Just plain stupidity...

Last opinion of the day - this morning's hostage swap between Israel and Hezbollah. I must be woefully uneducated on this issue because the more I think about what happened, the more I'm wondering what Olmert or anyone in the Israeli Cabinet is really doing here.

The UN "brokered" this deal between Israel and the terrorist organization known as Hezbollah. Hezbollah "captured"/kidnapped Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in July 2006. Hezbollah held these two soldiers as hostages to barter the release of convicted Lebanese prisoners. No other justification has been given for their being held - they were on Israeli territory on the Northern border, and their capture was done during an illegal Hezbollah raid. Yet the UN works tirelessly to "resolve" the issue and "broker" this deal.

Cut to yesterday. Israeli Cabinet approves a swap of the two soldiers for five Lebanese prisoners - at least one of which is a convicted, remorseless killer of an Israeli policeman, a civilian and a 4 year old girl. Hezbollah won't let Israel know whether their soldiers are alive or dead, but the assumption is that they are dead because the Red Cross has not been allowed to see them and there's been no word otherwise. Yet despite the uncertainty, the swap is approved.

Today in Southern Lebanon. Five Lebanese prisoners are given the red carpet treatment in to a cheering mob of people. Liberated. Freed. A hero's welcome for these convicted murderers and felons who were released as the ransom for two Israeli soldiers.

Today in Israel. Two black coffins are released to Israeli authorities. DNA evidence confirms that they contain the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Israel has released terrorist criminals, who will no doubt go on to do greater things in the terror business, for body parts. Israel has shown the world that there's no advantage to keeping Israeli soldiers alive and healthy, when Israel will pay dearly for body parts.

What happened? Israel (or the UN) couldn't insist on knowing whether the soldiers were actually alive before agreeing to the trade? Or are we to accept that in Israel alive or dead soldiers are equally dear? Why? Shouldn't Israel have put a premium on their being alive? Some reason to incentivize, oh I don't know, NOT KILLING ISRAELI SOLDIERS? I'm thoroughly disgusted.

I confess a part of me would not have blamed Israel if, upon discovery of their soldier's nonliving status, Israel had executed the five prisoners scheduled for the swap. I'm not advocating senseless or retaliatory violence. But at least that would have been closer to an even exchange.