Israels body/prisoner exchange.

kowloon

So Israel got their two soldiers bodies back in exchange for 200 bodies in pine boxes. The five live prisoners returned to a parade.

Do the Israeli authorities know how to do PR at all?

marcsignal

kowloon wrote: »

Do the Israeli authorities know how to do PR at all?

funny, I was just thinking the same thing when I heard about this exchange.
It would seem the one big difference between Arab terrorism, and Israeli terrorism, is that Israeli terrorism is 100 times more lethal.

ejmaztec

And as an added bonus in the July sales, they sent a psychopath home to a ticker-tape welcome (and his chums).

jhegarty

Under Judaism it's very important to get the body...it would have been a very big deal over there...

marcsignal

jhegarty wrote: »

Under Judaism it's very important to get the body...it would have been a very big deal over there...

Yeah that's very true, lets just hope there wont be any more on either side, now that there are talks going on.
I did find the proportions interesting though.

nacho libre

I think it only encourages more hostage-taking when you have such an imbalance in the exchanges.

humberklog

nacho libre wrote: »

I think it only encourages more hostage-taking when you have such an imbalance in the exchanges.

That's true however there does appear to be a shifting of diplomatic sands. What we see and hear is only a pecentage of what's really occuring on the grander scale of politiking. Icebergs and swimming duck analogies etc. The need for the return of bodies to Israelis can't understated but nor can at what price. Israelis have a kean eye for a bargain. Let's hope that someone along the line hasn't sold a pig in a poke.

Fratton Fred

That Qanter guy, he is a nasty piece of work. He shot an innocent man and then killed his six year old daughter by crushing her head against a rock with the butt of his rifle. how the **** is that even terrorism, that's just plain blood lust.

I wouldn't be surprised if a mossad agent pays him a visit in the not so distant future.

humberklog

Fratton Fred wrote: »

That Qanter guy, he is a nasty piece of work. He shot an innocent man and then killed his six year old daughter by crushing her head against a rock with the butt of his rifle. how the **** is that even terrorism, that's just plain blood lust.

I wouldn't be surprised if a mossad agent pays him a visit in the not so distant future.

It is a truely shocking story. He's also blamed on a 2nd childs death of the same family. The mother was hiding on him in the house with another of their children (only months old i believe). The baby was crying so the mother had to cover the screams. The baby smothered. The pathos of such an episode is certainly not lost within Israeli society. right or left wing.
This is a huge, huge move by the Israelis. Somethings brewing.
It'll be interesting to see if the post mortem results on the returned Israelis has an effect on the already cautious and fragile public sentiment.

Memnoch

Yes what he did was horrible. But I find equally disquieting how every single act by the palestinians against the Israeli's is examined and denounced in minutae while the converse is barely mentioned.

Of course killing children by dropping bombs and firing missles and guns indiscriminately is a lot better than by using the but of the rifle. At least in the former, one can pretend to simply have made a mistake.

jhegarty

One might suggest that a life in the Muslim world is worth less to both us and them...

ejmaztec

Memnoch wrote: »

Yes what he did was horrible. But I find equally disquieting how every single act by the palestinians against the Israeli's is examined and denounced in minutae while the converse is barely mentioned.

I think the treatment depends on which continent you happen to be on. Criticism of both sides seems to be evenly spread in Europe, whereas in the US, it's the Palestinians who are the evil-doers.

Feel free to correct me if you think differently.

toiletduck

marcsignal wrote: »

funny, I was just thinking the same thing when I heard about this exchange.
It would seem the one big difference between Arab terrorism, and Israeli terrorism, is that Israeli terrorism is 100 times more lethal.

While we're making assumptions on random figures from this exchange, no live Israelis versus 5 living prisoners. Therefore the Israelis are five times more likely to take someone alive!!! :pac::pac:

meditraitor

A couple of things about this are very curious;

What was isreal doing with 199 bodies?

What is happening to the other 10,000 Palestinian prisoners being held by Isreal?

marcsignal

toiletduck wrote: »

While we're making assumptions on random figures from this exchange, no live Israelis versus 5 living prisoners. Therefore the Israelis are five times more likely to take someone alive!!! :pac::pac:

Good point, but then again, you can't torture a corpse for information

kmick

Its funny to imagine there are winners and losers here. Israel have already promised that the guy who killed that child is a marked man. Agreed though that the price of 1 israeli seems to be 100 of the enemy. Germany pursued this kind of tactic in occupied countries in WW2.100 civilains for every soldier dead and 50 civilains for a german casualty.
http://serbianna.com/blogs/savich/?p=22

What a mess.

Fratton Fred

i wonder how many have got tracking devices implanted in them:D

The leader of Hezbollah made a rare appearance to welcome Kanter, that may not have been such a good idea.:eek:

djpbarry

toiletduck wrote: »

While we're making assumptions on random figures from this exchange, no live Israelis versus 5 living prisoners. Therefore the Israelis are five times more likely to take someone alive!!!

Hmm...

Five divided by zero is five?

toiletduck

djpbarry wrote: »

Hmm...

Five divided by zero is five?

Nah, nope, not at all.


I meant zero divided by five.

bartholomewbinn

Fratton Fred wrote: »

i wonder how many have got tracking devices implanted in them:D

The leader of Hezbollah made a rare appearance to welcome Kanter, that may not have been such a good idea.:eek:

The Israelis have to remember that there are an awful lot of vulnerable and defenceless Jews all over the world. If they get too trigger happy (murdering their political enemies) Hezbollah might send out a few hit squads of their own.

Manic Moran

That's liable to piss off the other countries in question. Other countries tend to dislike hit squads running around within their borders.

NTM

bartholomewbinn

Manic Moran wrote: »

That's liable to piss off the other countries in question. Other countries tend to dislike hit squads running around within their borders.

NTM

One thing Hezbollah and Israel have in common, they don’t really care if they piss anyone off.

Manic Moran

One thing Hezbollah and Israel have in common, they don’t really care if they piss anyone off.

In 06, Hezbullah's best ally was international opinion.

NTM

bartholomewbinn

Manic Moran wrote: »

In 06, Hezbullah's best ally was international opinion.

NTM

I don’t really think it would do their reputation any great damage if they murdered a few Jews in the USA, seeing as the USA reviles them anyway. And to the rest of the world, what’s another murder or three in America? It’s an option open to them in the future if Israel murders some of their leadership.

ejmaztec

When we get our cars to run on chicken-sh1t, the middle-east won't get a mention at all, as long as the redundant oil-sheikhs don't go into poultry farming and corner the market.

wes

ejmaztec wrote: »

When we get our cars to run on chicken-sh1t, the middle-east won't get a mention at all, as long as the redundant oil-sheikhs don't go into poultry farming and corner the market.

They will go into the solar energy business, what with all there sun. Come to think of it that isn't a completely terrible idea.

ejmaztec

wes wrote: »

They will go into the solar energy business, what with all there sun. Come to think of it that isn't a completely terrible idea.

Ironically, there was a report a few weeks ago about a new city (designed by an Englishman), which is completely eco-friendly, ultra-energy efficient and heavily reliant on solar energy. I can't remember which one of the oil-countries it is based in, possibly Dubai, or one of the other ones.

The architect, and others, wonder why the oil-reliant countries of Europe don't get their act together and come up with a similar concept. There is enough sun for the purpose, even up here.

wes

ejmaztec wrote: »

The architect, and others, wonder why the oil-reliant countries of Europe don't get their act together and come up with a similar concept. There is enough sun for the purpose, even up here.

I have heard that in Spain there experimenting with solar power plants, while not the same, still in the same general area.

The Saint

Manic Moran wrote: »

In 06, Hezbullah's best ally was international opinion.

NTM

Absolutely and I'd imagine not without reason. It seems that Hezbullah gained a lot of kudos in the arab world because of the 06 war even amongst the Sunni population of the ME. The disparity of civilain to military casualties probably had a lot to do with it as well as the 82 invasion and its susequent events. Hez are seen (and not without reason) as the only arab/Muslim force to have defeated Israel in 2000 and 2006. Whether this is true or not is a matter of perception but the Lebanese and Israelis seem to see it this way. Even now two years after the war Hassan Nasrallah is the most popular leader in the Arab world (even amongst Sunnis) according to a recent poll. I'd imagine that has much to do with the percieved impotence of the current leaders in the ME in relation to Israel and the West in gerneral rather than popularity for Hez.

Although it must be said that Hez have a lot of support from the general population for the social infrastucture they provide (like Hamas). The government and even many Maronites now see Hez as the only realistic form of defence from another Israeli invasion therefore the unwilllingness to disarm them. They are seen as more of a deterrent to further Israeli interference than the Lebanese army and rightfully so.

Sorry if this doen't make much sense but I'm pissed and going from memory.

Sand

I don’t really think it would do their reputation any great damage if they murdered a few Jews in the USA, seeing as the USA reviles them anyway. And to the rest of the world, what’s another murder or three in America? It’s an option open to them in the future if Israel murders some of their leadership.

If youre talking about the rarity of successful terrorist hit squads running around the world shooting jewish people in different countries, well its not for want of trying that they dont do it too often. Its down to security measures taken to ID and track every single person who gets on a flight or crosses a border.

The Israelis didnt promise they wouldnt target those released, and certainly if the "freedom fighter" who murdered a young girls father in front of her before beating her to death meets an unfortunate end then it will only be just.

BlaasForRafa

jhegarty wrote: »

Under Judaism it's very important to get the body...it would have been a very big deal over there...

Also the Israeli people and state value the relationship between them and the idf very highly thus they will go to great lengths and pay a high price to get their personnel back even if it is just their bodies.

In this particular case I think it was repulsive to see that child-murderer being given a parade, its shows a perversion in the morals and values of those who would participate in such an event.