PrintJuly 17, 2008
The Orwellian logic of Israel's 'swap' with Hezb'allah
Israel's uneven "swap" with terror group Hezbollah -- five imprisoned terrorists for two dead Israeli solidiers -- provoked gloating and celebrations among Hezbollah yesterday. The return of the slain soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, may bring some closure to their families. But ultimately, it obviously will invite more terrorism against Israel.
How could the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert fail to see the obvious?
Simply put, it embraces an Orwellian world view -- one right out of "George Orwell's 1984 where Big Brother declared war as peace and peace as war," observes Robert J. Avrech at his Seraphic Secret blog. Putting the swap into context, he argues that the lopsided exchange was part of a pattern of appeasement that began with Israel's mismanaged war with Hezbollah two years ago:
The Second Lebanon war ended in a disgraceful cease-fire. In truth, it was Israel's surrender to Hizbullah.Ehud Olmert declared that Israel went to war to recover kidnapped IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. As we all know this goal was not met.During the war, Hizbullah succeeded in consigning a million Israelis to bomb shelters. The Jewish state was helpless in the face of rocket attacks throughout the war. Hence, Iran through her proxy army Hizbullah projected her power and influence not only across the region, but into the Israeli homeland.
Regarding the victory celebrations the exchange produced among Israeli's enemies, Avrech notes that "Hizbullah kidnapped Goldwasser and Regev in order to secure the release of child-murderer Samir Kuntar" -- one of the five Hezbollah terrorisst that Israel exchanged. He writes:
And so, today, Hizbullah's victory over Israel is complete.There is joy in the Arab world for Israel has been brought to her knees not by an Arab state, but by Hizbullah, Islamic terrorists financed and supported by Iran.There is joy in the Arab world because Israel-through this swap of a Jew-murderer for the bodies of murdered Jews-has declared that there is no difference between a dead Jew and a breathing Jew.There is joy in the Arab world because they know that when Jews are kidnapped there will be no rescue attempts, just capitulation to terror.There is joy in the Arab world because the strategy of destroying Israel's will to exist is succeeding beyond their wildest expectations.
He concludes that Israel's leadership fails to realize that force is the only language that Hizbollah understands. "The state of Israel has become a Kapo state, giving direct aid to those who murder Jews and would wipe Israel off the face of the earth," he writes.
