I was a little sad to wake up this morning and see that the prisoner swap was passed by a huge majority of the cabinet over the objections of the Mossad and the GSS. I can’t say I 100% blame them for going that route. This puts an end to another chapter for both Israel and Lebanon. Israel gets back Goldwasser and Regev (and we get to see if they are actually alive) and some information on Ron Arad’s whereabouts. Lebanon will receive Kuntar, some Hezbollah fighters, some dead bodies, so Fakestinian prisoners and some info on the disappearance of some Iranian diplomats in the 90’s.

A couple of thoughts:

1) This seems to be a very steep price to pay if they aren’t alive. And I don’t see how this won’t encourage more kidnappings in the future

2) I don’t see why Hamas wouldn’t raise its already nutty demands for Shalit even more. It seems Israel will pay ANY price, even insanely high ones. It’s a noble sentiment, but it’s got to run up against the law of diminishing returns at some point, no?

3) I still think this is a bad deal. At least we know Shalit’s alive so I can see giving more for him than Kuntar and everything else for 2 corpses.

I’m sure everyone will be disgusted to see Kuntar and the other live fighters and Fakestinians paraded around Beirut as heroes. Look who Lebanon honors…a child killer….yay!! Israel, by contrast, will likely be host to 2 more state funerals. I hope this sad chapter is the beginning of healing for the Regev and Goldwasser families and for everyone affected by this tragedy.

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