Flyers went up around Mea Sharim that were highly critical of the stores selling these devices. Instead of working with the manufacturers or the sellers to remove this ‘offending’ content or with community leaders toi find a solution like normal level-headed people might do, it evidently made more sense to rampage around town and break the windows and burn the shops of those who had the audacity to sell these ’soul-robbing’ devices. The nerve.

If these Haredim, who are supposed to be ‘frummer than thou’ are trying to set a good example for everyone to follow, it’s lost on me and any other sane person who hears about this. Creating a ‘chillul Hashem’ in addition to breaking the law is not really the way to go. I’m all for people getting closer to G-d, but hearing stuff like this is enough to make someone disgusted with religion.

…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.

OK, no body died yet, but its just a matter of time before damage is done to something other than property.

Now Hamas have turned into whiners, accusing Israel of breaking the cease-fire by closing the Gaza crossings for the last 2 days in response to violations emanating from Gaza. These clowns want it both ways. Islamic Jihad are the ones launching the rockets claiming violations in the ‘West-Bank’ which is NOT covered by this agreement with Hamas. Hamas washes their hands of it saying that they aren’t Israel’s police force. So, Israel closed the crossings instead of launching counter-strikes. No, thats not the call of the muezzin you hear from Gaza. Cue the whining.

I thought the whole point of this cease-fire was that any and all violence out of Gaza would come to a halt and Israel would stop their retaliation in Gaza and open the crossings. Israel lived up to its end, so why can’t Hamas? If Hamas is the elected government in Gaza, should they not hearken to the spirit of the agreement if not the letter? Does anyone think that if Israelis unaffiliated with the IDF starting launching projectiles into Beit Hanoun, that Hamas would accept Israel telling them they aren’t Hamas’ police force? Please! These whiners want a one way cease-fire that can be violated without repercussions.

This was a bad deal in the first place and it’s only delaying the inevitable foray into Gaza to put an end to this nonsense. About the only good thing to come out of the cease-fire was the residents of Sderot catching a few days rest from the falling rockets, but that appears over, sadly.

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.

But, in the entire time since the kidnapping and the war, there has been ZERO sign of life from Regev or Goldwasser. Not a peep. No letters. No videotapes. No Red Cross visits. Nothing. Unless everyone is keeping their lips glued for the sake of this ‘deal’, there is no reason to believe they are alive. They were mortally injured upon their capture, so there is no reason to assume they got medical care immediately. Hamas may be similar scum, but at least they occasionally pass some signs of life regarding Shalit so there is reason to think about giving them what they want. This latest musing about declaring them dead is a pressure tactic to get Hizbullah to show something of value or get less in return. Why give Kuntar back for a box of bones?

With all due respect to the Goldwasser and Regev family, soldiers get lost in war. War is never fair and never without pain. But the asking price for their likely dead sons is too high and Israel should not pay such steep prices so as to encourage further kidnappings. There is a law of diminishing returns here and Israel has to look out for the rest of it’s soldiers and citizens who haven’t been kidnapped and not make deals that encourage future snatchings. Not leaving a solider on the field is a noble sentiment, but in practice it’s unrealistic. All soldiers go into battle knowing they may not come back alive. Some don’t come back at all. It’s just the way of things. Maybe someday when there is actual peace (in the year 9000) everyone can trade back everyones remains. Today isn’t that day.

If the soldiers are alive, I will be among those celebrating their return, even for a scumbag like Kuntar. But whoever is pulling this tactic to pressure Hizullah is smart. Nasrallah needs Kuntar back for PR reasons, so Israel twisting his arm a little bit is smart. Get him to pony up live soldiers or risk having the deal fail and Kuntar still rotting in jail. I’m OK with that.

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.

Like I said yesterday, this is a tough corner of the earth, and some of these deals turn your stomach, but I guess you do what you have to do to gain the release of your soldiers. It really is like watching a horror movie sometimes.

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?

In short, he’s a Lebanese Druze and a member of the Palestinian Liberation Front. In 1979, him and a bunch of his buddies took a night-time boat cruise to Nahariya in northern Israel, killed 2 policemen and then paid a visit to the Haran household. At the same time they kidnapped the father (Danny Haran) and daughter (Einat), the mother (Smadar) hid in a crawl-space above the bedroom with her other daughter (Yael) and accidently suffocated her to death in an attempt to make sure she didnt cry, thus revealing her location to the terrorist team. Kuntar then had them brought to the beach and personally killed Danny Haran and his daughter Einat. More specifically, he shot Danny in front of his daughter and then hit Einat in the head with a rifle butt until her skull caved in. And not only did he admit to this when caught, but it was actually a point of pride for him and is to this day. This is the disgusting scumbag without remorse who is being considered for release for the 2 soldiers mentioned above.

Is this a ‘good’ deal in any way for Israel? A few points:

1) A guy like Kuntar is a good reason for Israel to institute the death penalty for murder. In the same breath, without him, I don’t know what Israel would have to give up in exchange for the kidnapped soldiers. Executing terrorists (after due process) is a good way to ensure that future kidnapped Israelis are executed immediately upon capture. It’s a sick game, but this part of the world doesn’t seem to operate normally.

2) There has been NO proof of life for either of these soldiers since their capture. Israel already determined they were both likely badly wounded in the initial attack and would have needed immediate medical care. I think the expectation should be that they are dead…that way we can be pleasantly surprised if it turns out they are both alive. Israel’s enemies never let on who is dead or alive while Israeli prisoners all seem to have their own publicist. That for sure needs to stop. They can meet with their lawyers, but perhaps there should be a gag order on what their lawyers can say on their client’s behalf to the media.

3) How does the government explain this to the Haran and Arad families (Kuntar was supposed to be returned first for Ron Arad, then his body and then information on his whereabouts) in any way that will make sense? People are supposed to pay for their crimes. This doesn’t send the right message…’if the price is right, your murderer will go free?’ Again, on the other hand, it might give closure or even a happy ending to the Goldwasser and Regev families and again affirm Israel’s stance about never leaving soldiers on the battlefield. It’s a mixed bag and way you look at it.

Time will tell if this comes to fruition. I don’t like this deal much as it gives Hizbullah a ‘victory’ and credibility, but to obtain Regev’s and Goldwasser’s return, especially if they are alive, would likely be worth it for the joy it would being Israel and Jews around the world. It would be the same thing if and when Israel can get Shalit back from Hamas. Unfettered joy all around, for better or worse.

“The Beit Lahiya massacre was caused by an Israeli strike that targeted a Qassam leader,” Hamas said in a statement, referring to its armed wing.

An IDF spokeswoman denied any Israeli involvement.

“It was not related to the IDF. There were no IDF operations. It was an internal explosion,” an IDF spokeswoman said in Tel Aviv.

You read these quotes every time there’s a ‘work accident’, and they get picked up immediately by all the news services. If it rained in Gaza, it’d be blamed on Israeli tank shells destroying ‘Palestinian’ clouds.

And of course, what do we find out today? Hamas themselves admit that it was an explosion while preparing for a ’special mission’ (read: Dead Jews), and the missile salvo was intended to be a ‘distraction’ while they blew holes in the security fence. And STILL the government is looking at a truce rather than cleaning up in Gaza. It’s enough to make you sick.