two coffins carrying the remains of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev who had been captured by Hezbollah militants on Israeli soil in 2006 in order to leverage the release of Kuntar. What this capture and holding of the two Israelis precipitated was the 34-day conflict between Lebanon and Israel which was brought to an end by a U.N.-brokered truce and which was largely seen as a huge political victory for Hezbollah and defeat for Israel.

"Regev's father, Zvi, said he broke down the moment he saw a television broadcast of Hezbollah militants unloading the coffins from a van."

Imagine clinging to the hope that it’s your son springing out of the back of that van only to see a coffin, instead.

"It's not a happy choice," Israeli President Shimon Peres said Tuesday before signing a pardon for the convict, Samir Kuntar. "On one hand, we have the most terrible murderer. On the other hand, we have our commitment to our boys who were sent to fight for their country. It is our moral duty and our heartfelt wish to see them come back."

Color us confused. We thought it was official Israeli policy to not negotiate with terrorists. Perhaps Hezbollah is not officially recognized as a terrorist group then how about a corollary about not negotiating with savages? And if its not “negotiating” one is stretching the bounds of credulity to then call it a “prisoner swap”.

"Even so, polls suggest a wide majority of Israelis support the swap. That sentiment was mobilized by relatives of the missing soldiers, notably Ehud Goldwasser's mother, Mickey, who called the deal "a victory for the Israeli nation and what it holds dear."

We suppose we have to walk a mile in Israel’s shoes but we hope to God we never get to the point they are at now. We understand that certain concessions must be made from time to time when you are surrounded by nations wholy bent on your destruction, especially when you are ham-strung by political forces and international pressure to NOT do what is in your country’s best strategic interets, but this… this is just sad.

Full story and accompanying video here.