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. Read more »

So, it had come down to this. Tomorrow, Israel will send back the murderer, Samir Kuntar, 4 Hezbollah fighters captured in the 2006 Lebanon War along with the bodies of almost 200 Hezbollah fighters, the release of an as yet undetermined number of Palestinian prisoners and a report on Iranian diplomats kidnapped in the 1980’s.

What is Israel getting in return? Well, if you believe the reports from the Lebanese media, Read more »

Hamas seemed to be making gestures earlier this week vis a vis the ‘truce’ with Israel. Israel was making more regular *boom* supply deliveries *boom* to Gaza and *BOOM*.. HEY!! Can we stop those damn Qassams already…we’re trying to have a truce over here!!! Anyway, as I was saying, the ‘truce’ continues on and earlier in the week, Hamas had passed some signs of life regarding Shalit and Israel was attempting to open the crossing for more than a day while yet more rockets were being sent into Israel. Yes, I know..its only 11 of them, but there shouldnt be any flying in…right? Read more »

In yet another case of some Haredim having way too much time on their hands, the latest crusade has been against MP4 players that are pre-loaded with content being sold in Mea Shearim. There was a discussion/ruling on this at and by the ‘Orthodox Righteous Court of Law’ Read more »

On the day after the prisoner swap, there has been a ton of hand- wringing in the media. Did Israel or didn’t Israel do the right thing? Was too high a price paid or was this the only move they could have made? There were some surprises. Read more »

Forgetting about the infighting going on right now about who does or doesn’t have the right to declare Regev and Goldwasser KIA, now Hezbollah has chimed in with some noise of it’s own.  This of course makes total sense in the context of what’s been going on. Read more »

I was all set to head to sleep this evening, but a last minute reading of the news prompted me to post again once more before I go to sleep. I have said for the last 2 days that the deals being considered for the release of Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and even Gilad Shalit are too steep to truly make sense. This applies more to the case of those kidnapped by Nasrallah’s gang of criminals, as at least we know Gilad Shalit is alive. Read more »

Reading the news today garnered one interesting story about what’s going on in Israel. More specifically with the deal Israel is trying to complete with Hizbullah for the return of Goldwasser and Regev for Kuntar and others.

There is an apparent push by the IDF Chief Rabbi to declare the soldiers missing in action and dead. Why this comes up right now seems to be a mystery as there has been plenty of time to do so beforehand. My guess? Israel didn’t want to prejudice the negotiations with Hizbullah and set the bar too low in terms of what Nasrallah would ask as his price for their return. At least if they gave Nasrallah hope, Israel might have hope to regain their stolen sons. Read more »

Ah, sweet surrender. No, not to love or to the beautiful weather we’ve been having. This is what Hamas must be thinking today now that the Defense Minister Ehud Barak seems to have caved on pretty much everything Hamas demanded. Israel basically asked them to “pretty please” not smuggle in arms, and agreed to hand back most of the 450 prisoners Hamas has been demanding, many with blood on their hands. Israel will also have to stop monitoring the Rafah crossing. Egypt will. I’m sure they’ll do as good a job at that as they have preventing smuggling.

Quiet is supposed to come first and if the truce holds, I can’t imagine Gilad Shalit won’t come back for those 450 scumbags. To be fair, since we are all not a fly on the wall to all the security discussions, perhaps after almost 2 years of deliberation, this is the ONLY way to get Shalit back safely.

Yes, I’m sure that those 450 prisoners will return to their bombing ways. But, the ‘truce’ will be short lived. Someone in Gaza won’t be able to stop themselves from firing a Qassam or a GRAD rocket that will hurt or kill an Israeli or a foreign worker. I can’t image at least some of the murderers won’t meet their end in a ‘work accident’ or in a fireball sent to them courtesy of the IDF. They wont be returning to Gaza to become Rhodes scholars, that’s for sure. Read more »

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last few weeks, you’ve heard the drum-beat growing louder. A deal is in the works: Goldwasser and Regev, two IDF soldiers who’s kidnapping across the Lebenese border by Hizbullah sparked the 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel may be on their way back to Israel in a deal with Hizbullah brokered by Germany.

There is no way anyone anywhere doesn’t want to see these soldiers returned back home. The only thing that’s going to leave a sour taste in everyones mouth is what its going to cost to get them back. In addition to a bunch of no-name Hizbullah grunts and possibly a few bodies, Israel is more than likely going to have to give up Samir Kuntar. Who is Kuntar, do you ask? Read more »

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