Without passing judgment the NYT reported on the Hezbollah Shrine to Terrorist Suspect Enthralls Lebanese Children

The dead man being shown such veneration is Imad Mugniyah, the shadowy Hezbollah commander. Until his death in a car bombing in Syria in February he was virtually unknown here, his role in the militant Shiite group clothed in secrecy. But since then Hezbollah has hailed him as one of its great military leaders in the struggle against Israel.

Now, the group has opened an exhibit in this southern town in honor of Mr. Mugniyah, who is widely accused in the West of masterminding devastating bombings, kidnappings and hijackings in the 1980s and ’90s. His stern, bearded face towers over the transformed parking lot where the exhibit is taking place, along with banners exalting him as “the leader of the two victories” — the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 and the 2006 summer war with Israel.

The presentation, which opened Aug. 15, is Hezbollah’s most ambitious multimedia exhibit to date, meant to dramatize the group’s bitter conflict with Israel on the second anniversary of their latest war. Schoolchildren pour in throughout the day, absorbing the carefully honed message of heroic resistance. At night, light and laser shows illuminate the weaponry and tanks, and overflow crowds have been keeping it open until after 1 a.m.

There are two points to note about the article.

It was conceived by the architect Ahmed Tirani and built in just three weeks by a staff of 290 working around the clock. In addition to an extraordinary array of weaponry and martyrs’ paraphernalia, it includes a large indoor room that was remodeled to resemble “what we believe the martyrs’ heaven is like,” according to one of the guides on duty.

“[W]eaponry and martyr’s paraphernalia?” Wouldn’t the word “terrorist” or, at least, “militant” be more appropriate? Or did this article have to pass muster with Hezbollah?

And the article ends with this positive note:

“I came here to teach my kids the culture of resistance,” said a visitor who gave his name only as Ahmed, as he stood with his wife and two children. “I want them to see what the enemy is doing to us, and what we can do to fight them, because this enemy is not merciful.”

Hezbollah’s unmerciful enemy just traded a child killer for the corpses of two soldiers who were kidnapped and killed in violation of international law. The child killer was celebrated by Hezbollah and its supporters. This fellow, whose views go unchallenged has a strange idea of mercy.

The short story:

Here’s what they’re teaching the kiddies in southern Lebanon: Revere terrorist masterminds.

Similarly Elder of Ziyon writes:

A society is truly twisted when it sends hundreds of children to venerate - and emulate - a bloodthirsty killer.

Israel Matzav adds:

Mugniyah was likely the pre-eminent terror tactician of his generation. I don’t know who killed him, but I’m happy he’s gone. For those who are interested, the Times has more pictures and a slide show at the link above. Personally, I found it sickening.

What’s also sickening is the casual way this museum is described without a trace of judgment or outrage. Hezbollah has threatened revenge against Israel and Jewish targets worldwide as revenge for the killing of Mughniyeh, something that needs to be taken seriously in light of yesterday’s arrests in Canada.

Hezbollah isn’t just a bunch of religious eccentrics who have a problem with Israel, but an international terrorist organization targeting Jews all around the world. This article served to distract from that reality.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

So, when Chipmunk Cheeks Nasrallah makes threats on TV from a hidden location deep in Lebanon, should we do anything more than laugh, loudly and scornfully?

Speaking on Lebanese television in a special broadcast marking two years since the end of the Second Lebanon War, Nasrallah said that the outcome of the war “affected Israel and the entire region.”

[...] Nasrallah accused Israel of planning to assassinate Hizbullah leaders, saying this would not deter Hizbullah from continuing its battle against Israel.

“I tell the Zionists: We don’t fear you. Say whatever you want and do whatever you want. We know that you are planning new assassinations of resistance leaders. But this will not make us retreat,” he said. “We are staying here and standing fast here.”

The Hizbullah leader went on to say that Israel was helpless in dealing with the Iranian Islamic Republic, and that even Israel recognizes its own inability to cope with the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

To review: He doesn’t fear Israel or the Zionists, and yet, he’s afraid to show up in public unless surrounded by thousands of civilians, knowing full well that Israel won’t drop bombs on him if there is a risk of killing women and children. He doesn’t fear Israel or the Zionists, yet he has been in hiding for years. He doesn’t fear Israel or the Zionists, and yet, he can’t walk in the open in downtown Beirut, his stomping grounds.

Yeah, “cognitive dissonance” is not a phrase bandied about much in NasrallahLand.

Get a load of this Bizarro World UNIFIL general:

Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Maj.-Gen. Claudio Graziano on Thursday accused Israel of violating UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that brought an end to the Second Lebanon War.

In contrast, he said that the UN enjoyed excellent cooperation with Hizbullah and with the local Lebanese people.

And he isn’t joking.

During a press conference at the United Nations headquarters n New York, Graziano cited the IAF forays over Lebanon and the dispute over the village of Ghajar.

Graziano asserted that apart from UN troops, Lebanese soldiers and hunters, no one was armed south of the Litani River.

Nope. Not joking, just effing stupid. Blind. And oh yeah—let’s find out exactly why this paragon of asshole-ism thinks that there aren’t any weapons south of the Litani:

He conceded that his soldiers were not trying to prevent weapons smuggling from Syria as demanded by the UNSC because the Lebanese government had not requested such action.

Because he’s not looking for them. Well, gee. If you don’t look for something, of course you won’t find it. By the way, this schmuck has been blaming Israel for months. No wonder, when the Italian FM shills for Hamas, and UNIFIL doesn’t act on incidents like, say, Hezbullah threatening UNIFIL troops at gunpoint.

He’s supposedly on his way out. Buh-bye, moron.

Ehud Olmert insists that the Syrians want peace. Some pundits are claiming that Syria needs only to be torn from its alliance with Iran, given back the Golan Heights, and allowed to continue its domination of Lebanon, and there will be peace between Syria and Israel. But if that’s all it takes, land for peace, well, someone isn’t getting the memo.

Or how do you explain these words by the dictator of Syria?

“The Zionist regime is not strong and the states can obtain their rights through resistance and determination,” he added.

During the meeting Assad stressed that the ongoing indirect talks between Israel and Syria under Turkish mediation would not affect Damascus’ ties to Iran. “Syria is working to embolden its relations with Tehran and is determined to maintain its cooperation and coordination with Iran.”

“Resistance,” of course, is the code-word among Arab regimes for war. And Ehud Olmert’s lack of leadership is what has caused Israel’s enemies to say things like this:

“The liberation of all occupied lands, the return of the Palestinian (refugees), the establishment of a Palestinian state and the collapse of the Zionist regime are not considered by the region’s nations to be goals that are unattainable,” the Iranian president said.

Hamas leaders believe this. Hezbullah leaders believe this. Israel’s deterrence was pretty much destroyed in the 2006 failed Lebanon war. Meantime, Hezbullah is now part of the Lebanese government, and it worked quickly to draft new rules allowing it both to retain its weapons and use the government of Lebanon to legitimize its fight against Israel. Hezbullah’s aims are being codified:

“Lebanon, its army, its people and its resistance [Hezbollah] have the right to take action to liberate lands that have remained occupied at the Shaba Farms, the hills of Shuba village and the northern portion of the village of Ghajar, with all legitimate means possible, and to resist Israeli aggression.”

The Shaba farms were never part of Lebanon. They were part of Syria, but Hezbullah uses this excuse to keep its “resistance” against Israel going. And note that now they’re expanding their territorial claims, so that even if Israel gives Lebanon the Shaba farms, Hezbullah will have another reason to continue fighting. And if Israel cedes that land to Lebanon, Hezbullah will come up with another reason. It isn’t small pieces of territory that is the Muslim grievance against Israel. It is her very existence. When Hamas calls “Palestine” an Islamic Waqf, every Muslim in the world nods his head in agreement, whether they are gun-carrying terrorists of Hamas or educated men discussing the Israel situation on Al Jazeera. It isn’t a matter of ceding territory. There will never be peace as long as Muslims think that Jews do not belong in their historic homeland—and as long as the world insists on calling Israelis “settlers” or “colonials.” I am once again struck by the absolute adherence to The Exception Clause that is so evident in the world: Everyone has the right to return to the lands of their origin—except for Jews.

And this mindset is what allows the very president of Lebanon to call war with Israel “legitimate:”

Suleiman announced Friday, during an address for Army Day, that “the countdown for the restoration of the Shaba farms and the hills of Shuba village has begun … all means are possible and legitimate to this end.”

The drumbeats of war are getting louder. I don’t believe the stories about peace with Syria. Bashar Assad has too much to gain from staying in Iran’s axis. And while it would be extremely valuable to remove the Syrian threat, I don’t think it will be gone. I think that Syria’s army will simply bombard Israel from the Heights again, while Hezbullah and Hamas attack from two sides.

I certainly hope Israel chooses a better leader, and does it soon. She needs one.

Way to go, United Nations. What a crop of peacekeepers: Rapists, pedophiles, extortionists, and now—those who salute dead Hezbullah terrorists.

Israel is calling for removal of two United Nations soldiers from Lebanon after photographs surfaced of the soldiers saluting the coffins of Hezbollah terrorists during a prisoner exchange Wednesday.

Associated Press photographer Mohammed Zaatari captured an image of the troops paying homage to fallen Hezbollah fighters as trucks bearing their coffins drove through the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon.

And what does the UN say?

But a UNIFIL spokeswoman said the salute was nothing out of the ordinary.

“It is customary in most armies for military personnel in uniform to salute whenever a coffin passes in a procession,” UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane said. “They were merely following this customary military tradition and saluted coffins draped in Lebanese national flags at their own initiative.”

The identity of the troops wasn’t certain, but Getty Images reports they were from Italy.

Despicable. These are the jackasses that are not allowed to enter Lebanese towns unless escorted by the Lebanese Army—who tip off Hezbullah to hide their weapons until the inspectors are gone. Enforcer, my ass. Enablers, more like.

The United Nations rejected the suggestion that its troops favored Hezbollah and told FOXNews.com that UNIFIL troops were doing their job and remained an unbiased force.

“They are impartial with regards to the forces on the ground,” Farhan Haq, a U.N. spokesman, said. “(UNIFIL) is an impartial source — it doesn’t show a bias for either side.”

Yeah. That’s why the UN accused Israel of violating UNSC 1701, but has yet to notice the arms buildup in Lebanon right under their noses.

Last week Elder of Ziyon noted a report by David Bedein, that Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev had been captured alive by Hezbollah, and concluded that, therefore, Hezbollah must have murdered the two.

After some commenters (myself included) noted that the IDF now believes that the two were killed or critically wounded in the initial attack, Elder of Ziyon asked:

As my commenters have noted, Israeli sources are now saying that Regev and Goldwasser were killed during the initial attack.

So, were Jesse Jackson and the others lying?

LGF believes that was the case.

Looking at the contemporaneous account that LGF cites, Jackson did not actually meet with the captives. He simply was taking the word of terrorists with an agenda. Maybe he didn’t lie, but he was taking the word of untrustworthy scum.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Lynn reminded me of an article from a few weeks ago detailing how the IDF pronounced Eldad and Goldwasser killed in action.

“During the incident and the injury, the (first) missing soldier was wearing the examined bullet-proof vest… The damage caused to the car and to the bullet-proof vest is compatible with the firing of RPG bombs… Therefore, it should be concluded that the injuries to the missing soldier’s body were caused by a hollow explosive device.

“When the damaged bullet-proof vest was worn by a man whose body structure is similar to that of the missing soldier, we discovered that the injury was caused to the upper part of the chest… The injury caused to the missing soldier could be extensive loss of blood, direct damage to the organs and minor injury from shrapnel.

“Such an injury, as described, is a grave injury in any given situation, which requires urgent and complex surgical treatment. The chance for a person to survive such an injury without receiving immediate complex medical treatment, which requires specialized surgical skills (namely, in an operating room) are close to zero.”

[...] As for the second captive, the report said that “his blood was found on the doorsill, on the ground and on the equipment tossed outside. This goes to show that the missing soldier was injured inside the car.

“In addition, the blood stains found on the side of the equipment compartment on the left point to shots fired from a weapon with high muzzle velocity as the soldier was standing outside the vehicle. The soldier is believed to have lost a lot of blood inside the vehicle. The large amount of blood near the vehicle points to the place where he collapsed. This indicates massive bleeding, apparently from a large blood vessel.

“A double injury (by RPG and high-speed bullets) to the upper part of the body is a serious injury in any given situation and requires urgent and complex surgical treatment. It is uncertain whether the missing soldier survived the initial attack, and if the shots were fired at his chest, the chances he survived are very small. Therefore, the missing soldier was at least seriously injured, and his condition may be even more critical.”

This is information the IDF has had for two years, and presumably, that Olmert has been privy to for two years. This is not new information. Why weren’t the Regevs and Goldwassers given this information two years ago? Why wasn’t the Israeli public given this information two years ago? Why did Olmert and the IDF sit on this information for two years, all the while negotiating for the bodies?

This exchange would have been very different if the Israeli public—and the soldiers families—knew that the soldiers were dead.

The rabbi was also presented with “highly confidential” intelligence information received after the war. Ronsky, who was one of the very few people to receive access to this information, was deeply impressed by what he was presented with.

The rabbi told his associates that the medical opinions regarding the first missing soldier were enough, and that the profoundness and depth of the intelligence information were enough to bridge the certain doubt regarding the second captive. He concluded that it was possible to declare Regev and Goldwasser dead.

Sources in the Military Rabbinate said that Ronsky was enraged over the fact that the intelligence information, which is not new, was only brought to his attention last week.

Who in the Israeli government thought that withholding this information was in any way good for Israel? And how is it that nobody seems to have complained about this information being withheld from the families, and from the public, since the summer of 2006?

Perhaps one of my Israeli readers can enlighten me on this topic. Because I think it borders on a coverup that helped only Israel’s enemies in this deal. Karnit Goldwasser wouldn’t have gotten nearly the response she got if her husband was declared KIA and the evidence released to prove it. And Nasrallah would not have gotten the deal that he did, which is encouraging Hamas to hold out for the release of all the prisoners on their list.

Israel is going to be paying the bill for this for a long, long time. And I have one burning question: Why was this information not released? Who ordered it withheld?

Olmert has much to answer for.

Ban Ki-Moon is hailing the exchange of live prisoners for dead Israeli soldiers as the “completion” of part of UNSC 1701.

The secretary general conveyed his heartfelt condolences and said he is deeply satisfied that the humanitarian aspects of Security Council Resolution 1701 have finally been met.

Really? Because just a few months ago, he said that any conditions on the release of Regev and Goldwasser were “outside the scope” of 1701.

“Hezbollah continues to refuse to provide any information on the release or fate of abducted soldiers, and places conditions and demands for the release that are far outside the scope of resolution 1701,” Ban wrote in the report, a copy of which was obtained by Haaretz.

The secretary-general also cites Israeli intelligence reports of Hezbollah’s rearmament drive since the end of the Second Lebanon War. The militia is said to have replenished its arsenal of rockets and missiles - including 10,000 long-range rockets and 20,000 short-range projectiles - which are now deployed on both sides of the Litani River.

“The reports of Hezbollah rearming are a cause of great concern posing serious challenges to the sovereignty, stability, and independence of Lebanon and the implementation of resolution 1701,” Ban wrote in the report.

It’s amazing, isn’t it, how the world’s memory fails at every instance of Arabs and Muslims breaking UN resolutions, and yet, they hold Israel responsible for breaking resolutions that are nonbinding, or that she never broke in the first place.

The Exception Clause, in all of its wonder.

Boker Tov Boulder lists a number of prisoner releases and some of the crimes committed by the released terrorists.

Elder of Ziyon finds that the “moderate” country of Lebanon is celebrating the release of the murderer Kuntar.

Israel Matzav looks into the malaise Israel suffers from that led to the release.

This Ongoing War contrasts Israel’s values with that of its enemies.

Daled Amos has misgivings about Misgav.

Israelly Cool presents Trivia Time. The answer, I’m sure is someone who is usually described as pro-Western or “moderate.”

Meryl wishes Israel would lavish a generous parting gift on Samir Kuntar.

Treppenwitz weighs in with Let the enemy decide the rules:

These useful idiots pleaded for the IDF to spare the poor, hapless Lebanese who were caught between Israel’s mighty army and Hezbollah’s well entrenched forces… pointing out that the Lebanese deserved mercy because they are a modern, secular people just like us.

‘Moderate’ Lebanese blogs were linked, and the grand old days when Beirut was known as the ‘Paris of the East’ were invoked repeatedly… while doctored photos of burning Beirut neighborhoods became like fixed wallpaper behind the media’s talking heads who dutifully read Hezbollah scripts about Israeli atrocities.

Ignored was the fact that these cosmopolitan Lebanese had watched approvingly for decades as Hezbollah set up rocket batteries and supporting military infrastructure in their towns and villages. Ignored was the cover and support these poor secular Lebanese willingly provided to Hezbollah for a generation.

Ha’aretz illustrates the kidnapping. The Regev and Goldwasser families put on a brave face.

Shlomo Goldwasser, the father of Ehud Goldwasser whose body was returned to Israel Wednesday morning as part of a prisoner exchange with Hezbollah, said after seeing the his son’s coffin that he and his wife did not want to see their son’s body because they prefer to remember him as he was.

Background on the mediator.

Officially, Conrad’s mediation effort has been on behalf of the UN secretary general, because the return of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser is part of Security Council Resolution 1701, which brought an end to the Second Lebanon War.

Except that the return of Regev and Goldwasser according to 1701 was supposed to be unconditional. Not only has Hezbollah re-armed under the watchful eye of UN forces, the UN refuses even to insist that the terms of 1701 be obeyed in this case. Not to mention that the kidnapping itself and the presence of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon violate 425.

Ron ben Yishai on the speech we won’t hear from Olmert.

Therefore, even though we recently acquired credible information that Goldwasser and Regev are no longer alive, the government decided, on my recommendation, to approve the deal and ignore the warnings issued by the Mossad and Shin Bet chiefs. Had the Second Lebanon War ended in clear victory, had the Winograd Commission not criticized my conduct, and had my public and moral status not been eroded in the wake of the Talansky affair, I may have acted differently. Yet in my current status, I had no choice.

Danny Haran’s brother feels “defeated.”

Israel gets ready to pay interest on the transaction:

The feeling is shared by many in the IDF Northern Command, where senior commanders estimate that after two years of quiet, Hizbullah may use the period immediately following the swap to strike at Israel. While the possibility of another kidnapping attack against IDF soldiers is being taken into account, there is also a fear in the IDF that Hizbullah may try to infiltrate an Israeli town along the northern border.

No wonder it’s being called Hezbollah’s ultimate victory.

Crosposted on Soccer Dad.

From the NYT:

Hero’s Welcome Expected in Lebanon for Captive of Israel
Perhaps Israel’s most reviled prisoner, Samir Kuntar, will return to a hero’s welcome when he crosses into Lebanon this week, 29 years after he left its shores in a rubber dinghy to kidnap Israelis from the coastal town of Nahariya.

That raid went horribly wrong, leaving five people dead, a community terrorized and a nation traumatized. Two Israeli children and their father were among those killed.

The Times then goes on to humanize Samir Kuntar pleading that he had a hard childhood. It also gives a rather abbreviated summary of the trial, quoting a doctor who testified that Einat was be

Point 1: Headline should read: Hero’s Welcome expected in Lebanon for Mass Murderer.
(See Elder of Ziyon)
Point 2: “Horribly wrong?” When armed terrorists infiltrate a country and attempt to take hostages it’s not surprising that people - often innocents - will die. The deaths of Danny Haran, his daughters and policeman Eliayhu Shachar were not unforeseen consequences of Samir Kuntar and his confederates. It’s not like he was driving to his prom, took his eyes off the road and plowed into a crowd of pedestrians. That would be something gone horribly wrong. The gang of terrorists entered Israel intent on committing acts of violence. They succeeded in committing violence, even if they had other plans in mind.

The Times goes on to recount the unfortunate circumstances of Mr. Kuntar’s youth and then provides a skewed summary of Kuntar’s trial designed to raise doubts about his role in the murders of Danny and Einat Haran. (A more complete account of the trial is available at Israel’s MFA website. h/t Backspin.)

It doesn’t just take 30 years of hindsight to humanize a murderer Honest Reporting notes that news organizations were doing it immediately after the bulldozer attack in Israel two weeks ago.

There was no excuse for the story in the Times. The reporter consciously made every effort to minimize Samir Kuntar’s guilt and raises no serious questions about societies that lionize such monsters. It’s not like Kuntar is remorseful.

Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, whom Israel has agreed to free as part of a possible prisoner swap deal with Hizbullah, has vowed to continue engaging in terror after his release.

(h/t Solomonia)

Something did go horribly wrong. When a newspaper loses all its moral bearings and effectively defends the indefensible it loses its moral authority.

Kuntar deserves no sympathy, just some lead.
UPDATE: Jeffrey Goldberg via memeorandum:

If the raiders had succeeded in kidnapping Israeli civilians without murdering children, in other words, would it have gone just fine, by Craig Smith’s standards?

Alternatively James Taranto asks:

What does the Times think would have happened if the “raid” had gone right?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

I have one tiny request of just one of the IDF soldiers that will be escorting Samir Kuntar to the prisoner exchange.

The deal will take place as follows:

• Kuntar and the four other prisoners were transferred from jail to a military facility near Rosh Hanikra on Tuesday night.
• Simultaneously, 23 trucks carrying 199 bodies of Hizbullah fighters began making their way to the Rosh Hanikra area.
• Regev and Goldwasser are expected to arrive at the exchange point in Rosh Hanikra at 9 am.
• The two soldiers will then be identified in a process which may take several hours.
• At the end of the identification process, Major-Generals Gadi Shamni and Elazar Stern will arrive at the homes of the captives’ families and will inform them of their loved ones fate.
• The families will make their way to the Shraga Camp in the Nahariya area, where they will meet the two soldiers. (If the troops are returned dead, their funerals are likely to be held on Thursday.)
• Upon the completion of the investigation, the five prisoners and 199 bodies will be transferred to Lebanon.

My request? Kindly give him back with a few ounces of lead inside his head.

I think it would send the perfect message back to Hezbullah and Hamas.

Hezbullah didn’t even have to hold up its end of the deal fully, and yet, the prisoner exchange is going ahead.

The Israeli Prison Service transferred Monday morning four of the Lebanese prisoners slated for release in the framework of the upcoming exchange deal with Hizbulllah from the Ashmoret Prison to the Hadarim Prison, where terrorist Samir Kuntar, who is also included in the deal, is held.

The four prisoners, who had been held at Ashmoret since the Second Lebanon War, were taken to Hadarim by van at around 10:40 am.

Lebanese newspaper Al- Safir reported Monday that the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hizbullah will take place on Wednesday, at 9 am at the Nakura crossing, located north of Rosh Hanikra. German mediator Gerhard Konrad is expected to be present during the exchange.

And the IDF thinks that after the swap, Hezbullah might, gee, try to kidnap more soldiers or attack Israel or something. Because it’s not like they’ve ever done it before.

Israeli security establishment officials fear Hizbullah will boost its rearmament efforts and may look to escalate the situation along the northern border following the implementation of the upcoming prisoner exchange deal.

The officials believe, however, that Hizbullah is wary of a harsh Israeli response and will therefore act with caution.

Really? You mean like the caution that’s caused them to rearm to the point where they have more weapons now than they did before the war in 2006?

The organization has been able to obtain more rockets and has increased is caches of short and mid-range rockets by 30% and over – going from having several hundred rockets, to having several thousands.

Since the war ended, Iran has tightened its ties with Hizbullah, making its resources available to it, training and armament wise. Hizbullah’s recruitment capabilities have never better and it has been rapidly increasing in numbers

But it’s so good to know that Ehud Olmert thinks Israel is closer to peace with the Palestinians than ever before. And that he thinks giving up the Golan is the way to achieve peace with Syria. Because it’s working so well with Hezbullah, they’re ready to break out the doves and olive branches.

Oh. Wait.

One of the things that is extremely puzzling about any AP report on Samir Kuntar is why the AP insists on presenting Kuntar’s side of the story as if the facts were disputed. In every story about the Lebanese prisoner exchange, you now read something like this:

One of the Lebanese convicts to be freed in the deal has been held in an Israeli prison nearly 30 years for his role in a 1979 attack that Israelis perceive as one of the cruelest in their history.

Samir Kantar dragged a man and his 4-year-old daughter from their apartment to the beach below, and according to witness testimony, shot the man to death in front of his child, then crushed her head against a rock with his rifle butt. He also was convicted of killing a policeman. The man’s wife accidentally smothered their 2-year-old daughter in an effort to keep her from crying out and disclosing their hiding place in a crawl space in the apartment.

Kantar has denied killing the older child or crushing her skull.

He was caught by Israeli soldiers. When he saw that he was about to be caught, he murdered his two captives. There is no dispute, which is why he’s serving life in prison. And yet, the AP sees fit to include Kuntar’s denial in every article in which they mention his crimes.

Why?

What purpose does it serve?

How does it show “objectivity” to include a murderer’s protestations of innocence? There were witnesses. He was tried and convicted in an Israeli court. And still, the AP includes Kuntar’s lies.

I think it speaks volumes about the AP’s utter lack of objectivity when it comes to Israel.

Looks like Israel is creating more reasons for Hezbullah, Hamas, and other terrorists to kidnap more Israelis. They’re freeing Samir Kuntar and other Lebanese prisoners for what is now declared the corposes of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.

The cabinet approved Sunday the prisoner exchange deal with Hizbullah, which will facilitate the return of IDF captives Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. The motion was carried with a majority of 22 ministers.

Earlier, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert urged his ministers to vote in favor of the deal. “At the end of a long process, I have reached the conclusion that as the Israeli prime minister I must recommend that you approve the proposal which will bring this painful affair to an end – even at the painful price it requires us to pay,” Olmert said during Sunday’s cabinet meeting.

I’m not an Israeli. I don’t understand why the nation will allow terrorists to hold it hostage this way. But I do understand cause and effect, and incentives. Israel has just guaranteed that Hezbullah will try to kidnap more soldiers. Next up: the Hamas swap for Gilad Shalit.

There’s one tiny point of light at the end of this dark tunnel. I think that Israel may be clearing up all the details of her prisoners and KIA hostages as a way to clear the decks for action in Gaza. In other words: If Israel has her captives back, whether they are alive or dead, she can then start clearing out the terrorist rat’s nests with a clear conscience, and without fear that it is causing their deaths.

Mind you, I have a tendency to see the glass half-full, so this may be entirely wishful thinking. But maybe it isn’t.

Israel appeases Hamas by entering a truce with them, and Hizbullah gets the message: Israel is a pushover.

Hizbullah has returned to its original demand that Israel release not only several Lebanese prisoners but also hundreds of Palestinian ones in exchange for kidnapped soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, Ynet has learned.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s specially appointed envoy overseeing MIA affairs, Ofer Dekel, heard the renewed stipulation at a meeting with German mediator Gerhard Conrad in Berlin last week.

And why not? Israel is ignoring the fact that Hamas is using the truce to rearm and regroup, showing Hizbullah that Ehud Olmert will agree to just about anything these days. He’s offering the Golan to Syria and allowing the U.S. and the UN to ignore the UN-agreed-to Shebaa Farms border. So why would Nasrallah think that he needs to actually deal in good faith with Israel? No one else is.

The prime minister vehemently rejected the renewed demand. Israel has repeatedly said it would not consider including Palestinian prisoners in a deal for Regev and Goldwasser under any circumstances. Hizbullah is insisting on the clause to solidify its standing in the Arab world as patrons of the Palestinian cause.

Sure. And a few weeks ago, Olmert vehemently objected to any truce that didn’t include Gilad Shalit’s freedom. Just wait. He’ll cave on this, too. He’s currently threatening to fire all of his cabinet ministers who vote to dissolve the government this week. It remains to be seen if his ministers care more about Israel than they do for their own positions. I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.

The Labor ministers left the government meeting in order to confer with Labor Chairman Ehud Barak. One of the ministers who witnessed
the scene told Ynet that “The Labor ministers were seriously spooked and immediately left to ask Barak what they should do. The prime minister has proven to them that they won’t be able to keep their jobs while undermining the government.”

Let him fire you, morons. You’ll only be out of work for as long as it takes to complete new elections.

Barak told his ministers that they must hold their ground and vote for the dissolution of the Knesset in view of the multiple police investigations held against Olmert.

Labor announced last week that it intends to back the future motion of dissolution, although given the choice it would “opt for governmental stability rather than new general elections”.

Translation: Polls show a Labor defeat, so we won’t call for elections yet.

I simply can’t get a handle on why Israeli politicians suck so much, and then I take a look around at American politicians, and I go, “Oh.”

Back in February, 2002, Thomas Friedman trumpeted the Saudi “peace plan” as proposed by then-Crown Prince (now King) Abdullah:

Earlier this month, I wrote a column suggesting that the 22 members of the Arab League, at their summit in Beirut on March 27 and 28, make a simple, clear-cut proposal to Israel to break the Israeli-Palestinian impasse: In return for a total withdrawal by Israel to the June 4, 1967, lines, and the establishment of a Palestinian state, the 22 members of the Arab League would offer Israel full diplomatic relations, normalized trade and security guarantees. Full withdrawal, in accord with U.N. Resolution 242, for full peace between Israel and the entire Arab world. Why not?

I am currently in Saudi Arabia on a visit — part of the Saudi opening to try to explain themselves better to the world in light of the fact that 15 Saudis were involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. So I took the opportunity of a dinner with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, and de facto ruler, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, to try out the idea of this Arab League proposal. I knew that Jordan, Morocco and some key Arab League officials had been talking about this idea in private but had not dared to broach it publicly until one of the ”big boys” — Saudi Arabia or Egypt — took the lead.

After I laid out this idea, the crown prince looked at me with mock astonishment and said, ”Have you broken into my desk?”

”No,” I said, wondering what he was talking about.

”The reason I ask is that this is exactly the idea I had in mind — full withdrawal from all the occupied territories, in accord with U.N. resolutions, including in Jerusalem, for full normalization of relations,” he said. ”I have drafted a speech along those lines. My thinking was to deliver it before the Arab summit and try to mobilize the entire Arab world behind it. The speech is written, and it is in my desk. But I changed my mind about delivering it when Sharon took the violence, and the oppression, to an unprecedented level.

After this free publicity, Abdullah went around the Arab world to garner support for his initiative. On one of his stops he visited Syria and as the NY Times reports, President Bashar Assad gave his crucial support to the initiative.

Syria expressed its support today for a Saudi peace effort for the Middle East, while a bomb planted in an Arab schoolyard and crude rockets fired at an Israeli town fed the rapidly expanding blood feud between Israelis and Palestinians.

In its first statement on the plan proposed last month by Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, which pledges Arab countries to a full normalization of relations with Israel in return for full Israeli withdrawal from land occupied in the 1967 war, Syria expressed its ‘’satisfaction with the position of Saudi Arabia.”

The statement followed a meeting between Prince Abdullah and President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in Riyadh. It said a comprehensive peace ”cannot be achieved except with Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab land, including the Syrian Golan.” The statement also called for the right of return for Palestinian refugees, a matter critical to Lebanon, where many of them live.

This report leaves out a critical point. Syria insisted that Abdullah include language demanding an Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon. The communique from the Arab summit reflects this change:

Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.

What’s remarkable about this demand is that Israel had already withdrawn beyond the accepted international border of Lebanon two years earlier!

The United Nations has confirmed that Israeli troops have completely withdrawn from south Lebanon. But the Lebanese Government rejected the UN verification, saying Israeli forces were still in control of some part of Lebanese territory.

The point of the dispute was the area known as the Shebaa farms.

A group of farms close to the poorly-defined border of Lebanon and Syria has emerged as a potential new flashpoint for conflict between Israel and Lebanese Muslim guerrillas.

The Syrian-backed guerrilla group, Hezbollah, says Israel must withdraw from the area of the Shebaa farms - which it says lies on Lebanese territory - or face continued attacks.

Israel says most of the area lies on the Syrian side of the Lebanon/Syria border and that it will only withdraw from the part marked as Lebanese territory on United Nations maps.

I suspect that the vagueness of the BBC’s reporting here is due to its pro-Arab bias, adding uncertainty to Israel’s claim, but later on it gets to the key point:

Syria agrees with Lebanon that the Shebaa farms area is part of Lebanon.

However, Israel points out that it seized the territory from Syria, during the 1967 Middle East War.

This isn’t a small matter. After everyone claimed that Hezbollah would lay down arms or if they didn’t would be exposed as terrorists worthy of destruction. Here’s Thomas Friedman from his fantasy “How Bibi got re-elected”

Now that Israeli troops are out of Lebanon, noted Mr. Netanyahu, everything is reversed: Politically, if the Iranian-directed Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas try to come across the border, they will be invading Israel, and Israel will be justified in massively retaliating against Lebanese, Syrian and Iranian troops that abet such an invasion. And if Israel does retaliate, it won’t be with guerrilla warfare, but with the Israeli Air Force massively striking Lebanese, Iranian and Syrian military targets in Lebanon, and maybe inside Syria.

But of course Hezbollah regularly violated the border between 2000 and 2006. In 2004 Friedman wrote:

Israel’s withdrawal is not a cure-all for this. Israel will still be despised. But if it withdraws to an internationally recognized border, it will have the moral high ground, the strategic high ground and the demographic high ground to protect itself. After Israel withdrew from Lebanon, the Hezbollah militia, on the other side, went on hating Israel and harassing the border — but it never tried to launch an invasion. Why? Hezbollah knew it would have no legitimacy — in the world or in Lebanon — for breaching that U.N.-approved border. And if it tried, Israel would be able to use its full military weight to retaliate.

Friedman having been proved wrong that Hezbollah would at least respect the border and would devote its energies to building itself politically in Lebanon. So he comforted himself by raising the threshold: Hezbollah would never invade Israel. It was a standard that would be proven wrong in 2006.

And of course behind Hezbollah’s continued war against Israel was the false pretext that Israel still “occupied” Lebanese territory, Shebaa Farms. That is the reason that Syria actively promoted the idea that Shebaa Farms was Lebanese. It needed a justification for allowing Hezbollah to continue attacking Israel with impunity. Alan Makovsky put it like this:

Support for Hizballah and the Lebanese claim to Shebaa Farms
Syria not only endorsed an Arab League summit statement supporting Lebanon’s claim to Shebaa farms, but Syrian U.N. ambassador Mikha�il Wahbi also wrote in an October 24 letter, “Israel . . . has not completed the withdrawal from south Lebanon to the internationally recognized borders, including the Shebaa farms.” This stance, in effect, justifies ongoing Hizballah attacks on Israel, retaining for Syria a source of pressure on Israel, despite the “loss” of southern Lebanon. Syria has supported and has no doubt directed Lebanon�s refusal to deploy its troops to the border following the Israeli withdrawal.

And the more pernicious implication of the claim that Shebaa Farms is Lebanese territory, is that it shows that the Arab world will continually change the terms to which Israel must comply in order to earn an ill-defined “peace.” So it’s a mistake for Israel to accede to this demand. It’s also a mistake for the West - especially the United States - to promote this fiction. All it does is strengthen Iran and its proxies at the expense of Israel and the West.

I’ve provided you with this background so we can evaluate a few paragraphs from yesterday’s New York Times on the current effort to push Israel to negotiate with Lebanon over Shebaa farms:

When Israel withdrew from the occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, the United Nations Security Council stated that the withdrawal was complete even though Israel held onto the disputed area because Shebaa, the United Nations said, was part of the Syrian Golan Heights occupied by Israel.

But Lebanon and Hezbollah say the land is Lebanese, and Syria has not contradicted them. Moreover, Hezbollah has used Israel’s hold over Shebaa as a reason for keeping its men under arms despite United Nations resolutions calling for the disarming of all Lebanese militias.

Hezbollah says that as long as part of the Lebanese homeland is occupied, it needs its weapons because the national army is weak.

But the West, especially the United States and France, wants to reduce the power of Hezbollah, a client of both Syria and Iran, and has been looking for ways to strengthen the pro-Western government of Lebanon.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah officials made clear that they viewed Israel’s offer as part of an effort to disarm the group. “If they really want to give us back our land, they can withdraw and implement the Security Council resolutions,” said Nawar Sahili, a Hezbollah member of Lebanon’s Parliament, referring to a United Nations resolution that calls for the Shebaa issue to be resolved.

Saying that Syria “has not contradicted” Hezbollah on Shebaa farms is a vast understatement. Syria has promoted this idea for its client Hezbollah.

The assertion that Israel negotiating with Lebanon will somehow strengthen the “pro-Western government of Lebanon” is outright nonsense. It will strengthen Hezbollah at the expense of the nominally pro-Western government of Fuad Siniora.

Finally, quoting a member of Hezbollah mentioning Security Council resolutions without mentioning the various resolutions that Hezbollah is violating serves to give cover to the terrorist organization.

Resolution 425 which Israel fulfilled when it withdrew from Southern Lebanon, also called for the disarming of militias and the Lebanese army establishing control over southern Lebanon. Hezbollah’s continued control over Southern Lebanon prior to 2006 stood in direct violation of that resolution. And its re-arming now - which the article notes - violates Resolution 1701 - which the article doesn’t note.

For Israel, the main concern in Lebanon is Hezbollah’s increasing power. Israeli military officials say that Hezbollah has many more rockets and much deadlier ones today than it had two years ago when the two fought a monthlong war after Hezbollah guerrillas crossed the border to capture and kill Israeli soldiers.

Acceding to Syria’s and Hezbollah’s demands will only serve to strengthen them. If Israel gives in here, Hezbollah will make new demands. Better that Israel should be (unfairly) portrayed as unreasonable than that Iran’s proxies should be strengthened even further.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

The true obstacles to peace in the Middle East are not settlements. The obstacles are the thugs ruling the Arab states that refuse to ever compromise.

First, Syria says Israel can forget about peace until AFTER she gives up all the land that should rightly be the object of the discussion towards peace between the two nations:

A senior Syrian official said on Tuesday no direct negotiations will be held with Israel until it recognizes what Damascus regards as requirements for a deal.

“I think it is too early to resume direct talks. There are conditions,” Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal al-Mekdad told reporters. “I hope Israel responds to the requirements of peace, which are the end of the occupation of Palestine and the establishment of a Palestinian state, restoration of the Syrian Golan and pull out of remaining occupied Lebanese territory,” he added.

Now, Lebanon says the same thing after Olmert floated the balloon of starting peace talks with Beirut. In order to achieve peace, Israel must begin bargaining after giving away the farm:

Lebanon poured cold water Wednesday on Israel’s hope that Beirut would follow Damascus in opening peace talks with Israel, saying it had to withdraw from what Beirut considers its occupied land.

Lebanon’s response came after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his cabinet on Tuesday he hoped Lebanon would consider opening talks on peace with the Jewish state.

In other words, give us everything we want and then some, and maybe we’ll talk peace after that. The Arab position hasn’t changed. They said no in 1948, again in 1967, and have been saying no to peace with Israel for over 60 years.

Let’s remember that next time some moron insists that it’s “settlements” that are stopping the peace process. No, it’s Arab irredentism and rejectionism of Israel.

Earlier I wrote about Thomas Friedman’s column, It’s all about leverage. In retrospect the construction of that post was awkward and needs a real makeover.

Friedman, is capable of astute observations. In his op-ed today he argue that Iran, Syria and their proxies have gained leverage in the Middle East in a number of ways:

Principle No. 1: Always seek “control without responsibility.” In Lebanon, Gaza and Iraq, Iran & Friends have veto power over the politics, without being held fully responsible for the electricity. America’s allies, by contrast, tend to have “responsibility without control.”Principle No. 2: Always insist on being able to both run for political office and bear arms. In Lebanon, Gaza and Iraq, America’s opponents are both in the government and have their own militias.

Principle No. 3: Use suicide bombing and targeted assassinations against any opponents who get in your way. In Lebanon, Syria is widely suspected to have been behind the spate of killings of anti-Syrian journalists and parliamentarians. One suicide attack on a major official in Iraq can neutralize superior U.S. power.

Principle No. 4: Use the Internet as a free command and control system for raising money, recruiting and operations.

Principle No. 5: Cast yourself as the “resistance” to Israel and America, so any opposition to you is equal to support for Israel and America and so no matter how badly you are defeated the mere fact that you “resisted” means you didn’t really lose.

These are all good descriptions of the way the extremists in the Middle East have managed to achieve power and control. However, one question he doesn’t address is how it was possible for Iran, Syria and proxies to achieve all this.

The reason he doesn’t go too far back, is because policies that he advocated have served to empower Hezbollah and Hamas and teach Syria and Iran that they will not suffer for their mischief making.

In a hypothetical column written in 1999, Thomas Friedman described how PM Binyamin Netanyahu would be re-elected.

Now that Israeli troops are out of Lebanon, noted Mr. Netanyahu, everything is reversed: Politically, if the Iranian-directed Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas try to come across the border, they will be invading Israel, and Israel will be justified in massively retaliating against Lebanese, Syrian and Iranian troops that abet such an invasion. And if Israel does retaliate, it won’t be with guerrilla warfare, but with the Israeli Air Force massively striking Lebanese, Iranian and Syrian military targets in Lebanon, and maybe inside Syria.The Israeli move has totally unnerved the Syrians, the Hezbollah guerrillas and Iran. ”They are all now in a quandary,” said the Middle East expert Stephen P. Cohen. ”The Hezbollah guerrillas are saying to themselves: ‘Now that we have liberated Lebanon, do we want to use that as leverage to rule Lebanon? Or do we want to use that as a springboard to move on to Jerusalem?’ If they want to do the latter, now they’re really going to have to pay for it.”

When it became clear that Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon hadn’t defanged Hezbollah and that Syria did not pay for continuing to sponsor Hezbollah, Friedman still declared the withdrawal a success and recommended that it serves as the model for withdrawing from Gaza.

Hezbollah knows it can’t launch any serious attack on Israel from Lebanon now without triggering a massive retaliation in which Israel’s air force would destroy all the power plants of Beirut. This would bring down the wrath of all of Lebanon on Hezbollah — because the Lebanese public would not consider an unprovoked Hezbollah attack on Israel as legitimate, or worth sacrificing for, now that Israel is out of Lebanon and Lebanon’s sovereignty is restored.”In every conflict, the extent to which a party can muster domestic support and international support, and the extent to which its public will withstand higher thresholds of pain, is very much a function of the degree of international legitimacy for that cause,” argues Shibley Telhami, Middle East studies professor at the University of Maryland. ”As soon as Israel withdrew from Lebanon to the internationally recognized border, the legitimacy factor shifted from Hezbollah to Israel. This may seem abstract, but it’s not.”

This was written some two years before the Israel/Hezbollah war, so as you can see Hezbollah was not deterred and given the complaints about Israel’s attacks in Lebanon, Israel acquired little if any goodwill for its withdrawal. In the meantime Friedman reduced the benefits Israel received to “…few Israelis have been killed there in four years.” He said nothing of the efforts Hezbollah was making to re-arm and fortify its positions. Either he didn’t know about them, in which case he isn’t nearly as well informed about the Middle East as he would pretend, or he didn’t wish to divulge that information because it contradicted his thesis.

So he recommended:

The lesson for Israel is clear: If you are going to get out of Gaza unilaterally, get out all the way to the U.N.-blessed international border. Do not do it halfway; otherwise you end up with the worst of all worlds: still embroiled in a guerrilla war, still taking casualties, unable to use your superior firepower and getting blamed for everything. Gaza may be easier than Lebanon, too, because unlike Syria and Hezbollah, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt would not have an interest — after an Israeli pullout — in keeping Gaza boiling. Because that would empower Hamas.

Israel pulled out of Gaza, it still took casualties and got blamed for everything. (How many times has the UN taken a vote that concluded that Israel’s treatment of Gaza is understandable given the terror emanating for that territory?) Egypt hasn’t behaved as Friedman predicted allowing Hamas to smuggle rockets and other munitions into Gaza.

In short, Israel did in Gaza exactly as Friedman suggested and the results contradicted his rosy vision of the future. Of course, he based his “prediction” on the faulty assumption that Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon had shifted the onus of “occupation” from Israel to Hezbollah. In fact it had shown Hezbollah that it could get away with ignoring the international consensus with no adverse effects. Resolution 425 wasn’t just about Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, it also stipulated that the government of Lebanon was to extend its presence and authority there. Of course the Lebanese government never fulfilled its obligation and took on Hezbollah, allowing the terrorist organization to build its infrastructure in preparation for an eventual war with Israel.

In fact Friedman would demonstrate that he really didn’t care whether or not Hezbollah abided by the terms of 425. During the Israel-Hezbollah war he wrote:

Israeli soldiers were napping when this war started — that’s why they got ambushed — for the very best reasons: They have so much more to do with their lives, and they live in a society that empowers and enables them to do it. (Unfortunately, the Buffett company is in northern Israel and had to be temporarily closed because of rocket attacks.)Young Israelis dream of being inventors, and their role models are the Israeli innovators who made it to the Nasdaq. Hezbollah youth dream of being martyrs, and their role models are Islamic militants who made it to the Next World. Israel spent the last six years preparing for Warren Buffett, while Hezbollah spent the last six years preparing for this war.

If you’re “caught napping” when an enemy is preparing for war against you, that’s not the “best reasons,” it’s a sign that the Israeli government wasn’t taking threats against it seriously. Neither did Friedman much care.

In fact, later in the essay he wrote:

Israel mustn’t get sucked into that same grave. Israel needs to get a cease-fire and an international force into south Lebanon — and get out. Israel can’t defeat Hezbollah, it can only hurt it enough to make it think twice about ever doing this again — and it has pretty much done that. It must not destroy any more of Lebanon, which is going to still be its neighbor when the guns fall silent.

And of course destroying significant amount of Hezbollah’s infrastructure and hundreds of its fighter combined with the watchful eye of the UN would ensure that Hezbollah would never be able to rebuild. Did Friedman really believe that?

Iran and Syria have restocked Hezbollah’s arsenal. The UN has done nothing and now Hezbollah has effectively managed veto power of Lebanon’s government. This is what’s happened as Israel has (unwittingly) followed every bit of advice Middle East sage, Thomas Friedman has had to offer.

Israel could have destroyed Hezbollah but chose not to determining that the collateral damage and the likely international disappoval were not worth it. Hezbollah boasted that it won the war and, thus emboldened, acted accordingly. For Friedman to lament now that the good guys have no leverage is to ignore that they’ve been following every bit of advice he’s offered. If Hezbollah had to fear destruction, not a setback, then the West would have some leverage. But it doesn’t.

Friedman is either exceedingly naive or he’s an absolute fool.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Two versions of the same story went out about the Hizbullah/Israel trade of remains for a prisoner. In the earlier version, the background on the Samir Kuntar story went like this:

A larger swap is extremely emotional for Israelis because it would likely involve Samir Kantar, the longest-serving Lebanese prisoner.

Kantar is serving multiple life sentences for infiltrating northern Israel in 1979 and killing four Israelis, including a 28-year-old man, the man’s 4-year-old daughter and two Israeli policemen.

He was convicted of killing the girl by smashing her head against rocks and then with a rifle butt. During the incident, the girl’s mother smothered a 2-year-old daughter to death while hiding from Kantar.

There’s no context. Someone at the AP made it look like Smadar Haran just killed her baby. Two of the early versions went out with the above misinformation. But then, someone noticed. The updated story:

The release of Kantar would be particularly difficult for Israelis to accept.

He is serving multiple life sentences for infiltrating northern Israel in 1979 and killing four Israelis - a 28-year-old man, the man’s 4-year-old daughter and two Israeli policemen.

Kantar repeatedly smashed the young girl’s head against a rock and crushed her skull with a rifle butt. Her mother, while trying to silence the cries of her other daughter, accidentally smothered the 2-year-old.

There’s still not enough context—but let Smadar Haran tell you what happened.

They held Danny and Einat while they searched for me and Yael, knowing there were more people in the apartment. I will never forget the joy and the hatred in their voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades. I knew that if Yael cried out, the terrorists would toss a grenade into the crawl space and we would be killed. So I kept my hand over her mouth, hoping she could breathe. As I lay there, I remembered my mother telling me how she had hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. “This is just like what happened to my mother,” I thought.

The AP couldn’t get the details of the attack right. They implied that the mother was a murderer. And they felt it was not important enough to name the victims. Bad enough that Israeli victims of terror are almost never named, while the terrorists have their names plastered all over the news. But for the AP to misinform the world on the reason Yael Haran died—that’s inexcusable.

The magnanimity and generosity of Sheik Nasrallah (PBUH) doesn’t know borders.

Red Cross confirms receiving box which Shiite organization claims contains body parts of Israeli soldiers killed in Second Lebanon War, following release of convicted Lebanese spy Nissim Nasser from Israeli jail.
…
According to reports in Lebanon, the deal to deliver the remains in exchange for Nasser was finalized in advance and made public only upon its implementation at the border crossing. It appears that even Hizbullah’s al-Manar network was surprised by the news.

According to repeated assurances by IDF and its religious arm (that is quite careful when taking care of the bodies), there were no missing bodies of our soldiers who fell during the Second Lebanon War. So what the box contains are at best assorted body parts that were not found by the burial commands.

Buzzard (to take one example of a carrion eater) goes about its unappetizing business of feeding on cadavers. Such is its nature, revolting as it may look to some people.

But even the buzzard wouldn’t engage in a trade of the kind Hizballah indulges in.

Cross-posted on SimplyJews.

I’ve been reluctant to write about this, because it simply enrages me. The murderer who comitted one of the most heinous crimes in Israel’s history is about to be set free.

Israel needs the death penalty to prevent more trades like this in the future. If Samir Kuntar had been executed 29 years ago, Israel would not be exchanging him for Israeli prisoners (who may not even be alive) Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were kidnapped specifically for this cause. Once again, the Arab world learns that terrorism pays. And Kuntar is going to be released to commit more murder, which he has already promised he will do. The process has begun, and is probably winding to its inevitable end.

Hizbullah terrorists have returned Israeli body parts that they’ve held since 2006 for this very purpose.

Hizbullah on Sunday handed over to Israel remains of an unidentified number of Israeli soldiers killed in the Second Lebanon War, al-Manar television reported.

The body parts’ transfer was completed shortly after 3 pm, and the remains were taken for identification to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in a Magen David Adom ambulance along with representatives of the Army Chaplaincy.

[...] A Hizbullah official, Wafik Safa, reported of the remains’ transfer at the Lebanese coastal border town of Naqoura minutes after Lebanese-Israeli citizen Nissim Nasser was released by Israel after serving a six-year jail term for spying for Hizbullah.

It’s step two in the future transfer. This was step one:

Nasser is believed to have been released as part of a future prisoner swap deal with Hizbullah, which would include the return of kidnapped Israeli soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser and the release of six Lebanese prisoners, including murdered Samir Kuntar.

If Samir Kuntar’s name is familiar to you, it’s because he and his fellow terrorists murdered two police officers and the Haran family.

On the night of April 22, 1979, a terrorist cell of four operatives landed on Nahariya’s shore from Lebanon. They surrounded Amnon Sela’s villa on the water front and pressed the interphone buzzer.

Sela and his wife noticed the suspicious figures carrying backpacks and assumed they were burglars. Police forces quickly arrived at the scene.

Eliyahu Shachar, a 25-year-old officer who was also the shift commander arrived at the scene first. He was hoping to red-handedly catch the burglars, but a bullet shot through his neck when he exited his vehicle. The terrorist cell headed by Kuntar moved on to the Haran residence, where they murdered the father Danny Haran and his daughters Einat, 4, and Yael, 2.

What the article does not tell you is that Samir Kuntar killed Danny Haran in front of his daughter Einat, and then he smashed Einat’s skull on a rock. Smadar Haran’s first-person account was published in the Washington Post.

Outside, we could hear the men storming about. Desperately, we sought to hide. Danny helped our neighbor climb into a crawl space above our bedroom; I went in behind her with Yael in my arms. Then Danny grabbed Einat and was dashing out the front door to take refuge in an underground shelter when the terrorists came crashing into our flat. They held Danny and Einat while they searched for me and Yael, knowing there were more people in the apartment. I will never forget the joy and the hatred in their voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades. I knew that if Yael cried out, the terrorists would toss a grenade into the crawl space and we would be killed. So I kept my hand over her mouth, hoping she could breathe. As I lay there, I remembered my mother telling me how she had hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. “This is just like what happened to my mother,” I thought.

Yael died. She was inadvertently smothered by her mother to keep her from giving away their hiding place.

More than one family was ripped apart by Kuntar. The brother of one of the police officers they shot was interviewed by Ynet last week.

“After my brother’s murder, my mother would visit the cemetery every single day and sleep near his grave,” said Haim. “She died of grief eight months later at the age of 44. My father became an alcoholic who would sit at home drinking constantly. Four years later, the alcohol beat him and he passed away at 51.”

[...] A year after his brother’s murder, Kuntar was transferred to Beersheba Prison and placed on kitchen duty. Their meeting was inevitable.

“The first time a saw him I could hardly believe my eyes. I wanted to kill him and it was simply unbearable,” said Haim. “I repeatedly asked to have him transferred from there because I couldn’t deal with seeing him around, but he stayed on. He knew exactly who I was and remembered me from his trial. Every time he saw me in the kitchen he would stare at me and smile.”

This is the subhuman scum that will be released soon. I can only pray that the Mossad sends an assassination squad after him to do what should have been done in 1979. If Kuntar is freed, may his life be short, and his death quick. And as painful as possible.

Now, I am far from an expert on Lebanon, and I’ve been reading Tony Bey and the others who know a lot more than I do, but I have a suspicion that this cannot be at all good:

Hizbullah strikes another achievement at the end of a particularly severe round of violence in Lebanon : Arab mediators have announced a breakthrough deal between feuding Lebanese factions struck after five days of talks in Qatar to end Lebanon’s 18-month political crisis.

As part of the deal, 11 of the 30 ministers in a national unity government in Beirut will be Hizbullah members, giving the Shiite organization the right to veto any decision. This was one of the main demands made by Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah during the recent crisis.

In other words, Hezbullah seems to have gotten everything it wants since sending its goons into Beirut to terrorize the non-Shia residents.

This is the way of the Arab world. Osama said it years ago: “When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse.”

Sixteen of Lebanon’s current ministers will serve in the new government, and another three will serve on behalf of the president. Hizbullah agreed to compromise on its demand to establish an interim government and hold elections, and had refused at first to settle for only one-third of the government members.

The sides also agreed to appoint Lebanon’s army commander, General Michel Suleiman, the next Lebanese president.

Suleiman ordered the army to stand by as Hezbullah goons burned down opposition TV stations and murdered Sunnis.

Iran has more of a foothold than ever. Syria is supplying Hezbullah with weapons. So what is Israel doing right now?

Talking with Syria.

The Prime Minister’s Office announced Wednesday that Israel and Syria have launched direct negotiations in Turkey.

Ynet has learned that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s associates, Yoram Turbowitz and Shalom Turgeman, have been meeting with senior Syrian officials in Ankara since Monday.

A dramatic statement issued simultaneously in Jerusalem, Damascus and Ankara said that “Israel and Syria have launched peace talks mediated by Turkey.

“The two sides have declared their intention to hold the negotiations in good faith and openly, and hold a serious and continuous dialogue in order to reach a comprehensive peace deal in accordance with the framework set at the (1991) Madrid Conference.”

Following the announcement, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said that Israel had agreed to fully concede the Golan Heights.

Sources at the Prime Minister’s Office told Ynet in response, “The negotiations are being held on the basis of the Madrid Conference principles. We do not recall an Israeli commitment at the conference to fully cede the Golan Heights.”

The Madrid principles are land for peace. So far, land for peace has proven to be the exact opposite: The Gaza Strip is no longer under Israeli control, and Israel is under daily rocket attack from the Strip. Palestinians in the West Bank still plot and attempt terror attacks on a daily basis, from tossing rocks and molotov cocktails at Israelis in the West Bank to trying to blow up soldiers at checkpoints.

Syria supplies weapons and material to Hezbullah. Syria has treaties with Iran, including a defense treaty. When Syria had the Golan Heights, they were used to bombard Israeli towns.

But that’s not all of it. The Olmert government is also ready to agree to the “truce” with Hamas, giving the terrorists a breathing space and room to re-arm.

Ceasefire in Gaza? Israel has accepted the principle of a proposed truce in the Gaza Strip, a senior official from Egypt, which has been brokering the negotiations, told his country’s official MENA news agency on Tuesday.

“Israeli leaders (have informed us) of their support for and understanding of the Egyptian proposals for a truce,” the news agency quoted the official as saying without giving his name.

Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman - who has acted as go-between in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas - conveyed the news to a delegation from the Islamist group which controls Gaza earlier in the day, the news agency added.

In Jerusalem, the Israeli government spokesman neither confirmed nor denied the Egyptian report.

“As far as we are concerned, we can only indicate that contacts are continuing,” said Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

So let’s recap: Hezbullah invades Beirut, causes the deaths of 70 Lebanese, destroys opposition TV stations, and gets what it wants: The man it wants for president, the representation it wants in the government, and veto power over any decisions made by the rest of the Lebanese ministers. Syria supplies Hezbullah with weapons, keeps Hamas headquarters in downtown Damascus, regularly holds terrorism get-togethers to plot Israel’s destruction, sends terrorists into Iraq, and is partners with Iran. Hamas refuses to end its terror attacks against Israel and intends to destroy the Jewish State.

And yet, all three warmongers are getting—exactly what they want.

Terrorism works. Violence works. This proves it.

There’s a group called Follow the Women that’s organized a bike ride through the Middle East in the name of peace. Here’s what a participant wrote last month:

Nearly 250 women, representing 30 nationalities from mostly Europe and the Middle East, but also the United States and Canada, arrived in Beirut last week for the third “Follow the Women” bike tour, which winds through Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and - Israeli government permitting- the Occupied Palestinian Territories.Started in 2004. One of the founders is a British woman named Detta Regan, “Follow the Women” is not a race, but a bike tour where women ride in the name of female empowerment and the aim of expressing solidarity with the Middle East. It is also a good place to break down cultural stereotypes and experience woman-to-woman diplomacy, away from official government positions and media hype.

Most of the Western women I cycled with expressed surprise at how calm Beirut is, and how beautiful. “It’s nothing like how it is in the news,” the British woman next to me exclaimed.

Note that the group didn’t plan to show solidarity with the women of Israel. And also note that now that