Israel Agrees to Release Samir Kuntar

I am sick to my stomach. Israel's cabinet today agreed to a "prisoner exchange" involving the release by Israel of Hizballah terrorist Samir Kuntar in exchange for the "release" of Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were abducted by Hizballah in 2006, setting off the most recent Israel/Lebanon war. Amazingly, Israel made this "deal" despite clear assessments from both the Mossad and Shin Bet that its two captured soldiers were no longer alive. Again, just sickening.

But even if they were alive, this is no "prisoner exchange" by any stretch, or at least one that involves the exchange of legitimate combatants. Kuntar, unlike Goldwasser and Regev, is no soldier or any other type of legitimate combatant. He is a murderer, who should have been executed shortly after he was captured and tried (Israel, for some inexplicable reason, has no death penalty, even for the worst of terrorists). This man brutally murdered a four year-old girl and her father in 1979. You can learn all about it here. And Israel is trading him (and the bodies of numerous other terrorists) for what will likely be the remains of two soldiers and "intelligence" related to the fate of soldier Ron Arad, who disappeared in 1986 (and is likely dead). Add to this the fact that Kuntar has said openly that he will join up and fight with Hizballah against Israel once he is set free.* How can any country make such a deal and claim to be either sane or moral?

Yes, the soldiers' families are grief-stricken and want their sons and husbands to come home (or to at least know their fate). Who wouldn't? Nobody can blame these people for favoring such a deal. But the job of politicians and leaders is to look beyond that and see the forest for the trees. The families' grief and desire to know the fate of their loved ones cannot be allowed to trump the national interests of the country. And it certainly cannot be allowed to interfere with the just punishment of a remorseless murderer for the brutal crimes he committed (and has said outright that he will murder again). Unfortunately, the family of Kuntar's victims just doesn't have the same political pull as the soldiers' families do.

Don't fret though. Kuntar's brother said that Kuntar was a fighter and that all of Lebanon would celebrate his return. And Hizballah stated that Kuntar's release proves the organization's strength. What an awful, awful day.


*Hat tip: Solomonia