Saturday, May 30, 2009

Ransoming Gilad Schalit

On Sunday following the Netanya AACI AGM we attended a presentation given by Jeremy Maissel of "Israel Seminars" on the topic of "Gilad Schalit - at any price?" This topic has many ramifications for Israel, and Jeremy pointed out the different reponses that different groups within Israeli society make regarding this question. Let me remind you that Gilad Schalit is the IDF Corporal who was captured by Hamas forces when they crossed the Gaza border in 2006 and he has been their captive for over 1,000 days.
In Jewish practice the redeeming of hostages is considered one of the most important acts that any Jewish community, including the Israeli Government, can perform. Unfortunately Jews have great experience in this area since it was the practice of both Christians and Muslims to take Jews captive for ransom throughout the centuries. The basis for paying ransom in Jewish religious law is strong and firm. But, there is also a tendency that says that redeeming a Jewish captive must not harm the future of the Jewish community. Taking this stance must cause a division of opinion within Israeli society and reveals the complexity of the situation.
Jeremy distributed various placards with different names on them, that represented different elements within Israeli society and invited the audience to respond to the question of the ransom of Gilad Schalit representing the interests of the group identified on the placard. Thus, there were placards for "Parents of kidnapped soldiers," "The Israeli Government," "The Security Forces," "The IDF," and so on. Each audience member was invited to speak for a few minutes representing the interest of his/her group. Then the cards were placed on a horizontal rod with different labels attached, from "no exchange" at one end to "complete exchange" on the other.
Clearly the "Parents" group will want any exchange to release their loved ones, while the "Security forces" will be against any exchange because they see that all prisoners released by Israel are future security threats. It is well known that ca. 30% of previously released prisoners have later been involved in further terrorism, that has taken dozens of Israeli lives. And note that those prisoners were not those "with blood on their hands," i.e those who had already killed, that Hamas now demands in exchange for Schalit. For these reasons the exchange of hundreds or thousands of Palestinian terrorist prisoners for one IDF soldier is no longer popular within Israeli society, notwithstanding the emotioanl pull of the families and their supporters.
By taking all these interest groups within Israeli society and placing their responses on the rod showed that the majority of groups within Israeli society do want an exchange to ransom Gilad Schalit, but not at any price. The most positive about an exchange of prisoners was, apart from the parents, the IDF, that makes a solemn pledge to all soldiers that this will be their policy if they are captured or killed (i.e. they will retrieve their body). But, the Israeli Government, following social pressure, is more circumspect, they have to consider the advice of the Security services as well as potential future events.
The new Netanyahu Government has agreed to rejoin negotiations thru Egypt for Schalit's release. But, their motto, even more than the previous Government, is "Gilad Schalit, yes, but not at any price!"

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