The Israeli Cabinet today (July 15) authorized the release of convicted murderer Samir Kuntar in exchange for Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, two Israelis abducted by Iran-backed Hezbollah in July 2006 as they patrolled Israel’s side of the border with Lebanon. Four members of Hezbollah, captured during the ensuing war, are also scheduled for release in the prisoner exchange agreement. [1]Read the last paragraph again -- Kuntar has promised to carry out further attacks after his release. This cold blooded killer has vowed to kill again, and Israel is RELEASING him. I understand the desire to secure the release of Goldwasser and Regev, who, in violation of international law, have been kidnapped for more than two years by Hezbollah. However, to release a murderer, who has vowed to murder again, is crazy.
Israel is also expected to release the remains of several Palestinian and Lebanese terrorists who carried out some of the most brutal attacks of the conflict. These include the remains of terrorists who carried out the Ma’alot massacre of 1974, in which members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine murdered 22 Israeli high-school students in the city of Ma’alot in northern Israel.[2]
The bodies of the terrorists who carried out the Coastal Road Massacre in 1978 are also scheduled for return to Lebanon tomorrow, including the remains of Dalal Mughrabi, the leader of the attack. In this terrorist assault, members of Fatah hijacked a bus on Israel’s coastal road and killed 35 civilians, including 13 children. This attack led directly to Israel’s operation in southern Lebanon, Operation Litani, aimed at destroying the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure in that region.[3]
Other bodies which are due to be transferred to Hezbollah include the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists responsible for the attack on Kibbutz Matzuba in 2002, in which six Israeli civilians were murdered. The terrorists had been working in conjunction with Hezbollah.[4]
In April 1979, Kuntar, a member of the Palestine Liberation Front – part of the Palestine Liberation Organization - led a terrorist cell that infiltrated Israel and shot to death 28-year-old Danny Haran in front of his 4-year old daughter Einat near their home in the northern Israeli town of Nahariya. Kuntar then killed Einat by smashing her head against a rock with his rifle butt. Two Israeli police officers were also killed during the attack.
Kuntar was caught by Israeli police and was tried and convicted on four counts of murder. He was given four life sentences. [5]
Goldwasser and Regev were abducted by Hezbollah when a cell of the terrorist group in Lebanon infiltrated the internationally recognized border with Israel, fired on two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) jeeps and detonated explosives nearby. At the time, the soldiers were on a routine patrol of the border. [6]
Hezbollah killed eight soldiers in attacks during the day while at the same time firing thousands of rockets and mortar shells into northern Israeli communities. Goldwasser and Regev were reportedly taken into Lebanon and authorities said then that they believed they were alive at the time of their kidnapping. There have been no signs of life from them since then. [7]
The attack sparked a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah. Since the cessation of hostilities, both sides have been in negotiations via mediators to exchange captives and war dead. Goldwasser at the time was almost 31; Regev was 27. [8]
On June 1, 2008, Israel released Nassim Nasser, a spy convicted of espionage on behalf of Iran-backed Hezbollah. On the same day, Hezbollah released partial remains of five Israeli soldiers killed in the 2006 war with Hezbollah. [9] In total, 20 IDF soldiers were not buried intact. [10]
Kuntar has promised to carry out futher terrorist attacks after his release and Palestinian Authority TV has called him a national hero.
These prisoner exchanges are exactly the reason that Goldwasser and Regev were kidnapped for in the first place. Hezbollah knows full well that Israel will concede in these matters to secure the safe release of their citizens. What will it take for Israel to realize that they compromise their own security in doing so?
What will Israel offer up to secure the release of Gilad Shalit? Also being held, against international law, for more than 2 years, this time by Hamas.
Where is the world outrage that three soldiers, have been kidnapped, denied visitation by the Red Cross, have more than likely suffered torture (at least mental, if not physical), denied any form of due process or habeas corpus. This is more than the world holding Israel to a higher standard than any other could ever achieve, this is crickets chirping in the silence for three violations of world law! The world decries the "harsh" treatment of the Gitmo prisoners, yet is out right silent as to three prisoners in the hand of Hezbollah and Hamas. Why is the world not crazy that in order to secure the release of two of these prisoners, a CONVICTED MURDERER IS BEING SET FREE!!! A convicted murderer who was given due process, legal representation, a fair trial and the rights to appeal.
Not only has Israel been weakened by this exchange, the world has been embarrassed! The UN has again proven how ineffectual and absolute useless that it is. As an international body it is a joke. Its disbandment is surely warranted.
My only hope is that Kuntar not live long enough for Israel to regret this action.
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