Most Americans are familiar with the brutal murder of wheelchair-bound
Leon Klinghoffer on the cruise ship Achille Laura in 1985. Terrorists led
by Abu Abbas (who was later given safe haven in Baghdad by Saddam Hussein)
took the ship captive and threw Klinghoffer overboard. But few recall that
the ship was seized to bargain for the release of, among others, Samir
Kuntar from an Israeli prison.
Kuntar had taken part in an earlier terror attack. In 1979, as a 16-year-old,
he and four others had traveled to northern Israel by boat from Lebanon
and come ashore in the seaside town of Nahariya. At midnight, Smadar Haran
recalled, they burst into her apartment building. Peering out to see what
the noise was, Smadar, mother of two, slammed shut her apartment door when
she saw the terrorists — but too late. Kuntar had glimpsed her. Her husband,
Danny, helped Smadar and their younger daughter, 2-year-old Yael, to squeeze
into a crawl space above the bedroom.
Smadar wrote later, "I will never forget the joy and the hatred in
their voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns
and throwing grenades." As police began to arrive, Kuntar and the others
dragged Danny and 4-year-old Einat down to the beach. With Einat watching,
Kuntar shot Danny in the head and then threw his body into the surf. Kuntar
then repeatedly smashed Einat's head against a rock with his rifle butt,
killing her, too. Yael did not survive the attack either. In an effort
to keep the baby from crying and betraying their hiding place, Smadar had
accidentally suffocated her.
This week, Kuntar, dressed in fatigues and sporting a Hitlerian mustache
and haircut, walked down a red carpet arrayed for him in Beirut. The government
closed all offices and declared a national day of celebration. Tens of
thousands of Lebanese cheered, waved flags, threw confetti, and set off
fireworks as Hezbollah staged a rally to celebrate their "victory" over
Israel. Mahmoud Abbas, the "moderate" leader of the Palestinian Authority,
sent "blessings to Samir Kuntar's family." PA spokesman Ahmad Abdul Rahman
sent "warm blessings to Hezbollah … on the return of the heroes of freedom
… headed by the great Samir Kuntar."
The statement went on to laud the "heroic" actions of "martyr" Dalal
Mughrabi, whose body was returned to Lebanon. She had participated in the
worst terror attack ever against Israeli civilians, the hijacking of a
tourist bus in which 37 people including 12 children were murdered. The
Palestinian Authority spokesman took the opportunity to vow that the Fatah
party "will continue to struggle in the way of the pure Martyrs, until
the state is liberated and the Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem
as its capital." Kuntar, acknowledging the adulation of the crowd, took
the microphone and declared, "I return from Palestine only to go back to
Palestine."
And what did Israel get in return? Two corpses. The bodies of Eldad
Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, the two reservists whose kidnapping in 2006
prompted the botched and inconclusive Israel/Hezbollah war. After this
shameful and stupid trade of live terrorists for dead soldiers, Hezbollah
has achieved its goal. In 2006, Hezbollah had crossed the border and attacked
two Israeli border patrol jeeps, killing three and wounding two. Two others,
Regev and Goldwasser, also believed wounded in the attack, were kidnapped
and taken into Lebanon on orders from Hezbollah leader Sheikh Nasrallah,
who thought he could demand the release of all Lebanese terrorists in Israeli
prisons in exchange for the two soldiers. (Hamas simultaneously kidnapped
Gilad Shalit in the south.) Israel at first responded with a war. But while
most of the civilized world rooted for the Israelis to destroy Hezbollah
in southern Lebanon, Israel flinched and conducted a feckless conflict.
Thousands of Lebanese and Israeli civilians were hurt and displaced, but
nothing was settled — until now. Now Hezbollah has achieved total victory.
Every Israeli is now at much higher risk for kidnapping and murder.
Why in the world should Israel's enemies shrink from murdering their captives
if they get just as much for corpses? Hamas continues to hold Shalit in
Gaza. His life expectancy has just been radically reduced. It's inspiring
that the Israeli government (like the U.S. armed forces) is devoted to
bringing their people home dead or alive. But not like this. Not like this.
At the welcoming ceremony for Kuntar and his fellow terrorists, Sheikh
Nasrallah made a brief appearance. In company with Lebanese president Michel
Suleiman, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, and Speaker of Parliament Nabih
Berri, Nasrallah hugged and kissed Kuntar and the rest. "The time of defeat
is long gone," he said. "Today is the time of victory."
Who can deny it?
© 2006, Creators Syndicate
Jewish World Review
July 18, 2008 / 15 Tamuz 5768
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