Steven P. BarrettIT'S TIME FOR ISRAEL'S NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN TO LEAVE, IMMEDIATELY!
July 16th 2008 16:20
Steven Barrett
I have to hand it to the Israeli's for their patience when it comes to Ehud Olmert, their Prime Minister, who's under investigation on corruption charges, now comes forward with this sham of a "prisoner exchange" with Hezbollah.
"Exchange" is the officially "operative word" (as diplomats) would blandly parse what happened earlier this morning on the Israel/Lebanese border.
It was nothing less than a slap in the face to anyone who values human dignity, national sovereignity and decency in the face of militant Islamofacism.
According to Associated Press' Hussein Dakroub:
It's not the sort of thing you want to hear when waking up in the morning, especially when you listen more and realize what a raw deal the whole "exchange" turned out for Israel.
After all, Hezbollah got it's man back -- Israel received -- her two men -- who were kidnapped to bring about Kanta;s safe release -- in coffins. The Israeli soldiers were dropped on a road like a pile of yesterday's newspapers. They surely were to Hezbollah, which got what it wanted with Israel, a little war to scare the hell out of the Israelis and demonstrate just how potent Hezbollah was then -- and how weak Israel's leaders were and still are.
Presumably Hezbollah killed the two Israelis in retaliation for the massive damage the Israeli Air Force inflicted on South Lebanon: As if the Israeli's didn't suspect by the time they had their planes in the air that their soldiers weren't dead already -- and Hezbollah hadn't realized that the Israelis weren't thinking along the same lines. Hezbollah hunkered down,
and the Lebanese paid the price.
It was easier to have some empathy for the people who got bombed out of their homes just as it was easy for me to empathize with the Israelis in Gallilee living under the threat of Hezbollah's rockets, crude and innacruate as they were.
But this time I'm not going to feel any empathy for Lebanon. From the same story:
Regev's father, Zvi, said he fell apart the moment he saw Hezbollah take the coffins out of a van and place them on the ground.
"It was horrible to see it. I didn't want to, I asked them to turn off the TV," he said, choking back tears.
The story doesn't get any better:
Here's the real chiller, because we know damn well there are a lot more Kantars out there awaiting their opportunities to hit Israel and the United States, and I'm including relatives of the 19 9/11 mass murderers:
Let's not forget what happened to Mrs. Samar Haran and the horror she was put through. One can only imagine what she must be thinking -- about Olmert and what happened to those two soldiers and the others who died and were wounded in the 2006 war -- for this, which was worse than nothing..
Yes, Mr. Secretary General, but that's only putting things mildly unless Israel takes steps from within to make sure this never happens again.
Rest assured if I was Israel's PM, it damn well wouldn't. I'm far from a "war-monger." But the easiest way to ensure a war is to invite one on. And allowing your most embittered sworn enemies to perceive you as being weak and vascillating -- well, that's warmongering by irresponsible vascillation and disambiguous ambiguity.
I have to hand it to the Israeli's for their patience when it comes to Ehud Olmert, their Prime Minister, who's under investigation on corruption charges, now comes forward with this sham of a "prisoner exchange" with Hezbollah.
"Exchange" is the officially "operative word" (as diplomats) would blandly parse what happened earlier this morning on the Israel/Lebanese border.
It was nothing less than a slap in the face to anyone who values human dignity, national sovereignity and decency in the face of militant Islamofacism.
According to Associated Press' Hussein Dakroub:
NAQOURA, Lebanon - Israel freed a notorious Lebanese attacker and four others Wednesday after Hezbollah handed over two black coffins with the bodies of Israel soldiers, a dramatic prisoner swap that closes a painful chapter from the 2006 war in Lebanon.
The five — including Samir Kantar, who had been serving multiple life terms in Israel for a grisly 1979 attack — were brought home in International Committee for the Red Cross vehicles and received a red-carpet welcome at this coastal border town.
The five — including Samir Kantar, who had been serving multiple life terms in Israel for a grisly 1979 attack — were brought home in International Committee for the Red Cross vehicles and received a red-carpet welcome at this coastal border town.
In Israel, family and friends outside the homes of the two captured Israeli soldiers burst into tears when TV images showed Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas taking the coffins out of a black van.
Though officials had suspected Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were dead, the sight of the coffins was the first confirmation of their fate.
Though officials had suspected Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were dead, the sight of the coffins was the first confirmation of their fate.
It's not the sort of thing you want to hear when waking up in the morning, especially when you listen more and realize what a raw deal the whole "exchange" turned out for Israel.
Presumably Hezbollah killed the two Israelis in retaliation for the massive damage the Israeli Air Force inflicted on South Lebanon: As if the Israeli's didn't suspect by the time they had their planes in the air that their soldiers weren't dead already -- and Hezbollah hadn't realized that the Israelis weren't thinking along the same lines. Hezbollah hunkered down,
and the Lebanese paid the price.
It was easier to have some empathy for the people who got bombed out of their homes just as it was easy for me to empathize with the Israelis in Gallilee living under the threat of Hezbollah's rockets, crude and innacruate as they were.
But this time I'm not going to feel any empathy for Lebanon. From the same story:
Regev's father, Zvi, said he fell apart the moment he saw Hezbollah take the coffins out of a van and place them on the ground.
"It was horrible to see it. I didn't want to, I asked them to turn off the TV," he said, choking back tears.
The story doesn't get any better:
An aunt of Regev's sank to the ground when she saw the coffins appear on a small TV hooked up outside the soldier's father's house. Some 50 friends, neighbors and family who had gathered there sobbed, rocked back and forth in prayer, lit candles or tugged at their hair. "Nasrallah, you will pay," several of the mourners vowed.
Other people in the crowd criticized Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, saying the soldiers died for nothing.
The confirmation set the stage for Israel to release Kantar and four other Lebanese prisoners to Hezbollah.
In the dead of night on April 22, 1979, Kantar and three other gunmen made their way in a rubber dinghy from Lebanon to the sleepy Israeli coastal town of Nahariya, 5 miles south of the Lebanese border. There, in a hail of gunfire and exploding grenades, they killed a policeman who stumbled upon them, then burst into the apartment of Danny Haran, herding him and his 4-year-old daughter outside at gunpoint to the beach below, where they were killed.
An Israeli court found that Kantar shot Danny Haran in front of his child, then smashed her head with his rifle butt.
Haran's wife, Smadar, who had fled into a crawl space in the family apartment with her 2-year-old daughter, accidentally smothered the child with her hand while trying to stifle her cries
Other people in the crowd criticized Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, saying the soldiers died for nothing.
The confirmation set the stage for Israel to release Kantar and four other Lebanese prisoners to Hezbollah.
In the dead of night on April 22, 1979, Kantar and three other gunmen made their way in a rubber dinghy from Lebanon to the sleepy Israeli coastal town of Nahariya, 5 miles south of the Lebanese border. There, in a hail of gunfire and exploding grenades, they killed a policeman who stumbled upon them, then burst into the apartment of Danny Haran, herding him and his 4-year-old daughter outside at gunpoint to the beach below, where they were killed.
An Israeli court found that Kantar shot Danny Haran in front of his child, then smashed her head with his rifle butt.
Haran's wife, Smadar, who had fled into a crawl space in the family apartment with her 2-year-old daughter, accidentally smothered the child with her hand while trying to stifle her cries
Here's the real chiller, because we know damn well there are a lot more Kantars out there awaiting their opportunities to hit Israel and the United States, and I'm including relatives of the 19 9/11 mass murderers:
Kantar denies killing the older child, saying she was killed in the crossfire as he battled Israeli police, and has never expressed remorse. He was 16 years old at the time.
Let's not forget what happened to Mrs. Samar Haran and the horror she was put through. One can only imagine what she must be thinking -- about Olmert and what happened to those two soldiers and the others who died and were wounded in the 2006 war -- for this, which was worse than nothing..
On Tuesday, Hezbollah's commander in south Lebanon, Sheik Nabil Kaouk, called the swap an "official admission of defeat" for Israel.
This travesty of an "exchange" is only going to bring about more "exchanges" and they won't be just a few bodies for many prisoners, etc. They might eventually involve a lot more lives and exchanges of some very heavy ordinance. But it can be avoided, and now, if the Israeli's force Olmert out of office and get somebody who'll put an end to this grisly game that her sworn enemies are playing so well.
God forbid that Hezbollah should ever kidnap a general or another high official, and they have something Iran's been working on for some time.
In the Gaza Strip, controlled by the violently anti-Israel Hamas group, people handed out sweets to celebrate Kantar's impending release.
Ismail Haniyeh, Gaza's Hamas prime minister, warned Israel that it also will have to "pay the price" for an Israeli soldier that Hamas has been holding since June 2006 and presumed alive.
"There is a captive Israeli soldier, and thousands of our sons are in prison," Haniyeh said. "Let them answer our demands."
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, speaking in Germany, said he hoped Wednesday's prisoner swap would be "the beginning of many to come in the future."
A giant red carpet was rolled out along a road next to the seashore on the Lebanese side of the border, next to dozens of yellow Hezbollah flags whipping in the breeze.
Hezbollah supporters set up a makeshift stage in the coastal town of Naqoura, where a brass band awaited the returning prisoners. On the platform stood a large photograph of a weeping Israeli woman. A nearby sign read, "Israel is shedding tears of pain."
"Lebanon is shedding tears of joy," read another.
Or peels of laughter."Lebanon is shedding tears of joy," read another.
This travesty of an "exchange" is only going to bring about more "exchanges" and they won't be just a few bodies for many prisoners, etc. They might eventually involve a lot more lives and exchanges of some very heavy ordinance. But it can be avoided, and now, if the Israeli's force Olmert out of office and get somebody who'll put an end to this grisly game that her sworn enemies are playing so well.
God forbid that Hezbollah should ever kidnap a general or another high official, and they have something Iran's been working on for some time.
An official ceremony was planned at Beirut Airport and was to be attended by Lebanon's president, prime minister and parliament speaker. Later, Nasrallah was to address what is expected to be a huge celebration at Hezbollah's stronghold south of Beirut.
In the Gaza Strip, controlled by the violently anti-Israel Hamas group, people handed out sweets to celebrate Kantar's impending release.
Ismail Haniyeh, Gaza's Hamas prime minister, warned Israel that it also will have to "pay the price" for an Israeli soldier that Hamas has been holding since June 2006 and presumed alive.
"There is a captive Israeli soldier, and thousands of our sons are in prison," Haniyeh said. "Let them answer our demands."
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, speaking in Germany, said he hoped Wednesday's prisoner swap would be "the beginning of many to come in the future."
Yes, Mr. Secretary General, but that's only putting things mildly unless Israel takes steps from within to make sure this never happens again.
Rest assured if I was Israel's PM, it damn well wouldn't. I'm far from a "war-monger." But the easiest way to ensure a war is to invite one on. And allowing your most embittered sworn enemies to perceive you as being weak and vascillating -- well, that's warmongering by irresponsible vascillation and disambiguous ambiguity.
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