Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The Return of Gilad Shalit



I want that kid home... tho, kid he is no longer.

As everyone who follows I-P knows, it looks as if there is some possibility that Gilad Shalit will be released sometime over the next few days. I find myself hopeful about this development, but I am not doing cartwheels.

For the moment we just have to hope for the best.

I have no intention of celebrating until I see that kid on the news, hugging his mom. And that is when I will raise my glass for the young soldier. But until that moment comes, I will wait and watch.

Also, I am one of those people who has considerable concern about the shear ratio of prisoners in this swap, as well as the nature of the Palestinians being released from Israeli jails and to just where they are being released. We know that Marwan Barghouti is being considered for release despite the fact that he was tried and convicted on 5 counts of murder.

This gives me pause. Who are the people to be released from the Israeli prisons? What was the nature of their crimes? And where will they be released to? These are all important questions.

Then, of course, some people are saying that this shows that Hamas is moderating itself and, perhaps, can be negotiated with. I think that that is a big mistake and that Israel would be foolish to try to negotiate with a vicious, genocidal Islamist organization like Hamas. We must not legitimize Hamas even as Hamas (and Fatah and their friends on the Left) seek to delegitimize Israel.

Having said the above, however, I remain hopeful.

If Shalit is released than perhaps we can, all of us, begin what will be the long, slow process of letting our guard down as peace begins to establish itself. The Israelis have a reputation as being tough as nails and some people think that part of the reason that there is no peace between Israel and the Arabs is because of Israel's stiff neck.

I think that if we get a series of positive developments, such as this one, then maybe Israelis will begin to feel like they might have a partner for peace.

So, I remain cautiously optimistic. I am actually an optimist by nature. I think that Israel has done remarkable things in a very brief period of time and has done so while under perpetual siege and harassment.  Good for them.

Decade by decade, Israel's position in the world continues to improve while her enemies continue to deteriorate.

So? What more can I say?

God Bless Israel and God Bless Gilad Shalit.

Let's pray that he is home soon.

16 comments:

  1. God Bless Israel and God Bless Gilad Shalit.

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  2. In the meantime in prisonerland

    "Palestinian inmates to get whole chickens
    Hunger strike at security prisons expands with over 230 going on strike due to Prison Service's refusal to give in to inmates' demands: Satellite TV, visits without handcuffs and whole chickens...."

    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4133012,00.html

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  3. Assafiban also a diary up about this. It made me almost puke. Every time I think I have seen it all from idiot Kossacks something like this comes along. I would have to post almost every comment there to show why I feel this way so please read it yourself if you are curious.

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/11/1025285/-BREAKING:-Israel-Hamas-Prisoner-Deal-Reached-+UPDATE:-Now-Approved?via=tag

    I gotta go wash my eyes.

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  4. I know.

    How about this comment from Tamar:

    to paraphrase my daughter -- the fact that Israel (3+ / 0-)

    is releasing over 1000 prisoners indicates that they've been arresting an awful lot of non-dangerous people (because if they were truly dangerous, Israel wouldn't release them).
    I'm amazed Netanyahu is doing this and hope it means something good for the future.

    If, in our efforts to win, we become as dishonest as our opponents on the right, we don't deserve to triumph.

    by Tamar on Tue Oct 11, 2011 at 05:53:33 PM PDT


    http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1025285/43587681

    I think that I have had more than enough of Tamar's daughter to be perfectly honest.

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  5. I don't know, it's just well-meaning naivete run amok. It doesn't advance prospects for peace because it gives Palestinian fighters reason to believe that their propaganda efforts are working.

    This conflict is being kept alive by the western Left.

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  6. Not kept alive, but it sure does not help that there are so many deluded people on the side of good. Many see the delusion and incompetence and this does not inspire trust to see how they enable the unprincipled.

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  7. I have nothing good to say for the Israel government and for this sordid deal.

    Let's hope Gilad Shalit is returned home safe and sound. But his family will pay the price for the pain and suffering they have inflicted on other Israeli families by their sheer selfishness for the rest of their lives.

    That is only fitting.

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  8. I don't know, School.

    It seems to me that the western Left, as a group, supports the Palestinian movement, the purpose of which is the destruction of Israel, whether they recognize that or not.

    I think that we need to be very clear on this.

    The Palestinian Movement is about the destruction of Israel. This is what they tell us constantly. This is what they say.

    If it was about Palestinian freedom then they would have accepted that freedom in '37 or '47 or '67 or 2000 or '08.

    But they didn't.

    This means their agenda is something other than Palestinian freedom, particularly given the fact that the Palestinian ambassador to Lebanon just told the world that even Palestinian refugees within the west bank would not receive citizenship status if they accept a state for themselves.

    The western Left, as a movement, is a friend to the Jihad.

    Sad, but true.

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  9. Hey Norman,

    about time that you dropped in my joint.

    I've been waiting on you for... what?... over a year, now?

    Thanks for popping by, good sir.

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  10. That is what the movement is about, no doubt, from the expressions of the Arabs, but many of these people are ignorant to it. They are the do-gooder dupes. Their views are reinforced because they hear one side only. It's a regular cottage industry!

    It's a spectrum, of course. The activists are most culpable, but others are more, to me, unwitting enablers. The activists fear a full discussion of the issue. This is where the authoritarianism raises its head.

    Others simply fear being called out as a racist, etc., perhaps the greatest bane of the group.

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  11. Karmafish, Oldschool,

    I used to ponder the question of naivete vs. malice in the present-day Left until a piece by Steven Plaut made it amazingly clear to me. (Note: I don't agree with all of Plaut's opinions. I just think this piece is thought-provoking if nothing else).

    The Stupid Left vs. the Satanic Left

    Alright, I'm soon shutting down for Sukkot. Hag Sameah all!

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  12. "Hamas official: Schalit won't be last solider we kidnap
    By JPOST.COM STAFF AND KHALED ABU TOAMEH
    10/12/2011 21:02

    Group spokesman says releasing those left in Israeli prisons after exchange is "top priority"; Mashaal reportedly in Cairo to finalize deal.

    Hamas on Wednesday warned that Gilad Schalit will not be the last soldier that they will kidnap. Abu Obaida, spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas, Izzadin Kassam said that Schalit, who is set to be released as part of a prisoner exchange deal, "will not be the last solider kidnapped by Hamas as long as Israel keeps Palestinian prisoners detained."

    http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=241553

    For all those idiots cheering the release of prisoners responsible for the deaths of 599 Israelis and gushing over the "flexibility," of Hamas.....LOOK! Look at what they say. They will continue to be terrorists.

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  13. "Despite the fact that I'm sentenced to 16 life sentences I know that we will become free from Israeli occupation and then I will also be free from the prison," she said."

    Ahlam Tamimi, female terrorist convicted in the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing which killed.

    Giora Balash, 60, from São Paulo, Brazil
    Zvika Golombek, 26, from Karmiel, Israel
    Shoshana Yehudit (Judy) Greenbaum, 31, from Passaic, New Jersey, USA
    Tehila Maoz, 18, from Jerusalem
    Frieda Mendelsohn, 62, from Jerusalem
    Michal Raziel, 16, from Ramot, Jerusalem
    Malka Chana (Malki) Roth, 15, from Ramot, Jerusalem (memorial) (originally from Melbourne, Australia)[2]
    Mordechai Schijveschuurder, 43, from Neria, Matte Binyamin
    Tzira Schijveschuurder, 41, from Neria
    Ra'aya Schijveschuurder, 14, from Neria
    Avraham Yitzhak Schijveschuurder, 4, from Neria
    Hemda Schijveschuurder, 2, from Neria
    Lily Shimashvili, 33, from Jerusalem
    Tamara Shimashvili, 8, from Jerusalem
    Yocheved Shoshan, 10, from Jerusalem

    Tamimi smiled when told how many children she helped kill.

    What do you think Tamar and daughter and terrorist cheering Kossacks. Does Tamimi merit freedom? Cause she is getting it thanks to this deal. Perhaps ya'll can take up a collection to buy her some nice new clothes and stuff.

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  14. I am very ambivalent about this whole thing.

    We all want Shalit released, but murderers?

    And yet on dkos most of the people commenting seemed not the least little bit troubled by this.

    How can these people consider themselves "liberal" or "progressive" when they literally do mind the murder of Jews?

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  15. I support the move in that it was probably the only move available. The callousness of the dKos posters is beyond belief as is the call to free ALL freaking murderers and terrorists

    "We need to support the hunger-strikers to help get the rest of the Palestinian prisoners home as well.

    by Fire bad tree pretty on Tue Oct 11, 2011 at 05:02:42 PM PDT"

    Yes, Jew killers are worthy causes at dKos. The place makes me sicker every day. And NOT ONE person took fire bad tree pretty to task, in fact Assaf replied "Amen," and he was rec'd by Assaf, poco, WattleBreakfast, PeterHug. I don't know what's worse; these 5 Jew killing terrorists lovers or the lack of concern from the broader dKos community.

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  16. Yup.

    For me was is most irksome is the lack of concern by the rest of the community. It is not that they are anti-Semites.

    It's that they don't give a damn one way or the other.

    And we're supposed to consider these people our political allies?

    Ho. Ho. Ho.

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