Prisoner swap

I’ve been loath to comment on prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah which saw over 400 terrorists released from Israeli custody in exchange for an Israeli businessman and the dead bodies of three IDF soldiers.

The main reason I’ve been so reluctant to post is that I’d just be re-stating what virtually everyone else has already said. How it’s a bargain with the devil. How these deals will just lead to more kidnapping of Israelis. How it’s a mistake that Israel will pay for dearly. How Hezbollah is claiming a major victory for this deal. How it will serve as an example to Hamas and other terrorist organizations. And so on. And so forth.

I agree with all of it. And then some. It would take hours to round up the abundance of op-eds, news items, commentaries, and letters decrying this move as nothing short of a catastrophe. Not only will the 400+ terrorists released surely kill again, but they will also serve as inspirational icons for thousands of others who may take up the cause. It bolsters Hezbollah’s position and gives the organization a legitimacy that it should never have. Plus, it firmly establishes the principle that one Israeli life is worth hundreds of Arab terrorists, by agreeing to such a lopsided exchange. In the meantime, the terrorists are learning that suicide bombings work, but kidnappings work too – and maybe even better. In one fell swoop, Israel is introducing a new terror tactic into the mix. And it will probably have to spend the next fifty years trying to undo that move and eradicate the tactic.

That’s easy for me to say, of course. I’m not a parent of one of the murdered IDF soldiers hoping for the chance to bury my son. I’m not a relative of Elhanan Tannenbaum (who, I understand, is being questioned by the Israeli police for possible shady practices… without details I won’t jump to any conclusions on that one). Not only that, but this is hardly the first time Israel has negotiated with terrorists. I’d go so far as to argue that the entire Oslo process was a negotiation with a terrorist organization: the PLO. We all saw how well that turned out, of course. But this Hezbollah swap isn’t setting the precedent that many claim it is.

None of that changes the fact that rewarding terrorism is always a mistake – especially here. I find it hard to believe that the government would be so cavalier about the lives of its citizens. And it pains me to face that things will probably get worse before they get better.