Not All Lebanese Celebrate Kuntar’s Release
Lisa Goldman, who blogs at On the Face, has a post on Pajamas Media, where she notes that not everyone there is celebrating:
“How,” asked several Israeli friends, “Can the Lebanese celebrate the release of a child murderer?”
In fact, there is ample evidence to show that not all Lebanese are cheering the return of Samir Kuntar.
Comments from Lebanese reader in response to the Naharnet report of the national celebrations are contemptuous, with many describing Kuntar as a child killer and a disgrace to Lebanon. Lebanese blogger Abu Kais quotes an editorial published on the Now Lebanon site:
The prisoner swap is not the whole deal, just the final clause. Conveniently forgotten are the reams of gory appendices in a much larger and bloodier contract written out almost exactly two years ago, with all of Lebanon as collateral. Indeed, the full audit is still ongoing.
How much is the Resistance’s pledge worth? Add to the two Israeli bodies the bodies of 1,200 Lebanese civilians, nearly 400 of them children under the age of 13, sacrificed by Hezbollah to secure Kantar’s return. Add to that the 4,400 wounded civilians, of whom almost 700 are permanently disabled. Add to that those killed and wounded, most of them children, by the cluster bombs still littering large swaths of South Lebanon. Add to that the billions of dollars in destroyed homes, infrastructure and livelihoods.
In the final tally, Kantar - whose alleged taste for violence far exceeds the remit of the typical heroic freedom fighter - is a very expensive man. For make no mistake, his release is the sole profit weighed against the thousands of Lebanese dead and wounded. The four other Lebanese prisoners to be released were themselves captured on his account during the July War, and the number and names of the Palestinians to be freed are entirely at Israel’s discretion.
So Kantar will be freed, and Hezbollah’s word is once again proven to be Lebanon’s bond. We hope and pray that any Lebanese prisoners still held in Israeli jails come at a cheaper price in the future. If each is as expensive as Mr. Kantar has been, they may find themselves heroically repatriated to a desolate wasteland.
And rather than comment directly, Lebanese blogger Jeha posts a poem that “welcomes” a “child killer.”
Now Lebanon notes that with all of Nasrallah’s bragging about his accomplishment, the fact remains that Nasrallah has failed to address the issue of captured Lebanese:
While Lebanon celebrates becoming “the first Arab country in the Israeli-Arab struggle to close its detainee file,” as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah put it in a July 3 speech, many Lebanese still languish in Syrian prisons.
The exact number of prisoners and detainees is not known, and Syrian authorities have a history of keeping silent on the issue. During the civil war, approximately 17,000 people disappeared. Following the war, the arrest and disappearance of those expressing opposition to Syria’s continued presence was common.
As far as what the future holds for Kuntar, The Lebanese Political Journal notes that political office may be in Kuntar’s future:
Now, we hear in al-Akhbar newspaper that Hezbollah wants Qantar to run for parliament. Obviously, Druze leader and PSP chief Walid Jumblatt might oppose this. However, Qantar might run with Hezbollah’s support.
Nothing would say more about Hezbollah’s ethics than for them to nominate Qantar. The party claims moral legitimacy, but their actions defy their rhetorical claims.
Not all Lebanese agreed with Hizbollah’s claim of victory in the war with Israel 2 years ago–realizing the enormous cost. Now too, the Lebanese may realize that this ‘victory’ of Hizbollah comes at a cost as well.
by Daled Amos
Lisa, it’s not even worth discussing!Deal with facts, not a pollayanism! The Arabs, especially the Arab Muslims hate Jews! We are Jews , therefore they hate us! Yes, there are some that don,t, however, action speaks louder than words. Say you’re pushing your 10 month yr old baby through a street, than all of a sudden, SHE’S DEAD! Answer me that Lisa!
Comment by tov klein — July 16, 2008 @ 11:13 am
I’m sure that not all Germans worshipped Hitler.
Comment by Shy Guy — July 16, 2008 @ 11:48 am
It’s beyond comprehension and totally disgusting. It’s an encouragement to murder all Israelis.
What were those political idiots thinking?
Have Israelis completely lost their will to live?
Big Deal some don’t celebrate, the murderer still walks free and Israelis now know that if they are killed their murderers will be rewarded by the cowards in their own government.
Every citizen that wanted this should hand themselves in to Hezbollah and save the IDF from dying trying to protect them. Where do these citizens think they can run to now?
It’s absolute suicide. A better option for Israel would have been for the IDF to have launched an air strike on the Knesset.
This is a country and a government that no longer has the strength to survive. There is no way they have the will to deal with Iran when they can’t even deal with simple terrorists.
Comment by Max — July 16, 2008 @ 11:50 am
All day I have been watching our self flagellation on TV and radio all stations all channels. Enough I can’t watch any more or listen to all the talking heads here. None of this had to be, Our leaders and media , yes media are primarily those responsible but so are the people of the State of Israel who like alway preferred to lie and the myth to the truth. I hope this experience rings some cognizant bells in some of us or this day will be repeated many more times in the future.
Comment by yamit82 — July 16, 2008 @ 12:00 pm
Give me one good reason why I or any other Israeli here should give a flying shit if there are 17000 Lebanese prisoners in Syrian goal, alive or dead? Every Arab less in the world is a breath of fresh air for us and fewer potential killers of Jews. That one of ours needs to bring up the issue at this time and in this context explains as much as anything where our medias’ heads are, up the asses of our enemies I think!
Comment by yamit82 — July 16, 2008 @ 12:06 pm
Ah, I looked at the Israeli newspapers and now I see how they are doing it. It make sense. It is full of subtle propaganda and thought influence to make Israelis think it is not such a bad thing and it even it is a moral “triumph” for Israel.
That is exactly what the above Polly Anna story post is about. (It’s not really so bad.)
It shows that when you own the media you can get away with anything.
And on and on like that, no big deal, just the ho hum standard of everyday life.
etc. etc.
.
Absolutely no story on the how the relatives of the little girl who was killed feel , and if there are comments of outrage from Israelis they must be hidden on the back pages.
It seems you can make the people believe or accept anything if you own the media.
The Israeli people are being sacrificed like little lambs and told little fairytales as they are left to random slaughter by the animals. They are all as disposable pawns contributing their lives to the lifestyles of the rich.
Their lives have no more meaning than smoke that drifts through the air.
Comment by Max — July 16, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
And one more:
As for the families of soldiers needing the bodies , this is an attitude cultivated by the government and the media. In fact they could cultivate the opposite attitude which is to toughen up and sacrifice their personal emotional needs, needs which are not all life threatening in order to actually save lives and to save Israel.
A public attitude of weakness and needless personal gratification is cultivated. These needs are not carved in Rosetta Stone, they are cultivated by attitude, personality and resilience. And in this case cultivated by elitist media propaganda.
…
The people are not made to understand that a war on their home ground means there is no retreat, it means there can be no expectation of “moral” comforts, every mission is a suicide mission, every engagement is the last engagement, every ordinary part of daily life can demand the ultimate sacrifice, they must be willing to sacrifice emotional extravagances.
…
Victor Frankl said that in the camps they discovered anything was possible and they needed not anything they thought they needed. They could sleep in the bunkhouses on wood with no pillow in the freezing cold with no blankets and sandwiched between snoring men because simply because they had to.
…
The Israeli people can also remember the lesson and be taught the lesson that they can do what they have to do to survive.
People need to look at why they feel things and how the media and government manipulates their feelings.
You see this is the manipulative propaganda of an government apologist.
A population can be taught to be proud of such a price and to pay it with heroism, not collapse like jellyfish and in so doing facilitate their own deaths and the deaths of others.
..
Anything is possible, a population can cultivate the will and the resiliency to survive and triumph or it can can be taught to go meekly to the slaughterhouses.
How tragic and horrifying it is to see modern Israel has lost these basic survival lessons.
Comment by Max — July 16, 2008 @ 12:56 pm
I am outraged by this swap out, promoted by the media and by liberal Jews at the expense of the parents. As a combat veteran, not one of us felt that if we were captured would we ever be rescued by releasing North Korean or Chinese prisoners, As a matter of fact, it would be out of the question to do so. Not until there was a full armistace was there an exchange and it was an all for all. Many hundreds of ousr prisoners were starved and tortured to death, as told by Tibor Rubin, a Jewish prisoner of war and recipiant of the Medal of Honor.
Exchanging dead prisoners for live murderers is horrendous and should considered a crime agaist humanity. I know from first hand experience, how a parent feels, but ow would the parents of someone else feel if their child was killed by a released murderer?
Comment by Ed D — July 16, 2008 @ 3:41 pm
I too am outraged by this swap. It makes no sense. I challenge anyone to find biblical or any other references to the morality of letting killers go to get back dead bodies.
If Israel wanted to do a deal then they should get something real and tangible in return. You cannot deal with those who do not know the meaning or the value of humanity, compassion and peace.
I would not, however, celebrate too long if I were a Hezbollah terrorist bent on jihad and extracting defeat by devious means from Israel. They will one day have to answer for their vicious and inhuman behavior. They will answer for the endless violence they carry out in the name of Islam.
Israel is the loser once again against what looks like a savvier negotiator and determined terrorist entity. Had they delivered two dead bodies to my doorstep, I too would have given the 5 fat assed, tanned, well-fed and healthy-looking killers back - dropped them from 20,000m into the Bek’a Valley along with several thousand tones of bombs on their own 40,000 stockpiled missiles waiting for launch into Israel.
Comment by Gary — July 16, 2008 @ 4:35 pm
I thought I would never see such a self-humiliation by the Israelis like I am seeing now.
Comment by VinceP1974 — July 16, 2008 @ 7:05 pm
It’s true. If I were a Hezbollah, I too would celebrate.
What silly chickens the Israelis are.
They pluck their own feathers and pour humiliation sauce over themselves, ready to be basted.
How co-operative!
What do Israelis tell their children now?
…
“Don’t worry Bubeleh! If a bad man comes to our house and and smashes your head in we will send him home to his family so he can celebrate! it will be a big party!”
One can hope that all Israelis will, after a while despite the media propaganda, will experience the sense of deep shame and humiliation that this act must rightly bring upon any normal feeling human being and in feeling so, will revolt against their leaders.
The families of Regev and Goldwasser should be ashamed that their private selfishness has placed every Israeli at risk of being freely murdered by the Terrorists.
If they had any sense of obligation to Israel and Israelis, they would denounce the Government and refuse to attend the funerals.
…
No Israeli paper seems to be interested in Smadar Kaiser. I had to search American newspaper to find out:
Smadar Kaiser expressed her disapproval weeks ago but the Israeli papers and Olmert don’t seem to want to hear form her.
The families of Regev and Goldwasser owe Smadar Haran Kaiser and her relatives and all other Israelis a profound apology.
Comment by Max — July 16, 2008 @ 8:20 pm
Been that way for a while.
But we Jews know that when it comes specifically to our history, what goes down must come up.
I just wish we’d hit bottom already.
Comment by Shy Guy — July 17, 2008 @ 3:49 am
Maybe we should cheer up. The Arab media is on our side.
Comment by Shy Guy — July 17, 2008 @ 6:00 am