Not that this is news to anyone, but you knew after the miserable terms of the swap last week with Hezbollah, that the way would be paved for Israel acceding to Hamas’ increased demands for the release of Gilad Shalit.  Read here if you think the Israeli government has learned it’s lesson about what one bad deal entails.  No deal is an island unto itself….it will cascade into policy for the terrorist groups who will all demand the increased terms of the deal that preceded the one they want.

Now that Israel gave Hezbollah everything it wanted for 2 dead bodies and a box of various body parts of other soldiers, other groups are taking the hint.  Can anyone give me one reason Hamas still has to keep Gilad alive?  Give up?  Then you are on the money. Keeping him alive or not is immaterial from this point on.  Israel will negotiate for the live soldier or his body and it’s all the same to Hamas…in the end, they will get many prisoners with blood on their hands….maybe everyone they are asking for.

Oh, and Hezbollah isn’t done trying to kidnap soliders either.  There’s still the matter of Ghajar and the Sheeba Farms/Mt. Dov, certified by the UN as part of Israel until they figure out a way to hand it back to Syria, who the UN says it belongs to.  And even if Israel gets out of that quagmire, there is still the matter of 7 Shiite villages abandoned in the Israeli War of Independence.   It will never end.  There will always be some other problem or pretext for groups like these to attack Israel, having nothing to do with certified UN boundaries or whatever.  The UN is no help…they already caved on their own certified blue stamp withdrawal line (UN 425) and are trying to get Israel to give back the Sheeba farms to Lebanon.  Ridiculous.

Caving in to demand after demand from these organizations wont help at at all.  a new policy is needed if Israel is going to deter attacks such as these.  Only making the price unbearable for these terror groups will stop the cross-border raids.  Hamas has claimed Shalit is an asset.  Turn him into a liability.   Shut off the water in Gaza and stop shipments for a few days.  The IAF can patrol against the Qassams and sure, some of them will hit Israel, but I bet you it wont be a week before he’s out of there.  Let the Gazans complain to their elected officials to remove Shalit so they can survive.

As for Hezbollah, the mistake that led to this whole resolution last week was a) not making a deal when the asking price as less and b) NOT sending in the army early and often.  Sure Israel destroyed parts of Lebanon, but with the infusion of Iranian capital, everything is being rebuilt, even if the economy there is still recovering.  The ONLY thing that will convince Hezbollah, it seems, is much greater force than Israel used last time.  If they were surprised Israel attacked the last time, if another such raid occurs, they should make Lebanon look like the moon.  Israel will take its punches from the missiles launched from the north, sure, but they must launch a strike that will take Lebanon years to recover from.  Its the only way to ensure the focus in the north remains on rebuilding the tatters of their country and not petty raids southward.

The price for these attacks must be unbearable.  And please Israel, stop making bum deals that encourage these types of things in the first place.

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