So it comes to this: Hamas can blatantly admit that it kidnapped Gilad Shalit in order to force Israel to release Palestinian prisoners from jail, and nobody so much as raises an eyebrow—and fully expects Israel to deal with Hamas as if it is a legitimate organization.

Osama Mazini, a top political leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, said on Thursday that his movement still hasn’t received an official response from Israel to the list of prisoners that was presented to the Israeli government last week.

In response to reports that Israel had expressed reservations about the list, Mazini said Schalit’s captors would not come up with a new list of names. “The captors have the right to put any name they want on the list,” he said. “If Israel does not accept the original list, there will be no room for more negotiations.

“The soldier was kidnapped in order to free as many Palestinians as possible, especially those who are serving lengthy sentences.”

It’s absolutely unbelievable that when Israel refuses to free the murderers on this list, the world will erupt in anger—over Israeli “intransigence.” And yet, that is what will happen.