With blood on their hands
20.06. 2008

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Israel is under attack and requires your help. Israel is being bombarded by
a pernicious propaganda barrage, which threatens to undermine the IDF, the
state and everything we stand for, and to imperil the lives of hundreds,
perhaps thousands of Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser and their comrades, living and dead, fought
for a great and just cause, defending Israel against an implacable enemy,
Hezbollah, which is sworn to destroy us. Goldwasser and Regev were
kidnapped, and most likely killed, starting the Second Lebanon War . Over
150 other Israelis died, many perhaps needlessly, but all in support of a
cause that we all thought was correct at the time and which must in fact be
correct: never to give in to the extortion of terrorists. Surrender to
extortion only leads to more extortion. The Second Lebanon War could have
been avoided entirely, if Israel had simply agreed to release murderer Samir
Kuntar and whatever other terrorists were demanded by Hassan Nassrallah, in
return for the kidnapped soldiers or their bodies. But almost all agreed
that this course would be perilous, and would lead to more kidnappings.

If my own sons had been kidnapped, I would surely not rest a minute. I would
raise hell all over the world to ensure that the Lebanese government, of
which Hezbollah is a part, abides by international law and allows visits by
the red cross. I would stage demonstrations at the White House, at the UN,
at appearances of American officials in the Middle East, as well as
imploring Israeli officials to act for their release. I would not let them
or the public forget their duty. I would, if it were practical, hire private
detectives, the Mafia, other Lebanese groups to free them or at least to get
word that they are alive. I would do anything, except to undermine the cause
for which they and their comrades fought, or to undermine the IDF and the
state of Israel.

But now Israel is under attack. The cause for which Regev and Goldwasser
fought is being trampled in the mud. The source of the attack is not the
Hamas or the Hezbollah, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud Abbas or British Jewish
anti-Zionists. The source of the danger is in Israel. The people guilty of
undermining the security of the state are not disloyal Arabs or anti-Zionist
Jews. They are well meaning and worried parents, and their unscrupulous
lawyers and public relations firms. What would all those soldiers, the dead
and the kidnapped, think of this campaign? What does it say about their
sacrifice?

The Israeli media are filled with pleas to release convicted murderer Samir
Kuntar, and perhaps hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, in return for what is
almost certainly the dead bodies of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. They
are filled with imprecations and threats against the Israeli government.

It is not a matter of putting "honor" or "justice" or "revenge" above human
compassion. The problem is not the release of prisoners with "blood on their
hands." Rather, it is the blood of our soldiers and civilians that will be
spilled in the next kidnapping. The success of the Goldwasser-Regev
kidnapping will certainly engender yet another one, just as the success of
the previous kidnapping, in which Hezbollah traded the degenerate Elhanan
Tannenbaum and some dead soldiers for many live prisoners, was probably the
decisive factor in motivating the kidnapping of Goldwasser and Regev. How
many people will die because of the next kidnapping, and how many will be
kidnapped? Those who are applying pressure for this deal, those who write
op-eds, the parents and families of the kidnapped soldiers and their army of
PR people, will all have blood on their hands - the blood of hundreds of
Israelis. If we are silent, they will make us all accomplices in murder.

Miki Goldwasser, mother of Ehud Goldwasser, reasons:
"On the claim that if Kuntar is returned, more will be kidnapped in the
future, I can only say that had he been returned in the [Elhanan] Tennenbaum
deal, you would not be reading my letter today,"
Grief obscures reason. Miki Goldwasser would be right if the Hezbollah had
been formed in order to free Samir Kuntar, and if the Hezbollah had no goal
other than freeing Samir Kuntar.

But Samir Kuntar is only an issue that is used to further the real goals of
the Hezbollah, one among many. If Kuntar is freed, the next round of
soldiers would be kidnapped in order to free Palestinian prisoners, or to
force Israel to give up Sheba farms, or some villages in the Galilee claimed
by the Hezbollah. And when all these issues are exhausted, the Hezbollah
will send more terrorists to be caught, so they can kidnap more Israelis,
and gain more prestige by striking more deals. Kidnapping was exploited in
the 1980s against the Americans as a terrorist device. The Americans don't
hold Kuntar. Had the Israeli government never done the Tannenbaum deal,
Goldwasser and Regev would have been far more likely to be safe today.
Israel and the Regev and Goldwasser families should be using every ounce of
leverage they might have to determine if Goldwasser and Regev are alive. If
they are alive, which is not likely, then perhaps it would be much harder to
refuse a deal. Even then, there are ways to pressure Hezbollah without
returning Kuntar.

Goldwasser and Regev were severely, probably fatally wounded in the attack.
Miki Goldwasser argues that Hassan Nasrallah said that he captured live
soldiers. Of course, Nasrallah is a man of his word and never lies. Assuming
he is telling the truth, he is probably telling the exact truth. The
soldiers were still living when captured. It is noteworthy that he doesn't
warrant that they are still alive now. Nasrallah could surely make easy
propaganda by trading a tape of a live Regev and Goldwasser, holding today's
newspaper and "confessing" to their "crimes" for a quantity of Palestinian
prisoners. He doesn't do it, and that should tell us what we need to know
about the case of Regev and Goldwasser. Miki Goldwasser cites the case of a
previous detainee, whose fate was unknown and turned out to be alive. But
that case is probably not relevant. Hezbollah is no longer a tiny persecuted
underground group afraid of publicity. It is part of the Lebanese
government, tacitly accepted as "legitimate" by most of the world. i

Today, most Israelis, perhaps because they have been bombarded with op-eds
begging for the release of Samir Kuntar without any conditions, with quotes
from the Goldwasser family and a well focused PR campaign, Agree with the
Goldwasser and Regev families. A Dahaf poll shows the following:
If, forefend, it turns out with certainty that Goldwasser and Regev are
dead, should we agree to the deal?
For 61% Against 32% No reply 7%
That is only a small percent less than those who favor the release of
Goldwasser and Regev if they are alive. The logical thing for Hezbollah to
do, then, is to kill any kidnap victims, current or future.

Those who oppose the deal are largely silent. If we had all spoken out
against the disastrous trade of Elhanan Tannenbaum, perhaps this new
catastrophe that led to the Second Lebanon War would have occurred. If we
had spoken out against negligence and incompetence and corrected it, perhaps
the war would not have occurred either. But if nobody speaks out against
this folly, there will be a much worse one. The future war will be the fault
of all those who were silent, but primarily it will be the fault of the
lawyers, the PR people and the poor grief-stricken and anguished families,
who are directing their efforts in the wrong direction, and getting the ear
of a weak and unpopular government.

"Never leave anyone behind" and "Bring our boys" home reflect some of the
finest aspects of Israeli battle ethics, if "battle ethics" is not an
oxymoron. But glorifying a bloodthirsty enemy and rewarding their crimes in
order to retrieve dead bodies is criminal folly. The "dignity of the dead"
is not enhanced by selling out the cause for which they fought and by
creating more "dignified" dead.

Who dares to stand against the grief of mothers bereft of their sons? Of
separated young wives, loves, fathers, brothers? Not many, surely!

But who can dare to remain silent in defense of those who cannot speak,
because they are dead, and on behalf of those who do not know they will be
the victims of future kidnappings or casualties in the next war? It is our
duty to prevent this tragedy.

Ami Isseroff

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